A
giant and a peasant were playing a game together one day (probably a game of
chess which was a favourite winter pastime with the Northern vikings). They
of course had determined to play for certain stakes, and the giant, being victorious,
won the peasant's only son, whom he said he would come and claim on the morrow
unless the parents could hide him so cleverly that he could not be found.
Knowing
that such a feat would be impossible for them to perform, the parents fervently
prayed to Odin to help them, and in answer to their entreaties the god came
down to earth and changed the boy into a tiny grain of wheat, which he hid in
an ear of grain in the midst of a large field, declaring that the giant would
not be able to find him. The giant Skrymsli, however, possessed wisdom far beyond
what Odin imagined, and, failing to find the child at home, he strode off immediately
to the field with his scythe, and mowing the wheat, he selected the particular
ear where the boy was hidden. Counting over the grains of wheat, he was about
to lay his hands upon the right one when Odin, hearing the child's cry of distress,
snatched the kernel out of the giant's hand, and restored the boy to his parents,
telling them that he had done all in his power to help them. But as the giant
vowed he had been cheated, and would again claim the boy on the morrow unless
the parents could outwit him, the unfortunate peasants now turned to Hoenir
for aid. The god heard them graciously and changed the boy into a fluff of down,
which he hid in the breast of a swan swimming in a pond close by. Now when,
a few minutes later, Skrymsli came up, he guessed what had occurred, and seizing
the swan, he bit off its neck, and would have swallowed the down had not Hoenir
wafted it away from his lips and out of reach, restoring the boy safe and sound
to his parents, but telling them that he could not further aid them. Skrymsli
warned the parents that he would make a third attempt to secure the child, whereupon
they applied in their despair to Loki, who carried the boy out to sea, and concealed
him, as a tiny egg, in the roe of a flounder. Returning from his expedition,
Loki
encountered the giant near the shore, and seeing that he was bent upon a fishing
excursion, he insisted upon accompanying him. He felt somewhat uneasy lest the
terrible giant should have seen through his device, and therefore thought it
would be well for him to be on the spot in case of need. Skrymsli baited his
hook, and was more or less successful in his angling, when suddenly he drew
up the identical flounder in which Loki had concealed his little charge. Opening
the fish upon his knee, the giant proceeded to minutely examine the roe until
he found the egg he was seeking.
The
plight of the boy was certainly perilous, but Loki, watching for his chance,
snatched the egg out of the giant's grasp, and transforming it again into the
child, he instructed him secretly to run home, passing through the boathouse
on his way and closing the door behind him. The terrified boy did what he was
told immediately. He found himself on land, and the giant, quick to observe
his flight, dashed after him into the boathouse. Now Loki had cunningly placed
a sharp spike in such a position that the great head of the giant ran full tilt
against it, and he sank to the ground with a groan, whereupon Loki, seeing him
helpless, cut off one of his legs. Imagine the god's dismay, however, when he
saw the pieces join and immediately knit together. But Loki was a master of
guile, and recognising this as the work of magic, he cut off the other leg,
promptly throwing flint and steel between the severed limb and trunk, and thereby
hindering any further sorcery. The peasants were immediately relieved to find
that their enemy was slain, and ever after they considered Loki the mightiest
of all the heavenly council, for he had delivered them effectually from their
foe, while the other gods had lent only temporary aid.
Source
: From H.A.Guerber's "Myths of the Norsemen"