The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths — John Shaqi
The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern MythsColum, Padraic
General
The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths
Colum, Padraic
Mythology, Norse -- Juvenile literature
Then the call of Odin, the call that all in Asgard have to harken to,
went through the City of the Gods. Loki heard it, and he had to come
from his hiding-place and enter the house where the Gods held their
Council. And when he looked on Thor and saw the rage that was in his
eyes, and when he looked on Odin and saw the sternness in the face of
the Father of the Gods, he knew that he would have to make amends for
the shameful wrong he had done to Sif.
Said Odin, "There is a thing that you, Loki, have to do: Restore to Sif
the beauty of her hair."
Loki looked at Odin, Loki looked at Thor, and he saw that what was said
would have to be done. His quick mind searched to find a way of
restoring to Sif the beauty of her golden hair.
"I shall do as you command, Odin All-Father," he said.
But before we tell you of what Loki did to restore the beauty of Sif's
golden hair, we must tell you of the other beings besides the Gods and
the Goddesses who were in the world at the time. First, there was the
Vanir. When the Gods who were called the Æsir came to the mountain on
which they built Asgard, they found other beings there. These were not
wicked and ugly like the Giants; they were beautiful and friendly; the
Vanir they were named.
Although they were beautiful and friendly the Vanir had no thought of
making the world more beautiful or more happy. In that way they differed
from the Æsir who had such a thought. The Æsir made peace with them, and
they lived together in friendship, and the Vanir came to do things that
helped the Æsir to make the world more beautiful and more happy. Freya,
whom the Giant wanted to take away with the Sun and the Moon as a reward
for the building of the wall round Asgard, was of the Vanir. The other
beings of the Vanir were Frey, who was the brother of Freya, and Niörd,
who was their father.
On the earth below there were other beings--the dainty Elves, who danced
and fluttered about, attending to the trees and flowers and grasses. The
Vanir were permitted to rule over the Elves. Then below the earth, in
caves and hollows, there was another race, the Dwarfs or Gnomes, little,
twisted creatures, who were both wicked and ugly, but who were the best
craftsmen in the world.
In the days when neither the Æsir nor the Vanir were friendly to him
Loki used to go down to Svartheim, the Dwarfs' dwelling below the earth.
And now that he was commanded to restore to Sif the beauty of her hair,
Loki thought of help he might get from the Dwarfs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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