NORTHERN EUROPE 149
See also: Creation of the universe 130–33 ■ War of the gods 140–41 ■ The adventures of Thor and Loki
in Jötunheim 146–47 ■ The twilight of the gods 150–57Loki causes the death of Baldur, as
depicted in a 17th-century manuscript
of the Prose Edda by Icelandic farmer
Jakob Sigurdsson for his foster father,
the Reverend Ólafur Brynjólfsson.He convinced the Aesir to
offer the goddess Freyja
in return for the building of
a defensive wall.He cut the golden hair of
Sif, the wife of Thor, who
forced Loki to replace it.He made Hod kill Baldur
and refused to join the Aesir
gods in weeping for him.He tricked the goddess Idun
into taking her apples of youth
to the Aesir, thus allowing her
to be kidnapped.Loki's tricks often hurt the other gods.brother, the blind Hod. To prevent
this from coming to pass, Frigg
sought promises from everything
in the world not to harm Baldur.
Loki, who was jealous of Baldur’s
popularity, learned that Frigg had
failed to extract a promise from the
unobtrusive mistletoe. Unaware of
this, the Aesir gods entertained
themselves by playing a game in
which they threw all manner of
things at Baldur, who always
remained unharmed. Loki then
fashioned an arrow from mistletoe,
placed it in Hod’s hand, and guided
the blind god’s aim so that the
mistletoe struck and killed Baldur.
Frigg hoped to save her son, and
sent the god Hermod to Hel to
plead for Baldur’s release from the
Underworld. (Hel was both the
name of the realm and the being
who presided over it.) She agreed to
release Baldur, but only if all things
wept for him.Loki's punishment
All things did weep for Baldur, bar
one, a giantess who was none other
than Loki in disguise. Baldur was
thereby forced to stay in the
Underworld. The Aesir gods took
vengeance on Loki by chaining him
to a rock beneath the open jaws of
a serpent so that the snake’s venom
dripped onto his face. Loki’s faithful
wife, Sigyn, held a bowl over him
to catch the venom, but whenever
she turned to empty the bowl, the
venom dripped onto Loki’s face,
causing earthquakes as he writhed
in agony, punished for his trick. ■US_148-149_Death_of_Baldur.indd 149 06/12/17 4:31 pm