Loki sat happily on the high seat of Bilskirnir, sunk deep into a generous pile of cushions he had heaped up for luxurious comfort. The master of the hall and his young apprentice had left the previous day, leaving any appeals to the thundergod's household in Loki's hands. With a full horn of ale in one hand and a tray of sweet cakes across his lap Loki sighed in contentment and surveyed the nine worlds spread out before him, an occupation that the cunning god of trickery delighted in. From his perch he could see behind closed doors and into closed minds.
The platter was nearly empty when Loki heard an appeal from the distant Outlands. He was surprised at the source but eager to investigate and mere moments later he looked down on an Outland farmstead. The hall was sturdy and well built but the faded paint on the gables suggested it had seen better times. Goats were busy grazing on the stony hillside. A lone giantess stood beside a cairn, high on the hill above the farmstead. Compared to most giantesses she was almost attractive. She stood ten feet high and solidly built, wisps of fair hair escape from her head scarf. Her clothing was plain, not even dyed, Loki assumed she was a servant but her words proved him wrong.
'I stand here, by the grave of my parents, to declare a great wrong that has been done to me. I am Eaglebeak, daughter of Oskrud king of the giants. While he lived I was treated well in this hall, he had great treasures and I was given good clothes and fine food. But when he died his possessions were divided his two brothers and his eighteen daughters. The brothers took the treasures and left for distant lands. We sisters were left with just the farm. Of all my sisters I am the youngest. I am treated like the lowest servant while they sit idly and scold me. When I complain or rest they beat me.
'I can bare this injustice no longer. Asa Thor, if you can put things right between my sisters and me, I will give you any goat you want from the farm.'
The giantess poured out a cup of liquid on the cairn and made her way back down the hillside. 'Well that's tempting' Loki muttered amused 'A whole goat!' Her munched on the last of the cakes, wondering if helping the giantess might prove good entertainment. How would one deal with seventeen naughty older sisters? Would they take notice of him, or would they simply pummel him into the ground? He grinned as an idea began to form.
He leapt from the high seat and half ran to his own chamber. He dug through chests and pulled out a shirt of scale mail and a red winter cloak with a collar of bear fur. Having piled these on his bed he headed back down the stairs to the courtyard and crossed to the forge. Loki selected the biggest hammer he could easily lift and carried it back to his room. Still grinning he pulled on the armour, wrapped the cloak around his shoulders and stuffed the hammer through his belt. He considered his reflection in his large bronze mirror. No, not quite right. He took Sigyn's stiff hair brush from its place on her gown chest and brushed his ginger hair and beard until they crackled and the hairs stood out almost sideways. Much better. He didn't look anything like the thundergod, but a household of giant women who had never seen Thor should be easily taken in.
That same evening, his disguise hidden under his cloak, Loki went to the high seat and followed the plains of Middle Earth and the hills of the Outlands to the giantesses' farmstead. There was no one around, so he stepped off the high seat and onto the coarse grass of the hillside. Loki walked up to the farm door and beat on it with the hammer so that it jumped and shook on its hinges. He could hear shrill concerned voices within and the door creaked open. A giantess peered down at him, slowly taking in the red hair, the armour and the hammer. She wasn't Eaglebeak, this giantess had a generous crop of pimples on her already not over-attractive face. She was well dressed though and the length of her fingernails suggested she hadn't done any heavy work for many months, if ever at all.
Loki spoke in the deepest voice her could manage 'I am in need of food and lodgings for the night. I hope I can count on your hospitality.' Still shocked from the appearance of their unexpected guest the giantess pulled back the door further allowing Loki into the hall.
She soon recovered and shrieked 'Eaglebeak! We have a guest for dinner, hurry up with that food there! And make sure there is plenty for everyone!' The hall was open throughout except for a room at the far end that appeared to be for the animals. There were two wide benches down each side which doubled as both sleeping platforms and seating. The giantesses were clearly anticipating their supper as most of them were sitting at trestled tables. Eaglebeak was struggling with a cooking pot over the hearth.
'So!' Loki bellowed 'Who is the mistress of this hall?' The pimpled one gestured for him for follow as she weaved her way through the hall to the high seat. Eaglebeak glanced up as they passed, and stared with mouth agape at the visitor.
Another giantess kicked her 'Don't idle girl! Get the food ready!'
Sprawled on the carved high seat was a fat giantess, her generous flesh stretching the seams of her richly embroidered gown. A thick band of gold circled her greasy and greying black hair. He nose was hooked and her gaze was filled with pride. Pimples introduced her to the guest 'This is Kula, mistress of this hall and queen of these lands. Our guest surely needs no introduction.'
