The Builder of the Asgard Wall

In those days the gods and the giants were still at war, as they always had been. The gods had begun to build glittering palaces for the city of Asgard. But not a single stone of a wall stood around it. A wall high enough and thick enough that no giant could break it would take many long years to build. Yet one day a stranger walked up and stood before Odin, the father of all the gods. He said that in just one year he would build the whole wall, down to the very last stone. Not one of the gods could believe it.

The stranger said he could not raise splendid palaces the way the gods did, but at building walls no one could match him. Odin thought it over. If Asgard had a strong wall around it, the gods would no longer need to stand guard day and night. They could go out with easy hearts and bring good things to humankind. So Odin agreed. Before the Council of the Gods, he swore that the stranger would be given whatever he asked for if the wall was finished on time.

The next morning the stranger set to work. He brought no one to help him, only a huge horse on a lead. The gods thought to themselves that the horse would do nothing more than drag stones. But they were wrong. The horse set every block in its proper place by itself. It mixed the mortar and raised the wall on its own, day and night, without rest. Each morning the wall around Asgard stood a little higher, its gray stones stacked firm in the cold mist. The stranger and his horse built faster than any team of builders the gods had ever seen.

When the wall had risen high enough for all to see, Odin went and asked the stranger what payment he wanted. The stranger paused in his work. He said he wanted the sun, the moon, and the goddess Freyja for his wife. Freyja was the one who tended the flowers and grasses all over Asgard. When Odin heard this, he went pale with anger. The gods told one another that without the sun and the moon, the whole world would wither. The goddesses whispered that without Freyja, Asgard would sink into gloom. The gods would rather leave the wall unfinished than pay such a price.

Then the god Loki spoke up. Loki was half giant by blood, for his father was a wind giant. So his head was always full of schemes that no one else could think of. Loki said to let the stranger go on building, but to set one more condition. The wall had to be finished completely, down to the last stone, by the first day of summer the next year. If it was late by even a single day, the stranger would receive nothing he had been promised. The gods did as Loki said and took this condition to the stranger. The old storytellers of the North still say that at that very moment the gods knew for certain that the one before them was no ordinary being. He was a giant in disguise.

Knowing that time was short, the giant and his horse built even faster. At night, while the giant slept, the horse kept toiling alone. His name was Svadilfari. He hauled great boulders with his strong front legs and laid them on the wall in the dark. Higher and higher the wall rose. The gods watched it grow each day and felt no joy at all. Everyone knew that if the wall was finished on time, the sun, the moon and Freyja would have to leave Asgard forever.

Only three days remained before summer. The whole wall was finished except for one single stone, the one that would sit above the city gate. That night the giant told Svadilfari to haul up that last stone quickly. They would set it in place the next morning and finish a full two days early.

That night the moon shone bright and clear. Svadilfari was straining to haul the heaviest stone he had ever pulled. Suddenly he saw a small mare come galloping toward him, unusually playful. The mare swept past him and tossed out a teasing remark. She called Svadilfari a slave who did nothing but keep his head down and work day and night for his master. He did not even dare to come and play, she said. Svadilfari was annoyed. He stopped short and called after her, asking who said he did not dare. The mare only laughed, kicked up her heels, and vanished across the moonlit meadow.

All those days and nights of hauling stone without rest had left Svadilfari more tired than he knew. When he saw the mare run off, he dropped the stone right there on the ground and galloped after her. The two horses raced across the meadow, which glittered with night dew. They went down the mountainside, through a dark cave, and deep into a thick grove. As she ran, the mare kept turning her head to look back. She told Svadilfari all sorts of stories about the dwarfs and the elves. The great horse lost all track of time. He ran on and on after her and forgot all about the stone he had left beside the wall.

In the morning the giant came to the wall, meaning to set the last stone over the gate and be done. But the stone was still lying there, and Svadilfari had vanished without a trace. The giant hurried off to search for him. He searched the whole mountainside, and on as far as the distant land of the giants. But he found no sign of the horse anywhere.

The first day of summer came. The gods looked up at the gate and saw that the last stone was still not in place. The whole day passed, and the giant did not come back to set it. In the evening he returned, empty-handed. Odin stood tall before him and spoke slowly and firmly. "Your work is not finished," Odin said. "You forced a harsh bargain on us, and now we are free of our word. Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the goddess Freyja will be handed over."

The giant flew into a rage. He roared that the wall was built by his own hands, and he could easily tear it down. He rushed forward to throw down one of the palaces. But the gods were quick. They gathered around him, took firm hold of him, and pushed him straight outside the wall he had built almost to the end. Then Odin gave his command. The giant was to go far away and never come back to trouble Asgard again.

Soon after, Loki came home. He told the gods that he himself had turned into the mare and led Svadilfari running over the hills and mountains all night. When the gods heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief. They sat back in their golden palaces behind the new wall, glad that Asgard was now secure, safe from any enemy. Only Odin, sitting on his throne, still felt a heavy sadness he could not quite name. He knew that the highest, strongest wall ever raised around Asgard had come from a promise broken by a trick.