In the beginning of time, just after the Æsir’s war against the vanes, Åsgard’s walls lay in ruins. Then a mysterious builder appeared in Valhalla and offered to solve the problem. Not only that – he promised to build a wall so well-made and powerful that it could stand against anything the enemies of the gods could come up with. And he was supposed to do this in a year and a half.
It sounded good to the aces, it was just that the price was quite steep. The mason demanded Frøya as a bride, plus the sun and the moon in exchange. After consultation with the other gods, Loki set a condition: the mason had to finish the work on one and only winter. If it was still unfinished on the first day of summer, he received no salary. He wasn’t allowed to take anyone else to help either. The bricklayer accepted the condition, but insisted on using his horse, Svadilfare. Loki reluctantly agreed to this.
Construction started on the first day of winter and went at breakneck speed. Svadilfare was apparently indefatigable – it had the strength of a hundred horses and could pull huge boulders to the construction site all by itself. There the mason quickly joined them together. They didn’t allow themselves any rest or peace either, so the construction went alarmingly fast.
Three days before the deadline expired, the wall was almost finished. Before that time, the gods had time to become deeply troubled. They were in danger of losing their chief goddess, and the sun and the moon as well. Since it was Loki who had made the deal, the gods decided it was all his fault and threatened him with death if he did not see to it that the mason failed. Loki promised dearly and sacredly to sort things out.
That same evening, while the builder was on his way to collect stone, a beautiful mare came bounding out of the forest and neighed seductively. Svadilfare became dizzy and wild, tore himself from his harness and ran after. It didn’t help how desperately the mason tried to hold back his draft animal, the lovesick stallion was impossible to hold on to.
And the two horses disappeared into the forest outside Åsgard – together.
When Svadilfare happily trotted back the next day, it was clear that the building could never be finished in time. The mason was enraged, and in the Jotun mind he showed his true face, shouting and cursing and cursing the gods, who had cheated him of his rightful wages. Then Odin called to him Tor, who had been in the east on a troll hunt. And Tor immediately stood up, enraged at the sight of a jotun in Åsgard, and hit Mjølne on the mason’s head so that the skull shattered into a thousand pieces. The last masonry work was done by the gods themselves, and thus Åsgard was once again secured against attack.
Obviously something had happened out in the forest, because some time later Loki gave birth to a gray foal with eight legs. It was named Sleipne, and Odin was allowed to take care of it. It was of course Loki who had transformed into the mare, so he is Sleipne’s mother, even as much as he is a man.
From NORRØNE GUDER by JOHAN EGERKRANS