A Tale from the Eddas
Loki decided to leave Valhal and seek out Freya's company. Odin's thoughts were lost in plans of battles and tactics and he spent hours staring at the Valkyries' death loom, a new contraption introduced by the Vanir. Seeking patterns in the woven intestine threads had become Odin's new obsession.
Loki yearned for less serious pastimes, excessive alcohol in friendly company sounded vastly preferable to the warfather's long silences and meaningful glares carefully timed to Loki's attempts at conversation. He lovingly unrolled his new falcon feather cloak, a recent gift from Freya. He smiled remembering her offer to teach him magic, a gift he had gratefully accepted. Afterwards it had been highly questionable who had learnt most from the meeting of two skilled minds, gifted in similar but subtly different ways. Loki threw the feather cloak around his shoulders and leapt into the air in a falcon's guise.
Still delighted with the sensation of flight he swooped low through the fields of Asgard. The goddesses in the gardens at Friendly Hall scolded him as he snatched counters from their gaming boards with his claws and dropped them in the deep emerald grass. Over Thor's lands Loki flew more respectfully, not wishing to incur the anger of Earth's formidable son and soon arrived at the newly established estate of Folkvang and Freya's own residence.
Men and woman of Vanaheim were still working on the finishing touches of the hall and the beautifully carved and painted barge boards were being raised. Loki found Freya instructing the workers and swooped down beside her. He let the feather cloak slip back revealing his true form, and look up at the towering walls graced with carved birds and stags heads. 'I thought you might like a break.' he said with a wink.
'I'm busy.' Freya muttered her thoughts elsewhere.
'Not even a drink then?' Loki pressed, disappointment obvious.
'No, if it is a drinking partner you are wanting you could try Heimdall. He is having a bit of a celebration.'
'Heimdall? Reveling? Never! He's always too busy playing watchman.'
'Not anymore, I taught him the seeing magic. Now he can keep his minds eye on our enemies and his real eyes on his mead horn and a good woman or two. He is making up for lost time, you should find him better company than he was before.'
'Well that is good news.' said Loki happily, he gave Freya a playful hug 'But I would still rather stay with you.'
'You never give up do you Loki.' Freya scolded.
'No'.
'Then maybe I will indulge you soon, but it will cost you. You will have to do me a favour.'
'Anything.' Loki grinned.
'I bought the lands here in return for teaching magic to the gods and goddesses of Asgard, I have yet to complete this task and I want that payment to be made in full before my hall is completed. One of the Aesir is less than keen, if you persuade them to come and learn I will give you what you want.'
'No problem.' Loki boasted.
'Then bring me Asa Thor.' Freya laughed and turned her back on Loki, who cursed under his breath. He was not sure he could persuade the thundergod to do anything he was reluctant to do, but for Freya.... it was worth a try. .....
Loki wasted no time in searching out Thor, reverting to his falcon form he sped straight back over the fields to Bilskirnir. In the main hall he was greeted by Thor's housekeeper Sigyn who directed the trickster towards the stables where he found the thundergod lovingly polishing the bronze panels on his chariot. 'Hello.' said Loki cautiously. Thor grunted an acknowledgment, intent on attacking a particularly stubborn stain of troll blood. Sharp sand and lemon juice had failed to shift it and the thundergod had decided to try bloody minded determination instead.
Loki stepped forward to inspect Thor's handiwork, 'There is an easier way than that.'
Thor scowled and tossed his polishing cloth aside, it was now smoking. He looked up at the trickster 'What's that?' he asked.
Loki closed his eyes and mumbled a chant under his breath. Thor stared at the now perfect gleaming bronze, he could see his face reflected in it. 'Not quite what I had in mind.' Thor groaned.
'But you wanted it clean didn't you?' asked Loki.
'That was too easy, I was enjoying the challenge.'
'Enjoying?' Loki scoffed 'You were really losing your temper!'
Thor sighed, 'It's not a challenge if it's not difficult. Now what I am going to do with my time?'
Loki laughed 'What any god should be doing when relaxing at home, making love to a beautiful woman.'
'You may have a point there.' agreed Thor with a thoughtful smile.
'That's the spirit.'
'So. Which particular woman were you thinking of? A beauty from Friendly Hall? A playful maiden from Midgard? A wild insatiable giantess?'
Loki pretended to consider and said 'Fine fellow like you? You should have the very best!'
'Who?'
'Freya.' Loki whispered.
'Hmm, Freya.' Thor mused, caught off guard. Then he swore. 'No, not her, she has been on at me to learn her infernal witchcraft.'
