Skathi was the daughter of Thjazi and when she found out that he had been killed, she girded herself for war and came to Asgarthr to avenge her father. The Aesir offered her were-gild. (1) Skathi agreed to the were-gild on the condition that they would make her laugh. Both sides agreed to the terms and the first order of business was that she would be able to choose a husband from among the Aesir, but that she would only be able to choose by seeing their feet. So all the Aesir and Vanir men lined up behind a curtain that hid their whole body except for their feet. Skathi chose the most beautiful feet, thinking that they were surely owned by Balder, whom she secretly desired. But when the curtain was parted it was seen that the owner of the most beautiful feet was Njorthr. So Skathi was wed to Njorthr. Next the Aesir had to fulfill the condition of the were-gild and that was to make Skathi laugh. Loki came forward with a billy-goat and tied one end of a rope around the goats beard and the other end of the rope around his own testicles. When Loki would jerk the rope the billy-goat would let out a loud squall and jerk back on the rope which would cause Loki to let out a large squall and jerk the rope back. This went on until Loki landed in Skathi's lap and she laughed. Othinn as further compensation took Thjazi's eyes and threw them into the heavens where they became stars.

 One day Othinn, Loki and Hoenir were out traveling around as they were want to do from time to time. Eventually they came to a certain river and followed along the waterfall were they saw an otter that had caught a salmon and was eating it. Loki took up a stone and threw at the otter killed it. He bragged that he had got the otter and the salmon in one shot. So the trio took the otter and the salmon and soon came to a farm of a giant named Hreithmarr and asked for shelter for the night, saying they had food to offer. Hreithmarr saw the salmon and the otter and immediately went to get his two sons, Fafnir and Regin. He told them that there brother had been slain, for the otter was their brother in disguise. So they descended on Othinn, Loki and Hoenir and bound them up. They offered were-gild (1) and after discussing the terms an agreement was reached. Hreithmarr skinned the otter and said that if they could not only fill the otter skin with gold but also enough to cover the outside of the skin when piled up as well then the matter would be settled. So Othinn sent Loki to the land of the Black Elves and there he found a dwarf named Andvari in a river in the form of a fish, which Loki caught. Loki threatened to kill the dwarf if he did not ranson his life. He required that the dwarf hand over all the gold he had in his rock. Andvari handed over all the gold he had except for one gold ring. The gold was a great amount but Loki saw that the dwarf had held back the ring and demanded that he hand it over as well. The dwarf begged to be able to keep the ring, saying that with it he could obtain more gold but Loki would have none of it. So the dwarf pronounced a curse on anyone owning the ring, that they would come to a bad end. Loki took the gold and gave it to Othinn. He filled the otter skin with the gold and then began to cover the outside of the skin until all the gold was used except for the ring, which Othinn held back. Hreithmarr looked closely and found that one whisker from the Otter was not covered and declared that if that whisker were not covered with gold the deal was off. Othinn brought out the ring and covered the whisker and the matter was considered settled and Othinn, Loki and Hoenir went on their way. And the curse of the dwarf came true, as Hreithmarr and everyone else that came into possession of the gold ring met a bad end.

 Loki was out flying around one day in Frigg's hawk cloak when he noticed a great hall. So he alighted on a window to look in and see what he could see. The hall belonged to a giant named Geirrothr and it happened that Geirrothr was in the hall that day and saw Loki. He commanded that the bird be brought to him so one of his men went to go fetch it. The man had great difficulty in climbing to where Loki was so Loki thought it would be amusing to wait until the man got almost within reach and then at the last moment, fly off. But when the man drew near Loki tried to fly off and could not for his feet were stuck. So Loki was caught and brought before Geirrothr. Right away Geirrothr could tell by looking into the hawk's eyes that it was someone in disguise because no matter how good the disguise the eyes are the one thing that never can be disguised. Geirrothr demanded to know the true identity of the hawk but Loki refused to answer so Geirrothr had him thrown in a chest and locked up for three months without food or water. After the three months Geirrothr took him out of the chest and again asked him what his true identity was. Starved as he was Loki admitted his true identity. Geirrothr then forced Loki to give an oath that he would get Thorr to visit his hall without his mighty hammer and girdle of strength. Loki swore the oath and left on his way.

 When Loki returned to Asgarthr, he did as he oathed and persuaded Thorr to visit Geirrothr's hall without his hammer or girdle of strength. So the two of them set out for Geirrothargarthr. On the way to Geirrothr's hall they stopped to spend the night at the dwelling of a giantess whose name was Grith and who was the mother of Vitharr. While there she told him the truth about Geirrothr and how the giant intended to slay him and gave him a girdle of strength, iron gloves and a magical staff. So the next day they set out again and came to the river Vimur, the greatest of all rivers. With Grithr's staff he braced himself and with Loki hanging on, he waded into the river but when he reached mid-stream the water became so high it threatened to sweep him away. Thorr then saw the cause of the river being so high. Upstream was the giantess Gjalp who strode over the river, one foot on each bank. She was urinating into the river causing it to overflow. Thorr picked up a rock and slung it at the giantess saying, “I have stemmed the river at its source.” He continued across and grabbed a clump of Rowan to help him out of the river and it is for this reason that Rowan is called Thorr's deliverance.

