Study › Runes & Norse › The Building of Asgard's Wall
A giant builder offered to wall Asgard in one winter, for the price of Freyja, the sun and the moon. Loki, as a mare, lured his stallion away, and the work went undone.
The builder's price
After the war with the Vanir left Asgard's defences broken, a smith came offering to raise a wall strong enough to keep out the giants, and to finish it in three seasons. His price was steep: the goddess Freyja, together with the sun and the moon.
The stallion Svadilfari
On Loki's counsel the gods agreed — but only if he finished in a single winter, with no help from any man save his stallion Svadilfari. They were sure the work could never be done in time. Yet the stallion hauled stone with uncanny strength, doing more than the smith himself, and three days before summer the wall stood all but complete.
Loki's trick
Furious, the gods rounded on Loki, whose advice had trapped them, and threatened him with death unless he saved them. So Loki turned himself into a mare and ran whinnying from the woods; Svadilfari broke his harness and chased her away into the night, and the work went undone.
Thor and Sleipnir
Revealed now as a hrimthurs, a mountain-giant, the builder flew into a rage, and the gods called on Thor, who paid his wages with a single blow of Mjollnir that shattered his skull. Long after, Loki bore the fruit of that night: the grey, eight-legged foal Sleipnir, which he gave to Odin as the finest of all horses. The story is told in Snorri's Gylfaginning.
Read about Asgard, Sleipnir and Loki.
Questions
What did the builder ask for?
Freyja, the sun and the moon.
How was Sleipnir born?
Loki, as a mare, bore him after the stallion Svadilfari chased her.