The Construction of the walls of Asgard

         Long after the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, the wall that once
protected Asgard from attack from the evil giants was still nothing more than a
ring of rubble. The destruction that the Vanir's battle-magic had caused to the
wall was so great that the gods had not even begun to fix it.

         The gods were anxious that the great wall should be rebuilt to protect
Asgard, yet no one was eager to take the burden.

         Then Heimdall the watchman was standing guard out side the gates of
Asgard one day (or what would be the gates if there where gates). Heimdall could
see a hundred miles in every direction, and he could hear every sound, even the
sound of grass growing. On most days he simply greeted an occasional god passing
in and out of Asgard, but this day there was a visitor. From a hundred miles
distance Heimdall could see a solitary man on a horse approach Asgard.

         "I have a plan to propose to the gods," said the stranger when he
reached Heimdall.

         "You can tell it to me," said Heimdall warmly, and smiled showing his
golden teeth.

         "I'll tell all the gods if I tell at all," the man answered. "The
goddesses also may be interested."

         Heimdall showed his teeth again, this time in a less friendly manner.
And he lead the man accost the plain of Ida to Gladsheim.

         So an assembly of the gods was called to take place at Gladsheim. The
visitor tied up his horse and stepped into the middle of the hall. He was
surrounded by Odin and the twelve leading gods, each sitting in his high place.

         Odin looked over the man, as if he were trying to pierce threw his body
and straight into his soul. "We are all here at Heimdall's bidding. What do you
have to say?"

         "Only this, I will rebuild the wall around Asgard for you."

         There was a stir in Gladsheim as the gods and goddesses realized there
must be a rather large catch to such an offer.

         "The wall will be much stronger and higher than before," said the man.
"So strong and high that it will be impregnable. Asgard will be secure against
the rock giants and frost giants even if they barge their way into Midgard."

         "However," said Odin, hoping that the price that this visitor would
soon pronounce would not be too high.

         "I'll need eighteen months," said the mortal. "Eighteen months from the
day I begin."

         "That may not be impossible," Odin replied.

         "It is essential."

         Being that the price had not come up yet, Odin decided to mention it.
"And what price do you ask of the gods?"

         "I was coming to that," said the visitor. "Freyja as my wife."

         The beautiful goddess sat quiet, and moved her fingers over the
Necklace of Brisings. None but Odin could look at her directly, Freyja, fairest
of all the goddesses. And she sat still as all the gods around her waved their
arms and shouted, dismissing the stranger, challenging the mortal for making
such a proposition.

         "That's not possible!" shouted Odin. "There will be no bargaining with
the hands of our goddesses!"

         Then from the clatter and chaos arose the voice of Loki. "Every idea
has it's own merit. Don't be so hasty to dismiss it."

         In one instant, as if someone had thrown a switch, the noise stopped.
Everyone in the room slowly turned to face the sly one, and wondered what passed
threw his mind.

         "We must give this plan some thought," Loki said reasonably. "We owe
our guest no less."

         So the stranger was asked to step out side of Gladsheim while the gods
and goddesses conferred. And when she saw that the gods were no longer ready to
dismiss the idea out of hand, Freyja began to weep tears of gold.

         "We could," Loki said thoughtfully. "turn this plan to our own gain.
Suppose we give this man six months to build the wall."

         "He could never build it in that time!" protested Heimdall.

         "Never," echoed many of the gods.

         "Exactly," said Loki.

         Odin sat on in his high place and began to smile.

         "So what would we loose by suggesting it?" Loki smirked. "If he wont
agree, we loose nothing more than we would have had we just dismissed it right
from the beginning. If he should agree, he will never finish, and we will have
half our wall built at no cost."

         Although the gods were uneasy about taking Loki's advice, they could
see no fault in the trickster's scheme. Indeed, many of them wished they had
thought of it them selves.

         "Six months!" said Odin, when the man had come back into Gladsheim. "If
you build the wall within this time, you can have Freyja as your wife, and take
the sun and moon too. Six months."

         The stranger shook his head, but Odin continued, "Tomorrow is the first
day of winter. You must agree that no one may come to help you, and if any part
of the wall is still unfinished on the first day of summer, you forfeit any
payment. Those are our terms."

         "Impossible terms," said the mortal visitor, "and you know it." He
paused and gazed at Freyja. "Then at least allow me the help of my stallion
Svadilfari."

         "Those are our terms," said Odin.

         "And those are mine," Answered the stranger.

         "Odin you are to stubborn," protested Loki. "What's wrong with allowing
him the use of his horse? How could it possibly effect the outcome. If he
refuses, there will be no bargain and no wall."

         In the end Loki's argument prevailed. It was agreed that the builder
should begin working on the wall the next day, and he would be allowed the use
of his horse. Odin swore an oath to this effect in front of all the other gods,
and the builder also asked for safe conduct from all of the gods. Thor was off
in Jotunheim at the time of the bargaining, and should he return and not see
things in the same light that the other gods saw it, the stranger did not want
to be crushed by Mjollnir.