 So it is that Thorr came to Geirrothr's hall. Once there he was invited to sit in a chair that was the only one in the room. When he sat the chair began to rise. Thorr took the staff and pressed against the roof hard and heard a great cracking sound and then screams. Geirrothr's two daughters, Gjalp and Greip were under the chair. They had raised the chair, thinking that they would crush Thorr against the ceiling but instead Thorr had forced the chair back down and broken both of their backs. Geirrothr then invited Thorr into the great hall to play games. All along the hall great fires had been built. Geirrothr picked up a glowing bar of iron with tongs and threw it at Thorr. Thorr caught it with his iron gloves and raised the bar to throw it at Geirrothr. Geirrothr, however, jumped behind an iron pillar to shield himself. Thorr threw the bar with all his might and it passed through the pillar, through Geirrothr, through the outer wall and on to Mithgarthr. And so, in this way did Thorr defeat the plans of Geirrothr.

 Thorr set out one day in his chariot that was pulled by two goats with Loki. They came upon the dwelling of a man and decided to stay there for the night. Thorr slaughtered his goats and prepared them for cooking. Once the meat was cooked, he invited the man, his wife and their two children, a son named, Thjalfi and a daughter named Roskva, to share the meat with them. Thorr took the hides of the goats and instructed them to throw the bones into the hide after finishing the meat. Thjalfi took the thigh bone of one of the goats and cracked it open to get at the marrow. All finished eating their fill and retired for the night. Just before dawn Thorr arose and dressed himself and took up his hammer, Mjollnir and held it over the goat hides, hallowing them and bringing the them back to life. But one of the goats had a lame hind leg. When Thorr saw this he became very angry, for he realized that one of the family had not done with the bones as he had instructed. When he confronted the family, his anger was so great that his knuckles became white as a gripped the handle of Mjollnir. The man and his wife were so terrified that they offered everything they owned to appease him. Thorr saw their terror and his anger subsided. He took their children as payment for his goat having been lamed and Thjalfi and Roskva became Thorr's bond-servants and have been with him ever since that time.

 One day Thorr, Loki, Thjalfi and Roskva were traveling and came upon a great forest. They walked in the forest all day until it became night. So they began to look for shelter and after a bit found a great hall whose door was as wide as the hall itself. They decided to spend the night there. Along about midnight a great shaking like an earthquake rocked the hall. They all decided to explore farther into the hall an found that there was a side chamber to the right and they decided that it looked safer in there. Loki, Thjalfi and Roskva were frightened but Thorr had his hammer ready in case the quakes came from some great creature. Then there was a great humming sound and a great crash. When dawn came they ventured out of the hall and Thorr saw a huge man sleeping a short distance away. The large man was snoring and Thorr immediately recognized the snoring from the night. Thorr rose his hammer to strike the giant but before he could the giant woke and for the first time Thorr hesitated to strike. Thorr asked the giant his name and he said that his name was Skrymir. Skrymir said, “I don't need to ask who you are, for you are Thorr of the Aesir. Skrymir then reached forth and took his glove saying, “Ahhh I see you dragged away my glove.” Thorr looked to see that what they had mistaken as a hall had actually been Skrymir's glove. The side chamber was the thumb of the glove. Skrymir asked if Thorr and his companions would like to travel with him and Thorr consented. So Skrymir invited them to share his morning meal. Afterwards Skrymir suggested that they combine their food storages to which Thorr agreed, so all their food was put into a bag which Skrymir tied up and slung over his shoulder. So they started out on their journey and they were hard pressed to keep up with the long strides of Skrymir. The traveled all day and near night fall Skrymir found a place for them to spend the night under a great oak. Skrymir said, “Why don't you get our food ready while I take a sleep some.” With that Skrymir leaned back against the oak and began to snore as loudly as before. So Thorr went to the provisions pouch and tried to untie the knots. But to his great surprise he could not loosen even one knot. After many efforts he became furious and walked over to where Skrymir's head was and lifted his hammer and struck Skrymir in the head. Skrymir awoke and said, “Did a leaf fall on my head? Have you done eaten and are ready to sleep?” Thorr said that they were just getting ready to retire for the evening. So Skrymir went back to sleep and Thorr tried to get some sleep as well but Skrymir was soon snoaring so that it sounded like a roaring throughout the woods. No matter how he tried Thorr could not ignore the rumbling sound and finally became angry again and went up and struck Skrymir between the eyes so that the hammer sunk into his head. Skrymir awoke again and said, “Was that an acorn that fell on my head? Is it morning already?” Thorr had quickly went back to his place and acted as if he had just been awakened as well and said that there was still yet time to sleep before morning came. So Skrymir again went back to sleep and Thorr swore that if he had another chance to swing his hammer that Skrymir would not survive it. Soon Skrymir was snoaring away again and right before dawn Thorr decided to take a third swing and swung the great hammer with all his might at Skrymir's temple. But Skrymir simply sat up and stroked his chin and said, “A bird must be in the branches above and knocked down some twigs on me.” Skrymir said that he would be continuing on his way North but first he gave some advice to Thorr, Loki, Thjalfi and Roskva.



ENDNOTES
1. In the days of our ancestors, when a person was killed, the closest relative could choose to accept were-gild for their relatives death instead of avenging them. If the relative accepted the were-gild then the matter was considered legally settled. Basically it was an offer of payment of some kind as compensation for the death of the relative. If the relative accepted the were-gild they no longer had recourse to avenge their fallen kin. Back