3-11“The Lay of Regin” Stanza 1–12

The Otter and the Cursed Ring

What curse was placed on the ring?

Odin, Loki, and Hoenir were traveling together. Beside a waterfall, an otter was eating a salmon. Loki threw a stone and killed it. But the otter was really Otr, the son of Hreidmar.

The gods were taken prisoner at Hreidmar's house. To save their lives, they had to fill the otter's skin with gold and cover the outside too. Loki set off for the waterfall to find the gold.

In *The Lay of Regin*, Loki catches the dwarf Andvari in a net while he is in the shape of a fish. Forced to hand over his gold, the dwarf tries to keep just one ring. Loki takes that too. In *Skaldskaparmal*, the dwarf declares that whoever owns the ring will lose his life.

The gods covered the skin with gold. But a single whisker was still showing. Hreidmar demanded that they hide that too. Odin placed the ring over it, and at last the skin was completely hidden.

Illustration of The Otter and the Cursed Ring