When Ægir had got possession of the huge kettle borrowed by Thor from Hymir, he prepared a great banquet for the Æsir.1 Odin was one of the guests; others were Frigg, Sif, Bragi, Idun, Tyr, Njord, Skadi, Frey, Freyja, Vidar, Frey’s serving men, Byggvir and Beyla, with a host of other Æsir and Elves besides. Loki also made one of the number, but Thor was absent on an expedition to the east. Radiant gold lit the room instead of tapers, and the ale poured forth of itself without the aid of any cupbearer. Ægir’s servants, Eldir and Fimafeng, were praised highly on every hand for the skilful performance of their duty. Hereat Loki grew angry and killed Fimafeng, although the spot was holy ground. The Æsir brandished their shields, raised an outcry against Loki, and drove him out into the forest; then they sat down to their drinking. Loki nevertheless shortly returned and, meeting Eldir outside the hall, asked him what the Æsir were discoursing about over their cups. “They are speaking of their weapons and their valorous deeds,” answered Eldir; “and none among them has a good word to say for you.” Loki said that he purposed to go inside and look on at the banquet and that he intended to bring evil and dissension with him and to mingle misfortune with the mead they were drinking. Refusing to listen to Eldir’s warnings, he forced his way with threats. All ceased speaking when they saw Loki enter. He asked permission to still his thirst and, no one answering a word, he demanded that they should either show him to a seat or drive him out once more. Bragi declared that the Æsir never would give him a place among them again; whereupon Loki reminded Odin that once in the morning of time they two had blended blood with each other and thus had become sworn brothers, on which occasion Odin had given his promise that no drink should cross his lips that was not offered to both of them alike. Odin accordingly asked Vidar to make room for Loki at his side, and Vidar promptly arose and poured drink into Loki’s cup. Loki offered obeisance to all the gods and goddesses and drank to them all — Bragi alone excepted. Bragi now proposed to present him with horse and sword and rings in recompense if he would keep the peace. Loki replied with taunts, maintaining that Bragi had none of the possessions of which he spoke: “Of all the Æsir sitting here, you are most afraid of battle and most wary of flying bolts.” “If I were outside the hall, as certainly as I now sit within the hall, I should carry away your head in my hand,” retorted Bragi. “You are brave enough while you are sitting in your seat, Bragi Grace-the-Benches,” answered Loki; “if you are angry, come and fight it out with me.” “I beg of you,” said Bragi’s wife, Idun, “do not taunt Loki herein Ægir’s hall.” “Hold your tongue, Idun,” rejoined Loki; “of all wanton women I call you the most wanton; with your white arms you have embraced the slayer of your own brother.” Idun declared that she only wished to pacify Bragi so that the two would not come to blows. Now Gefjon spoke: “Why do you two Æsir continue to bandy words in this presence? Loki appears not to know that he is on the wrong road, that all the gods are angry at him.” Loki at once stopped her lips by reminding her of an amorous adventure in which she had played a part. Hereupon Odin warned Loki to beware of Gefjon’s wrath: “For she knows the destinies of men as well as I.” Loki immediately turned upon Odin and said: “You have often granted victory to dastards.” “You, for your part,” replied Odin, “lived eight winters under ground as a woman, milking cows.” No insult much worse could possibly be thrown in a man’s teeth, and so Loki was not slow in making a rejoinder no less coarse, to the effect, namely, that Odin had once sojourned on the island of Samsey engaged in the practice of witchcraft and sorcery after the manner of witches. Frigg now took a part in the discussion, declaring that Odin and Loki had better not reveal what they had been occupied with in the morning of time, and Loki immediately countered with the old story that on a certain occasion when Odin was absent from home, she had had his brothers Vili and Ve for husbands. “Had I here in Ægir’s hall a son like Balder, you would not easily escape,” answered Frigg. “You plainly wish me to recount still more of my evil deeds,” said Loki; “know then, it is my doing that you shall no more see Balder come riding into the hall.” “You are beside yourself,” said Freyja, “to dare relate all the evil and heinous acts of your life; Frigg knows the course of destiny, though she tells no man thereof.” “Silence,” answered Loki; “I know you only too well. There is scarcely any one in this company, whether of Æsir or Elves, whom you have not had for a lover; you are a Troll, wicked through and through; once the gods surprised you with your own brother.” “It is of little consequence,” said Njord, “that women have lovers; it is far worse that you, womanish god, venture into our presence.” Loki reminded him that he had once been sent east ward as a hostage and that the women of Hymir had covered him with insults. “Even if I was once a hostage, nevertheless I have begotten a son (Frey) who is the friend of all and the bulwark of the Æsir.” “His mother was your own sister,” replied Loki. Tyr now spoke: “Frey is foremost of the brave men of Asgard, he violates neither maid nor wife, and he looses from bonds all those that are bound.” “Hold your tongue, Tyr; never have you been able to bring about peace; do not forget how the Fenris Wolf tore off your right hand.” “Nevertheless,” answered Frey, “the Wolf lies in bondage until the Twilight of the Gods; and just as he lies chained outside the river’s mouth, so may you come to lie fettered if you do not keep silence.” “For gold you bought the daughter of Gymir and sold your sword