Months later, Loki arrived at Asgard and presented Sleipnir to Odin as a gift. The Enigmatic Loki, a Trickster among Gods in Norse Mythology.Riding the Seas: The Kelpies and Other Fascinating Water Horses in Myth and Legend.Going to Hel and Back: The Travel to Helheim Where a Goddess of Darkness Reigned.He was dispatched of quickly by the hammer of Thor, Mjölnir. It was then that Blast revealed himself to be more than a mere stonemason, but a giant himself. Having failed in his end of the deal, Blast therefore forfeited Freyja's hand. Transforming himself into a mare, he mated with the horse long into the next morning, preventing Blast from completing the wall before the agreed upon deadline. Svaðilfari aided Blast in building the wall far quicker than the gods had imagined, and that is when Loki struck. The gods trusted Loki to protect Freyja, and the deal was struck.įreyja and Loki flyte in an illustration (1895) by Lorenz Frølich ( Public Domain )īlast brought along his power stallion, Svaðilfari, to help him with the heavy lifting. He convinced the gods to agree to the terms Blast proposed, assuring the gods that the payment would never be made. Loki, trickster that he was, saw an alternative route. However, Blast's payment was the hand of the goddess Freya, a deal the gods were not willing to make.

To rebuild this war around Asgard, the gods hired a stonemason called Blast. Fortification was pertinent to the survival of the gods, otherwise they would have constantly been at risk (and vulnerable to) an attack by their primary enemies: the giants. According to Norse mythology, following the war between the two factions of gods-the Æsir and the Vanir-the wall that surrounded the realm of the Æsir was destroyed. The tale of Sleipnir's birth is among the most extensively surviving written records of the horse. Sleipnir was conceived when Loki, sometimes considered Odin's enemy and sometimes his 'silly' little brother, transformed in a horse and mated with one of the most powerful stallions of a giant. Loki and Svaðilfari (1909) by Dorothy Hardy ( Public Domain ) Vestiges of the Vikings: Magic Buried in a Viking Woman's Grave.How the Vikings Started the Worldwide Distribution of Gaited Horses.This role can be compared to Odin's companions Hugin and Munin, a pair of ravens with the predictive capabilities. He is, in many ways, considered a form of helping spirit-a shamanic guide. Sleipnir is more than Odin's ride, however. The issue of the trickster god and the equine called Svaðilfari, the eight-legged Sleipnir survives Norse mythology as the pride of Odin's steeds. A primary example of these creations is the stallion Sleipnir. However, the myths of Northern Europe had equally stunningly intriguing and extraordinary beings made of the gods, but not themselves gods. Seven-headed monsters, one-eyed giants and blood-born winged horses are all shocking representations of the ways in which the well-known creatures of ancient Greek and Roman mythology transcend the borders of the moral world.

Sleipnir parents