Note 56 — Chapter IV · THE MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY OF THE NORSEMEN.

The Asar, after taking Loki, bound him to a rock with fetters made of the entrails of his son, Vali (who must not be confused with his namesake, Baldr’s brother).

“Now Loki was without any truce taken to a cave. They took three slabs, set them on edge, and made a hole in each. They took the sons of Loki, Vali and Nari or Narfi, and changed Vali into a wolf which tore Narfi asunder. Then they took his entrails and with them tied Loki over the three slabs; one was under his shoulders, another under his loins, the third under his knees, and these bands changed into iron. Then Skadi (a goddess) took a poisonous serpent and fastened it above him, so that the poison should drip into his face; but his wife Sigyn stands at his side, and holds a vessel under the poison-drops. When it is full she goes out to pour it down, but in the meanwhile the poison drips into his face; then he shudders so hard that the whole earth trembles; that you call earthquake. There he lies in bands till the doom of the gods” (Gylfaginning, c. 50).

“Loki begat the wolf

With Angrboda,

And Sleipnir

With Svadilföri;

One monster was thought

Most terrible of all;

It was sprung from

The brother of Býleist (= Loki).”

[Hyndluljód, 40]

The Asar were afraid of Fenrir wolf, Loki’s son, and twice tried to chain it, but could not.

“Thereupon they were afraid that they could not chain the wolf; then Allfödr (Odin) sent the servant Skírnir, the messenger of Frey, down to Svartálfaheim (world of the black Álfar) to some Dvergar, and had a chain made, called Gleipnir. It was made of six things: Of the noise of the cat, of the beard of women, of the roots of the mountain, of the sinews of the bear, of the breath of the fish, of the spittle of the bird.”

At last they succeeded in chaining it with the chain, but Týr lost his right hand, which he was obliged to put into the mouth of the wolf as a pledge.

“When the Asar saw that the wolf was fully tied they took the band which hung on the chain and was called Gelgja, and drew it through a large slab, called Gjöll, and fastened the slab deep down in the ground. They took a large stone and put it still deeper into the ground; it was called Thviti, and they used it as a fastening pin. The wolf gaped terribly and shook itself violently, and wanted to bite them. They put into its mouth a sword; the guards touch the lower palate and the point the upper palate; that is its gag. It groans fiercely and saliva flows from its mouth and makes the river Von; there it lies till the last fight of the gods” (Later Edda, c. 34).