Sleipnir- Norse CreatureCreature · Beast"The Eight-Legged Horse"

The Wager

Sleipnir's story begins with a stranger who came to Asgard offering to build a wall so strong no giant could breach it. He would finish in a single winter. His price was the sun, the moon, and Freyja.

The gods wanted the wall but refused the cost. Following Loki's advice, they set impossible conditions: the builder must work alone, with no man's help, and finish before the first day of summer. If even one stone was missing, he would receive nothing. The builder agreed but asked to use his stallion, Svaðilfari. The gods consented, thinking a horse could make little difference.

Svaðilfari was no ordinary horse. He hauled stones so massive they made the gods marvel, doing twice the work of his master. Three days before the deadline, with summer almost upon them, the wall was nearly complete. The gods turned on Loki, whose advice had led them into this, and threatened him with death unless he found a way to stop the builder.

The Mare

That night, as the builder drove Svaðilfari toward the quarry, a mare appeared from the forest. Svaðilfari broke his traces and bolted after her. The builder chased his horse through the woods all night but could not catch him. Without Svaðilfari, the massive stones could not be hauled. The next night the mare appeared again, and the next. When the deadline arrived, the wall stood incomplete.

The builder flew into a rage so violent his disguise cracked, his body swelling to jötunn proportions. The gods called for Thor. Thor shattered the builder's skull with Mjölnir. The gods kept their wall, their goddess, and their sun and moon. The builder received only death.

The Eight-Legged Foal

Loki did not return to Asgard for some time. When he appeared months later, he brought a grey foal with eight legs instead of four. This was Sleipnir, the offspring of Svaðilfari and the mare. The mare was Loki. The trickster had become pregnant in mare form and given birth to the finest horse in all the worlds. The father of Fenrir and Jörmungandr was also the mother of Odin's mount.

Loki gave Sleipnir to Odin. Sleipnir became the Allfather's steed, the grey horse that could run across land, sea, and air, carrying its rider between the nine worlds. Runes were carved on his teeth.

Between the Worlds

When Baldr was troubled by evil dreams, Odin saddled Sleipnir and rode down the road to Hel, past the blood-spattered hound Garmr at the gate. In the realm of the dead, Odin raised a seeress from her grave and learned the prophecy of his son's murder. Only Sleipnir could have carried him there and back.

After Baldr's death, Hermóðr borrowed Sleipnir and rode nine nights through dark valleys where no sun shone. He crossed the glittering bridge Gjallarbrú and reached the halls of Hel. He found Baldr seated in a place of honor and carried Hel's terms back to the living: she would release Baldr if everything in the world wept for him. One giantess refused. Baldr remained with the dead. Sleipnir bore Hermóðr through death's country and out again.