'Indeed' Kula replied 'he is most welcome here. Our father always thought highly of you.' She edged sideways making room on the wide chair and patted the vacant space, 'Come and take the place of honour.' Loki nodded his thanks and sat beside her. A trestled table was assembled before them and Eaglebeak brought fresh warm bread and boiled goat flesh from the hearth. Kula filled an ale horn and offered it to the Asa. Loki seldom tired of eating and tucked in heartily to the fare spread out before him. 'So' Kula commented with a grin 'it is true, you do have a healthy appetite.
Oh yes' the trickster replied and placed a hand on the giantess's thigh. Kula froze at his touch and blushed crimson. 'Where are all your husbands?' Loki enquired, a gleam in his eyes.
Several giantesses giggled, it was 'Pimples' who responded 'We have no husbands, there has not been a man here since our uncles left six years ago.'
'You have been alone for six years?' Loki asked, glancing at Kula.
'Yes' she whispered, and shyly laid her hand over his. Encouraged, Loki learnt over and kissed her, well aware that every giantess in the hall was staring in wonder, desire and jealousy. The tables and platters were cleared away by Eaglebeak and her younger siblings. Kula rose from the chair, took Loki's hand and led him towards her sleeping platform. Loki kissed her and fondled her body through her clothes. He unfastened her belt and pulled her gown and shift over her head. Kula gasped with pleasure as Loki kissed and carressed her body. The other sisters had retired to their beds, the hall thrummed with an intent and wakeful silence. Seventeen reluctant virgins boiled in hatred for their fortunate elder.
At first light Loki left the hall without a word. Kula roused soon after, her disappointment in finding her lover gone was soon soothed by pleasant memories. She ran her hands over her naked body to relive the sensations he had awoken in her and moaned again in pleasure. 'Pimples' stood over her bed, four other sisters beside her, the heavy cooking knife from the hearth glowed in the dawn light in her hand. 'Seize her!' she commanded. Rough hands grabbed Kula's arms and legs and dragged her from the covers and onto the earth of the floor. 'Pimples' plunged the knife home again and again until Kula lay silent in a thick pool of her own blood. 'Eaglebeak.' growled 'Pimples' 'Clean that up.'
The same evening Loki visited the hall again. It was a different giantess that opened the door, one of the younger sisters whose name he could not recall, she had a cleft chin covered in short thick hairs, like a pincushion. She led him to the high seat where 'Pimples' now sat in splendour. She clapped her hands with glee when she saw the guest. The other giantesses were sulen and weary from lack of sleep. They picked at their food in silence, reluctantly watching he same scene unfold. 'Pimples' showed no hesitation when Loki placed a hand on her thigh and kissed him eagerly. The meal was barely over, the oil lamps still lit and the miserable giantesses still at their places, when 'Pimples' struggled out of her embroidered gown, pulled the Asa onto her lap and hugged him against her breasts. One by one the remaining sisters left their places, blew out the lamps and retired to bed. They pulled the covers over their heads and stuffed the pillows against their ears but they could not escape the cries of the lovemaking.
After Loki left in the morning 'Bristle Chin' the third eldest sister led four of her siblings to 'Pimples' bed. 'Pimples' was dragged unceremoniously out from her blankets of goat hide and dumped onto the floor. 'Bristle Chin' snarled 'make love to this you bitch!' and forced the knife between 'Pimple's' legs. The other giantesses kicked the helpless woman and stamped their feet on her body. Eventually she lay still. 'Bristle Chin' glowered at Eaglebeak 'Clear up this mess!' she commanded. Eaglebeak nodded and started to drag the body out of the hall.
Day after day, Loki came to the giantesses's hall. Each evening passed much the same way, and each morning the jealous younger sisters murdered their elder. Eaglebeak dragged the bodies up to the cairn and covered them with stones, and spent much of the day scraping sticky puddles of blood from the hall floor. The chore of preparing the evening meal grew easier as the sister's numbers steadily declined, but through her haze of dejection and exhaustion the youngest giantess scarcely noticed. The morning came when only two sisters remained, Morn and Eaglebeak herself. Eaglebeak had spent the night in the animal room with her head buried under sacks of fodder. But in the otherwise perfect silence of the night every noise carried clearly.