         In the middle of the night, by the light of the moon, the builder
started work at the beginning of the first day of winter. He led Svadilfari down
over a sweeping grassy shoulder and past a copse to a place where the bones of
the hill were sticking out, chipped and twisted. They looked strong and solid,
as if they would last until the end of time. The builder harnessed a net to
Svadilfari, and spread it out behind the stallion. Then he began to heave and
push massive slabs and boulders onto the net. After a time he had piled up a
great mound of rock behind Svadilfari. Then the builder gathered up the net ends
in his hands, as though he were folding a sheet, and bellowed.

         Svadilfari heaved, and dug his shoes into the earth. And slowly he
began to drag the mountain of stone up the hill. By morning the rock was finally
hauled up next to the old broken wall of Asgard.

         When the gods and goddesses awoke in the morning they were astonished
to see how much rock the builder and his horse had hauled up the hill just over
night. They watched the mason smash the boulders, and shape them, and set them
in place wile Svadilfari rested in the shade of the growing wall. The gods began
to fear the builder may actually succeed in building the wall before the first
day of summer, but then the gods and goddesses looked around at the rest of the
broken wall which was unfinished, and they comforted each other in the fact that
this man could never finish, although he may come close. And they believed,
although they were uneasy, they believed they had gotten the better part of the
bargain.

         And so, for many months night after night Svadilfari would haul more
rock up the hill. Day after day, the builder would shape the wall. And as the
days grew longer, time grew shorter for the mason, and the gods.

         Three days before the beginning of summer the mason had almost
completed the circuit of well cut and well laid stone, a sturdy wall strong
enough and high enough to keep any unwelcome visitor at bay. Only the gateway
remained unfinished. And so the gods grew more and more worried of the
possibility of the mason finishing the wall before the deadline.

         Then Odin called an assembly of the gods at Gladsheim. The high hall
was filled with nerves faces, and fearful talk. And Freyja was unable to control
the tears, flooding the floor around her with golden tears.

         Odin raised his spear and his voice over the calmer of the assembly,
"We must find a way out of this contract," he shouted. "Who suggested we should
strike this bargain? Freyja married to this man, the sky raped of the sun and
the moon so that we shall have to grope about, robbed of light and warmth?"

         Contemporaneously all of the gods turned to look at Loki. Then Odin
strode across the room and took a firm grip on the trickster's neck.

         "How was I to know?" protested Loki. "We all agreed."

         Odin tightened his grip and Loki winced.

         "We all agreed!" Loki shouted.

         "Who suggested the mason be allowed the use of his horse?" Odin asked.
"You got us into this, you get us out."

 

         Shouts of agreement flooded the hall.

         "Either the mason forfeits his reward, or you forfeit your life." Odin squeezed harder forcing Loki down on one knee. "We'll take it out of you bit by bit!"        

 

Loki saw that Odin and all of the gods were not going to let him bow
out of this with his sly words. "I swear," he said. "No matter what it costs me,
I'll see to it that the builder looses the wager."

         That night the mason led Svadilfari down towards the quarry with a
spring in his step. It seemed to him that there was no contest, he would win. He
began to sing a song, and listening to that song from behind the bushes was a
mare.

         As the builder came closer the mare pranced up to Svadilfari. She
danced around him and whisked her tail. Svadilfari strained the rain by which
the mason was leading him.

         Then the mare whinnied invitingly and headed back towards the brush.
Svadilfari pulled after her with such a thrust that the rain snapped.

         All night the mare lead Svadilfari away, and all night the mason cursed
as he tripped over roots and stones chasing after his stallion. It was not until
sunrise when Svadilfari finally returned to him.

         So no stone was hauled up from the quarry that night, and the mason had
to make do with what little was left from the night before. It was not enough to
build the first part of the gateway, and he soon knew that he would not be able
to complete his task in time.

         The anger built up inside of him. At fist he just paced back and forth
looking at the gate. Then his rage just overcame him, as if a dam had burst,
causing a flash flood of anger. He lost his concentration, and his magical
disguise vanished. The builder stood before all of the gods as he really was. A
towering brute of a rock giant in a terrible rage.

         Now that the gods knew that this mason had tricked them, the revoked
their oaths about his safe conduct without a moments consideration, and they
sent for Thor.

         "A trick!" shouted the rock giant. "I have been tricked!"

         Those were his last words. Thor arrived to pay the mason his wages. One
thundering blow from the hammer Mjollnir shattered the giant's skull, and
dispatched him to Niflheim.

         A number of months passed before Loki was seen in Asgard. When he
finally returned, he came with a colt in tow. This horse was rather unusual in
that he had eight legs. He was a gray and Loki called him Sleipnir.

         Odin saw this colt and admired it greatly.

 

          "Take him!" said Loki. "I bore him, and now he will bare you. You will find he can outpace any
other horse in the world. No horse will ever be able to keep up with him."

         Odin thanked Loki warmly, and welcomed him back to Asgard.

         "On this horse you can go where ever you would like. He can gallop over
the sea, threw the air, and he can bear his rider down the long road to the land
of the dead and back again.

         Odin thanked Loki a second time and looked at the Shape Changer very
thoughtfully.