'That's a shame.' Loki sighed 'She does want you, I am sure of it.'
'Really?' muttered Thor. 'Yes, and can you imagine anything more desirable than a tumble with Freya?' Loki did not have to pretend to look wistful.
'I can imagine where that would lead, no magic, no fun. No, I would be better off with a trollwife.' Thor said sulkily.
'Oh, give her a chance, she just wants you to be worthy of her.'
'Worthy?' Thor retorted loudly, making Loki jump. 'Of course I am worthy of her!' The thunderer snatched up a spare axle beam and snapped as if it was a twig.
'So that is the measure of worthiness,' mocked Loki, 'that you could snap the poor woman in half? Have you not considered that she might want you to match her intellect?'
'I am knowledgeable enough in a god's skills.' Thor growled.
'Oh magic has it's uses. You must confess it is a great help in keeping your chariot shiny. And then....' Loki conjured an image of the Vanadis forcing Thor to view the exquisite curves he was desperately trying to block from his mind.
Increasingly suspicious Thor demanded 'Why are you suggesting this anyway? What have you got to gain?'
Loki shrugged smiling.
'Out with it!' Thor pressed.
'Er well,' Loki replied, 'we have the same problem, until you allow Freya to teach you the magical arts, she wont sleep with you and she wont sleep with me.'
'Aha! So you have your own interests at heart, that makes far more sense. So if I were to go through this unmanly charade, for your benefit, what will you give me?'
'Are you crazy? You will get Freya!'
Thor pressed mercilessly, 'So will you.'
Loki thought quickly, he had underestimated Thor badly, 'I could offer you my friendship.'
'Don't I already have that?'
'You drive a hard bargain' Loki sighed 'Then I could offer you a blood brotherhood.'
Thor laughed 'You want her badly don't you.' He laid a hand on the trickster's shoulder 'I don't want any friendship tied by an oath, I want it offered freely or not at all.'
'Very well then.' Loki grinned.
'I don't promise anything,' Thor cautioned 'But I will go to Folkvang.'
.....
Beyla led the Thunderer through Folkvang's many rooms to Freya's chambers. Every surface of the timber beams and ceilings were carved and painted in subtle colours. Rich tapestries graced the walls and the floors were heaped in soft rugs and furs. Finally they entered the room of enchantments, as beautiful as the rest of the household, but perfectly round. Thor took in the scene before him, Freya stood facing him,wearing a gown of gossamer linen and jewels of gold, behind her rose her seithr platform, four intricately carved posts supporting a wide seat above heaped in cushions, the seat was five feet above the floor and a delicately carved ladder allowed access to the top. Nine handmaidens stood around the room, their golden hair cascading and glowing in the light of the candles each held in their hands. They all wore the same gowns of thin linen, royal linen it would later be called in Egypt, they may as well had been naked.
Freyja stepped towards the thunderer, she moved with the dangerous stealth of a cat, her breasts swung clearly visable beneath her gown. 'You come to learn from me.'
'I don't know.' the god replied, 'I am a warrior, what need have I of magic?'
'You could have prevented the walls of Asgard from falling.' Freyja reminded him of the recent conflict between the gods. 'What good was your strength then?'
'Magic is the weapon of a coward. Or a woman.'
Freyja's gaze hardened, she slapped him hard 'You are a fool!' She reached out to him with her mind her thoughts cold and sharp. Thor clasped his head and cried out as agony coursed through his brain. As quickly as it had come the pain went away. 'Is that what you want?' asked Freyja, 'To be forever at the mercy of those with the knowledge of magic, the mercy of myself, my brother, Loki, Odin and those half witted frost giants? You have the chance to stand up to them all, to fight and defend yourself in all battles, not just those where the man with the biggest rock wins.'
'You are very persuasive.' Thor said weakly, his head still ringing.
'I want to help you, but you must also help yourself .'
'Help me Freyja.'
The goddess grinned and led the thundergod to the platform, he hesitated at its steps as if relishing his ignorance of the magical arts, then resignedly he climbed the delicate steps and sat on the seat's soft cushions. Freyja climbed up beside him and to his surprise urged him to remove his tunic. She sat behind him her legs pressing close on either side, and her breasts warm on his naked back. Thor's misgivings melted away.