When dawn came she was near mad with fury. Loki had barely shut the door behind him when she leapt into the main room, grabbed the knife from the hearth stones and plunged it through Morn's blankets into her belly. Morn screamed in pain and glared at Eaglebeak. As her life's blood drained away she grasped the result of the last weeks' events with a terrible clarity. 'Eaglebeak' she spat out the name 'you are now queen of this land. And should Thor wish to sleep with you, you have no sisters left to claim your life. That is, if he would want a runt like you in his bed.' Further enraged by the insult Eaglebeak seized the knife and pulled it free. But Morn had not finished 'I curse any child you have with Thor, Eaglebeak. It will neither grow nor thrive. It will be deformed.'
Eaglebeak screamed 'Shut up. Shut up!' and stabbed again with the knife. Morn lay dead. The sight of her sisters body still made her blood boil, Eaglebeak grabbed her legs and dragged her out of the door, she kept going, all the way to the family cairn and hurled rocks on her sister as if hiding the corpse would also bury the memory. Eaglebeak staggered down the hillside to the farmhouse, exhaustion hung over her like a thick fog. With no sisters to command her or beat her for idleness, she collapsed into a deep slumber beside the ashes of the hearth.
Loki had combed his hair and stuffed the armour and hammer into knapsack to return to Bilskinir in apparent innocence of his recent acts. In the main hall, Thrud sat on the high seat, she eyed him curiously, she had no idea what he had been doing every night, sometimes it was better not to ask. Loki retired to his room to catch up on lost sleep, and after a couple of hours, he awoke fresh and eager for his next conquest in the Outlands hall. Last one tonight, the pretty one, he mused, and she owes me a goat!
He was just about to creep out of the hall when the thunderer himself returned, grubby and dishevelled in his travelling clothes. Thrud jumped down from the high seat and hugged her father. 'Is all well in the east?' she asked.
'It is now.' The thundergod replied.
'I hate to trouble you when you have only just returned. But there is a giantess in the Northern Outlands who feels a violent animosity towards you. Could you have taken the life of one of her kinfolk for her to hate you so?'
'No.' Thor frowned, considering 'We have been at peace with the households of the northern giants for many years.'
'This is fresh hurt, like a raw open wound.' Thrud added.
'I don't understand.' the thunderer replied 'Show me.'
Loki stood frozen behind on of the thick main pillars of the hall watching the intent conversation. He felt the dread of impending discovery. Oh no, he is going to be furious when he finds out. He thought. Thrud clasped her father's hands and shared her memories of the giantess with him. Thor nodded, 'Yes you were right to tell me, I don't understand why, but she clearly blames me for her misery. She is one of the daughters of old Oskrud, he was a good friend to Asgard, even if he did spoil his children rotten. I will go there directly. Please tell Sif I will be back soon.'
The thundergod vanished from the hall. Loki shrank back to his room and waited for the thunderer's anger in nervous agitation. Thor stood by the cairn where fifty years before he had met with Oskrud to discuss peace terms between the Aesir and the giant's household. He was surprised to see the seventeen graves, fresh piled with no grass yet growing between the stones, and wondered what disaster had struck the household. As was his custom among the Outland folk he increased his size to match the height and build of the giant folk. Then strode down the path to the hall and knocked on the door. There was no response so he pushed the door open and walked in. The hall was deserted but for a single giantess sprawled on the floor beside a dark stain of dry blood. Taking her for dead Thor hurried over and turned the woman onto her back.
Disturbed from her sleep Eaglebeak stared blankly at him 'Who are you?' she asked struggling to her feet.
'An old friend of your father's.' Thor replied 'What has happened here?'
'The are all dead.' she muttered vacantly 'Thor came, and they are all dead.'
'I don't think it can have been Thor.'
'Why not?' the giantess murmured 'He had a hammer and everything.'
'Because I'm Thor, and haven't been to this farm in fifty years.'
Eaglebeak stared at him angrily 'This is no joking matter!'
'I'm telling you the truth. What did this knave look like?'
'You would do well not to call the thundergod a knave! He was far better dressed than you to start with. He wasn't tall like us, only about the height of Middle Earth folk, as I believe is normal in Asgard. And his hair was ginger -red, not blood red like yours.' She added wistfully 'He was very hansome.'
Eaglebeak studied the stranger who watched her with obvious amusement. His hair, although dusty with travel grime had a faint firey glow in the dim light of the hall. When she met his gaze she noticed a bright sparkle in his storm blue eyes. No longer so certain she muttered. 'If you were Thor you would have a hammer.'