besides, so that when the sons of Muspell come riding across the Dark Woods you will find no weapon ready to your hand.” Then spoke Byggvir, Frey’s serving man: “If I had offspring like that of Ingunar-Frey and if I lived happily as he does, I would crush this crow of evil omen finer than marrow and break all his limbs asunder.” “What is that little thing wagging his tail and whimpering there under the mill? You hid yourself in the straw on the floor when men went forth to battle.” On Heimdal’s declaring Loki to be drunk, Loki replied: “Hold your tongue, Heimdal. In the morning of time a life most base was dealt out to be your portion, to stand forever with a stiff back, waking and watching on behalf of the gods.” Skadi now forecast a threatening future for Loki: “Hitherto your lot has been good, Loki, but you shall not much longer play fast and loose; to the sharp stone the gods shall bind you with your own son’s entrails.” “None the less was I chief among those that put your father Thjazi to death,” answered Loki. Skadi retorted, “Therefore cold counsels will always go out to you from my house and home.” Now Sif stepped forward and poured mead into a horn for Loki; she drank to him and asked him to molest Skadi no more, but his only response was to boast that he, if none else, had enjoyed the favors of Sif. “The mountains are trembling,” said Beyla; “I think Thor must be coming; he will find a way of stopping the mouth of him who heaps blame on the Æsir.” As Loki was berating Beyla, Thor appeared and, fuming with rage, threatened Loki with his hammer. Still Loki had the boldness to say to him: “You will not be so brave when you go out against the Wolf, and the Wolf devours Odin.” “I will hurl you into the regions of the east so that no man shall lay eyes on you again,” answered Thor. “You had better keep quiet about your journeys to the east,” said Loki, adding a further reminder of the cowardly way in which Thor had borne himself in Skrymir’s glove and how fast he had found the thongs bound about the wallet; “hale and hearty, you nearly perished with hunger.” “If you do not hold your tongue at once, Mjollnir shall strike you, without further ado, down to Hell, even lower than the Gate of Corpses.” “I have spoken what I had to speak,” said Loki; “I will now depart, on your account alone, for I know that you strike when you are moved to strike.” To Ægir he declared that this banquet was his last, that flames were to consume all that he owned.
Loki now took his leave and hid himself in the mountains, where he built a house with four doors so placed that from within he was able to spy in all directions. Often he assumed the shape of a salmon and lurked among the waterfalls of Franang. He pondered much upon what devices the Æsir might employ in order to catch him in the falls; and as he sat in the house brooding on these things, he took flax yarn and wove it into meshes in the manner commonly used in making a net. Before long he saw the Æsir drawing near; for Odin, looking out from Lidskjalf, had discovered his hiding. Losing no time, Loki threw the net on the fire burning before him, and sprang into the waterfall. When the Æsir reached the house, the wise Kvasir was the first to enter; as soon as he saw the ashes of the burned net, he understood that it was a means of catching fish, and he told the Æsir as much. They all set about the task of making a net according to the model in the ashes; when it was finished they went down to the stream and threw the net into the water. Thor had hold of one end, and all the other Æsir held fast to the other end. As they drew the net, Loki swam before it and lay quiet between two stones until the net had passed over him; nevertheless they noticed that the net had touched some living thing. They went up stream and cast in the net a second time, but now they had weighted it so that nothing could pass beneath it. Loki swam ahead of the net until he came within a short distance of the sea; then he leaped over the rope and swam up to the waterfall again. Now the Æsir had caught sight of him; they went up stream a third time and separated into two parties so that each group held one end of the net while Thor waded down the middle of the river. In such a manner they drew the net down toward the sea. In this predicament Loki was compelled either to run out to sea, which would put him in grave danger of his life, or to leap over the, net once more. He ventured the leap anew, but Thor seized him and held him fast by the tail, although the salmon slipped a short way through his hands; this is the reason why the salmon tapers toward the tail. Now Loki was taken captive outside the bounds of any hallowed place, and therefore he could expect no mercy. The Æsir carried him off to a cavern in the mountains. There they took three flagstones, placed them on end, and bored a hole in each one. Next they seized hold of Loki’s sons, Vali and Nari; Vali, transforming himself into a wolf, at once tore his brother limb from limb. Thereupon the Æsir took Nari’s entrails and with them bound Loki in such a position across the three stones that one of the stones stood under his shoulders, the second under his loins, and the third under the tendons of his knees. The bands turned into iron. Skadi caught a venomous serpent and fixed it above him in such a way that the venom would be sure to drip into his face. Sigyn, Loki’s wife, stood beside him holding a basin to catch the dripping poison; but when the basin was filled, she had to go away to empty it; and while she was gone the poison fell on his face and threw him into such violent contortions that the whole earth trembled. This is the phenomenon now known as an earthquake. Thus Loki shall lie bound until the coming of the Twilight of the Gods.
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