'This seat is my hlidskjalf, my watching tower,' said Freya 'it represents the great world tree. Here we can imagine that we sit within its branches, like the far sighted eagle, and see to every corner of the nine realms. As the tree has roots so does the hlidskjalf have pillars, one represents the Outlands, one the Underworld, and one the lands of Midgard and Vanaheim. And now that I dwell among the Aesir I have added a forth for Asgard. Each pillar bears runic verses describing the realms, and each is made of timber taken from that world. The hlidskjalf is not necessary to see beyond Asgard's walls, but it allows such magic to be worked with far less effort. Following me so far?' Thor nodded and the Vanadis continued.
'As in all things it is better to learn by doing. I will lead our first journey, but you must concentrate so that you can follow. Try and relax.' Freya gently massaged Thor's shoulders and gestured to her handmaids, they began to sing a repeating chant. The words had no meaning to Thor but as the chant slowed the room became cloudy and indistinct. Folkvang faded away and they seemed to be floating high above Midgard, with the mountains of the Outlands just visable in the distance. 'I have a ward I need to check on.' Freya explained and the image of Midgard came nearer until Thor could make out the individual trees and grazing beasts. The fields of men sped below them as if they rode on the back of a soaring bird. Freya focused on a settlement with a large communal roundhouse surrounded by outbuildings, cattle pens and ringed with a high embankment. The roundhouse roof offered no resistance and they could see a feast in progress below them, the walls and roof tree were decked out with greenery and the celebration was clearly a wedding.
'Can we be seen?' asked Thor.
'No.' Freya replied, 'We are here only in spirit. It is possible to use the hlidskjalf to move physically to another realm but that takes a great deal of skill and few can master it. Maybe if you do well now I will try and teach you that some other time.'
'Which is your ward?' asked Thor.
'The bride,' replied Freya 'observe and know her'. The young woman sat in her wedding finery, a dress of red cloth embroidered with spirals at the hems, jewelry of amber and crudely beaten sheets of gold, her hair and face hidden by a veil. Thor could see her clearly but slightly distorted as if through thick glass, and he could sense more than her appearance. Her thoughts also came to him clearly, she was very young, barely a woman, a confusion of joy, pride and a consuming nervousness spilled from her.
'Good.' said Freyja encouragingly 'And now the bridegroom.' Several seats away the bridegroom sat drinking heavily, laughing and swapping jokes with his fellows. His thoughts struggled through a haze of alcohol, but his lust was strong and demanding. 'Well?' asked Freyja.
'She's a virgin, and he is too drunk to care.'
'Indeed, let us look out for her.'
The feast was over, the last platters cleared away and young men were chanting for the newlyweds to take their leave. The bridegroom heaved himself upright, swaying slightly he walked around the trestle and tugged the girl roughly behind him, and made for the curtained sleeping area down one side of the roundhouse. Freyja smiled as Thor willed their vision after the couple, he could sense the growing terror in the young woman and had not realised that he had taken control of the enchantment. The bridegroom tore the veil from her head and kissed her roughly.
'What can we do?' whispered Thor.
'Help her find passion' Freyja replied 'use your mind to soothe and delight her.'
The bridegroom hauled the dress from her shoulders, the girl backed away sobbing now in fear. Her terror was like a rearing beast, Thor embraced it with his own thoughts willing her to be calm. Gradually the weeping subsided, the bridegroom reached forward to clasp her barely budding breasts. Thor filled her mind with thoughts of pleasure, awakening her body as if with a tender caress, and heard her gasp of delight a moment before the drunken hands grasped her exposed flesh.
'Very good.' laughed Freya. 'I think you have a natural gift in the shaman's art'. The vision had gone and Thor could only see the wall's of Freya's chamber. 'So do you think you could use your new found skill?'
'I don't know,' Thor replied 'I still don't think a god should practice magic.'
'Oh Thor!' Freya teased him 'After what you have just done for that girl, do you still think magic is unmanly?'
'Er, well, maybe not that part.'
Freya dismissed her handmaidens and they were left alone. The Vanadis pushed Thor onto his back, pulled off her gown and sat aside him. 'Now.' cried the goddess 'Let's see just how unmanly I have made you!'
.....
Eventually (and after no short length of time), tiring of physical pleasure they decided to continue Thor's training. Freya suggested that the thunderer should try to make a journey of his own without her assistance. 'What would you like to see?' she asked.
Thor considered, 'The Outlands I suppose, then I can see what the giants are up to.'
'Not very original.' laughed Freya 'but very practical.'
She settled herself once more behind him on the cushions of the hlidskjalf. 'Lead the way,' she said.
'What? I don't know how.'
'Try,' said Freya 'close your eyes and think of a place you know well and will yourself there.'
Thor concentrated, blocking out the sights of Folkvang, he consider the desolate wilderness of the Outlands. He remembered the giantess Gjalp who lived on the border road far to the east. Thor had befriended her and often stopped to rest at her cottage when he passed that way. He remembered tiny details of Gjalp's dwelling, the dry stone walls stuffed with moss, the log roof with its soot dusted cobwebs, her fishpond. He recalled sitting with her helping catch fish for supper and the giantess's infectious laugh when he splashed her with water.
With the place firmly in his mind Thor felt the magic take hold and opened his eyes to see the landscape of Midgard rushing below him. It took longer than before, but the Outland border was much further from the gods' realm. And there was the cottage, Gjalp was stooped over the stream beating her washing.
'Can I talk to her?' Thor asked Freya.
'You can, but she will hear you speak with her mind rather than her ears. Never try this with a mortal unless they are asleep, otherwise they tend to get overexcited.'
Thor sent a greeting to Gjalp. The giantesses, wise in magic herself smiled, 'Hello Thor.' she said 'Well what is Asgard coming to if you are dabbling in the female arts!'
'That's enough of that.' Thor replied indignantly 'How are you faring?'
'All is well for me, all is not well in Midgard.'
'How so?'
Gjalp sighed 'Lut crossed the border road three days ago, he had a hunger for mortal blood and I am sure he has found some by now.'
Lut's name was known to the thundergod, he acknowledged the news with some choice swear words and willed the vision into Midgard. The smoke of burnt out houses and discarded human bones marked the giant's trail. At the next settlement the fires of destruction were newly lit and the air was rent with the screams of human suffering. Lut towered over the carnage, his form hideous. The giant had nine heads, each one uglier than the next, and four arms dangling from his humped back. He was gloating over four women that he had bound to the broken stump of a tree. Two men struggled helplessly in his talon like hands. 'Don't worry my pretties.' growled one of Lut's heads, dribble pouring between its tusks. 'I wont eat you yet a while, not until after I get to play with you.' Lut casually raised a screaming man and bit a great chunk out of his thigh. Another arm reached out with extended craw to tear away a woman's clothing.
Acting on instinct and driven by a berserk rage Thor leapt from the hlidskjalf, and howled his challenge at the giant. Lut barely had time to register surprise at the thundergod's sudden appearance before Thor grabbed the arm holding the injured man and tore it from the giant's body. Lut screamed in pain, and screamed even louder as the other arm clasping a captive was also ripped away. The giant staggered back, blood pouring from the ragged stumps where his limbs had been, weak from blood loss he sank to his knees. 'I thought I told you to keep your filthy carcass out of Midgard!' shouted the enraged Thundergod. Lut spat defiantly, Thor advanced for the kill, anger giving his eyes the glow of brimstone. He grabbed Lut's remaining arms, planted his foot on the dying giant's chest and pulled, Lut's abused body fell into a deepening pool of his own blood.
Freya ran to the aid of the injured man, but his wound was too severe even for her healing arts and he pleaded for her to let him die so that he would not burden the womenfolk. The Vanadis wept at the tragedy and her golden tears settled on the stranger she would never know. Thor released the women from their bonds and was instantly embraced by relieved, sobbing housewives.
'Comfort them.' said Freya, 'Let them have one happy memory of this terrible time. I will wait for you on the hlidskjalf, call me when you are done and I will bring you home.
Back in Folkvang Freya kept watch for Thor, and her own heart lifted as joy returned to the shattered village. Should I tell him what he has achieved? she wondered Maybe not. He is teaching himself faster than I could. Ah Thor, Loki was wise to choose you as his dearest friend, and so shall I, for who would want you as an enemy? .....
(The Edda tells of Freya teaching magic to the Aesir. Thor uses almost every form of magic in his various adventures recorded in the myths so it appears that he learnt the arts from Freya.
Thor's contempt for magic in this story emphasises a common prejudice found in the myths, which appears to stem from the macho warrior ethics of the Viking Age. The hlidskjalf normally associated with Odin is also attributed to Frey, and is an obvious though unrecorded tool for Freya in her role as a magic worker.
Thor's ability to materialise out of thin air to fight giants is recorded in the Eddic tale of Asgard's wall. However like the storytellers of old I am using artistic license to 'forget' this skill when it aids the storyline.
Lutt is recorded as one of the giants killed by Thor in the Thulur. No description is given for the giant or his demise but his name means 'stooped', similar mutant giants are described in the sagas. In the interests of continuity, Freya's powers are shown to be less than they are after the Brisingamen story.)