The Making of Mjolnir
What treasures came from Loki’s mischief?
As a prank, Loki cut off all of Sif’s hair. He then had the dwarfs known as the sons of Ivaldi make her hair of gold. The dwarfs also made the ship Skidbladnir and the spear Gungnir.
Loki bet the dwarf Brokk his own head that Brokk’s brother Sindri could not make treasures to match these. Sindri worked at the forge while Brokk kept the bellows blowing. They made a boar with golden bristles and the arm ring Draupnir.
As they were making their last treasure, a hammer, a fly bit Brokk’s eyelid. Blood ran into his eye, and he let go of the bellows to brush the fly away. With the flow of air interrupted, the finished hammer had one flaw: its handle was short.
The gods declared the hammer the finest treasure of all, since it would be the most useful for keeping the frost giants at bay. Having lost the bet, Loki insisted that he had wagered his head, but not his neck. Instead of cutting off his head, Brokk sewed Loki’s lips together with a cord.
Sources for this story (3)The Making of Mjolnir
Chapter 43 of Skaldskaparmal tells this story to explain why gold is called “Sif’s hair.” It does not say when it happened in relation to other events involving the gods. Here, it comes before the story of the giant who builds the wall, whom Thor fights with Mjolnir.
hamarrinn var beztr af öllum gripunum
The hammer was the finest of all the treasures.
“The Language of Poetry” Chapter 43
“The Language of Poetry”Skáldskaparmál
“The Beguiling of Gylfi”Gylfaginning
“The Sayings of Grimnir”Grímnismál
Image details
Elmer Boyd Smith “The third gift — an enormous hammer by Elmer Boyd Smith” 1902 Public domain View original image
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