Fenrir

‘That one is also reckoned among the Æsir whom some call the
Æsir’s calumniator and originator of deceits and the disgrace of
all gods and men. His name is Loki or Lopt, son of the giant
Farbauti. Laufey or Nal is his mother. Byleist and Helblindi are
his brothers. Loki is pleasing and handsome in appearance, evil in
character, very capricious in behaviour. He possessed to a greater
degree than others the kind of learning that is called cunning, and
tricks for every purpose. He was always getting the Æsir into a
complete fix and often got them out of it by trickery. Sigyn is the
name of his wife, Nari or Narfi their son. And Loki had other
offspring too. There was a giantess called Angrboda in Giantland.
With her Loki had three children. One was Fenriswolf, the second
Iormungand (i.e. the Midgard serpent), the third is Hel. And when
the gods realized that these three siblings were being brought up in
Giantland, and when the gods traced prophecies stating that from
these siblings great mischief and disaster would arise for them,
then they all felt evil was to be expected from them, to begin with
because of their mother’s nature, but still worse because of their
father’s.

‘Then All-father sent the gods to get the children and bring
them to him. And when they came to him he threw the serpent
into that deep sea which lies round all lands, and this serpent grew
so that it lies in the midst of the ocean encircling all lands and bites
on its own tail. Hel he threw into Niflheim and gave her authority
over nine worlds, such that she has to administer board and
lodging to those sent to her, and that is those who die of sickness
or old age. She has great mansions there and her walls are
exceptionally high and the gates great. Her hall is called Eliudnir,
her dish Hunger, her knife Famine, the servant Ganglati,
servingmaid Ganglot, her threshold where you enter Stumbling-block,
her bed Sick-bed, her curtains Gleaming-bale. She is half black
and half flesh-coloured - thus she is easily recognizable - and
rather downcast and fierce-looking.

‘The Æsir brought up the wolf at home, and it was only Tyr
who had the courage to approach the wolf and give it food. And
when the gods saw how much it was growing each day, and all
prophecies foretold that it was destined to cause them harm, then
the Æsir adopted this plan, that they made a very strong fetter
which they called Leyding and brought it to the wolf and suggested
he should try his strength with the fetter. The wolf decided
that it was not beyond its strength and let them do what they
wished with it. At the first kick that the wolf made at it this fetter
broke. Thus he loosed himself from Leyding. Next the Æsir made
a second fetter twice as strong which they called Dromi, and asked
the wolf again to try this fetter and declared that he would achieve
great fame for his strength if such mighty pieces of engineering
could not hold him. The wolf thought to himself that this fetter
was very strong, but also that his strength had grown since he
broke Leyding. It occurred to him that he would have to take
some risks if he was to achieve fame, and allowed the fetter to be
put on him. And when the Æsir declared they were ready, the wolf
shook himself and knocked the fetter on the ground and strained
hard, kicked with his feet, broke the fetter so that the fragments
flew far away. Thus he struck himself out of Dromi. Since then it
has been used as a saying to loose from Leyding or strike out of
Dromi when something is achieved with great effort. After this the
Æsir began to fear that they would not manage to get the wolf
bound. Then All-father sent some one called Skirnir, Freyr’s
messenger, down into the world of black-elves to some dwarfs
and had a fetter called Gleipnir made. It was made of six ingredients:
the sound of the cat’s footfall and the woman’s beard,
the mountain’s roots and the bear’s sinews and the fish’s breath
and bird’s spittle. And even if you did not know this information
before, you can now discover true proofs that you are not being
deceived in the following: you must have seen that a woman has
no beard and there is no noise from a cat’s running and there are
no roots under a mountain, and I declare now by my faith that
everything I have told you is just as true even if there are some
things that you cannot test.’

Then spoke Gangleri: ‘I can indeed see that this is true. I can
understand the things that you have given as proofs, but what was
the fetter made like?’

High said: ‘I can easily tell you that. The fetter was smooth and
soft like a silken ribbon, but as firm and strong as you shall now
hear. When the fetter was brought to the Æsir, they thanked the
messenger heartily for carrying out their errand. Then the Æsir
went out on to a lake called Amsvartnir, onto an island called
Lyngvi, and summoned with them the wolf, showed him the silky
band and bade him tear it and declared it was rather firmer than
seemed likely, judging from its thickness, and passed it to each
other and tried it by pulling at it with their hands, and it did not
tear; yet the wolf, they said, would tear it. Then the wolf replied:

‘“It looks to me with this ribbon as though I will gain no fame
from it if I do tear apart such a slender band, but if it is made with
art and trickery, then even if it does look thin, this band is not
going on my legs.”

‘Then the Æsir said that he would soon tear apart a slender
silken band, seeing that he had earlier broken great iron fetters, -
“but if you cannot manage to tear this band then you will present
no terror to the gods, and so we will free you.”

‘The wolf said: “If you bind me so that I am unable to release
myself, then you will be standing by in such a way that I should
have to wait a long time before I got any help from you. I am
reluctant to have this band put on me. But rather than that you
question my courage, let some one put his hand in my mouth as a
pledge that this is done in good faith.”

‘But all the Æsir looked at each other and found themselves in a
dilemma and all refused to offer their hands until Tyr put forward
his right hand and put it in the wolf’s mouth. And now when the
wolf kicked, the band grew harder, and the harder he struggled,
the tougher became the band. Then they all laughed except for
Tyr. He lost his hand. When the Æsir saw that the wolf was
thoroughly bound they took the cord that was hanging from the
fetter, which is called Gelgia, and threaded it through a great
stone slab — this is called Gioll — and fastened the slab far down in
the ground. Then they took a great rock and thrust it even further
into the ground - this is called Thviti - and used this rock as an
anchoring-peg. The wolf stretched its jaws enormously and
reacted violently and tried to bite them. They thrust into its mouth
a certain sword; the hilt touches its lower gums and the point its
upper ones. This is its gum-prop. It howls horribly and saliva runs
from its mouth. This forms the river called Hope. There it will lie
until Ragnarok.’

Then spoke Gangleri: ‘It was a pretty terrible family that Loki
begot, and all these siblings are important. But why did not the
Æsir kill the wolf since they can expect evil from him?’

High replied: ‘So greatly did the gods respect their holy places
and places of sanctuary that they did not want to defile them with
the wolf’s blood even though the prophecies say that he will be the
death of Odin.’

Then spoke Gangleri: ‘Who are the Asyniur?’


- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning