sending him back to Jotunheim, for with the first blow he shattered the giant's skull to pieces, and hurled him headlong into Niflheim. But Loke had run such a race with Svadilfare, that shortly after the mischief-maker (Loke) bore a gray foal with eight legs. This is the horse Sleipner, which excels all horses ever possessed by gods or men. The gods perjured themselves, and in reference to this says the Elder Edda:
Then went the rulers there,
All gods most holy,
To their seats aloft,
And counsel together took;
Who all the winsome air
With guile had blended,
Or to the giant's race
Oder's maiden given.[1]
Then Thor, who was there,
Arose in wrathful mood,
For seldom sits he still
When such things he hears.
Annulled were now all oaths,
And words of promise fair,
And faith not long before
In council plighted.
This riddle is propounded. Who are the two who ride to the Thing? Three eyes have they together, ten feet and one tail; and thus they travel through the lands. The answer is Odin, who rides on Sleipner; he has one eye, the horse two; the horse runs on eight feet, Odin has two; only the horse has a tail.
Odin's horse, Sleipner, symbolizes the winds of heaven, that blow from eight quarters. In Skaane and Bleking, in Sweden, it was customary to leave a sheaf of grain in the field for Odin's horse, to keep him from
- ↑ Freyja, whom the gods had promised the giant, was Oder's wife.