Thor pulled open the fastening of his shirt revealling a tiny hammer hung on a thong around his neck. 'Don't they teach you the stories out here in the Outlands? Mastersmith Eitri gave Mjolnir several magical powers, its ability to change size being one of them.' Though small the hammer looked very real. 'Now tell me what has happened' Thor pressed.
Eaglebeak told him everything, from her appeal at the shrine to her exhausted collapse beside the hearth. Her tale complete she voiced her confusion. 'But if you are Thor, I have slain my sister for no reason, it was the thought that you had betrayed me, that madden me so.'
'I regret that is the case.' The god replied.
'Oh what must you think of me?' Eaglebeak wailed, close to tears.
'I think you are a very grubby giantess, coated in earth and dried blood and badly in need of a bath, as am I. Do you have any soap?'
Eaglebeak fetched a bar of lye and goat fat soap from a storage chest. Thor stacked fresh firewood on the hearth, it burst into flames without flint or steel. He pulled several blankets for the sleeping platforms. 'Come on then' he said and led her out of the hall. In the valley bottom a mountain stream gurgled its way between between steep banks. For generations the women of the hall had maintained a stone weir to provide a deep pool for washing and bathing. Thor pulled off his shirt and breeches and waded in.
Eaglebeak hesitated, 'It looks cold.'
'It is.' Thor replied and pulled her in , she screamed as she fell into the chill waters. 'The sooner we are clean, the sooner we can get warm again.' the thunderer was laughing at her. He pulled her sodden gown off and scrubbed her hard with the lye soap, working it well into her matted hair. He frowned noting the fading bruises that marked every part of her body, undeniable evidence of her sisters' harsh treatment. He ducked her under three times to rid her of the soap, and then passed her the bar 'Your turn.' he said to her with a grin. Eaglebeak was shivering with cold but she returned the favour. Soon after they were both sitting by the hearth wrapped in blankets. Eaglebeak had brought out her old mother's ivory comb and was pulling it through the thundergod's hair.
'May I ask you something?' she asked.
'Of course.'
'If you had come in the beginning, when my sisters were still here. What would you have done.'
'Taken you away and found you a good husband.'
'What will you do now?'
'There is nothing to be done. You have the justice you craved, the hall is yours. Your life is now your own.'
'So who gets the goat? The first Thor or the second?'
'The first. Give me the beast and I will soon find him. Tell me, were you so very jealous when he was shagging your sisters?'
'Very.' She smiled.
'There was truly no need.' he pulled her towards him and held her. She let the blanket fall from her shoulders and they made love beside the hearth stones.
******
The following evening Loki retired to his room. Sigyn sat up in the bed regarding her husband with a strange expression. Beside her a large nanny goat lay contentedly on the bed covers chewing one of the blankets. 'Oh.' was all Loki could say.
'There's a stave tied to her belly.' said Sigyn. The nanny had a red cord tied about her middle, with a rune stick of the kind merchants used tucked under it. Loki pulled it free gingerly, as if he feared it would bust into flame, he read it:
work . complete + payment . made + next . time . you . play. fairy. godmother + wear . different . disguise
Loki felt relief wash over him. He had got away with his lark. 'Well, are you going to explain this?' his wife asked.
'It's a long story.'
'I'm all ears husband. Why would anyone put a nanny goat in our bed?'
'Please, I'm tired.' Loki feigned a yawn and pushed the nanny off the bed covers. He climbed into bed and blew out the lamp.
'If you don't tell me, I will ask Sif in the morning, she knows every twist and lump in your life thread!'
'Oh very well.' Loki gave in. 'A fortnight and five days ago, Thor and Thialfi rode off on the long road to the Eastern Outlands. They left wise and cunning Loki to watch from the high seat and ward the friends of Bilskirnir in their absence. Well did brave Loki carry out this duty and after many hours he heard a call from the wild lands of the north…'
Sigyn snuggled up beside her husband, her smile in anticipation of a good story hidden in the darkness.
Nine moons later Eaglebeak gave birth to a daughter, who she loved dearly in memory of the father's kindness. And lavished all the affection on the child that she had been denied since her parent's death. Morns's curse held and child was shorter when she came of age than when she had been borne. Thor had woven a little of his magic into the farm, the crops grew by themselves and even fruited out of season. And the goats, well from that time on, they were the best goats in all of the Outlands. From time to time he would find a reason to travel in those far northern lands, and both Eaglebeak and Ironsword would give him a warm welcome.
This tale is from Egil and Asmunds Saga. In the original Loki has no involvement. It is Thor who beds the giantesses to provoke them to kill one another. This behaviour is so Loki-like I could not resist the swap.