Brisings

The Brisings or Bristlings were the name of the four dwarfs or dwarven brothers. They were named Alfrigg, Berling, Dvalin and Grer.

The dwarfs were responsible for creating a beautiful gold necklace (some say it was a belt) known as the Brísingamen (Brisingamen). It was so beautiful that the goddess Freyja wanted the Brisingamen for herself.

The story of Freyja and the Brisingamen was told more fully in the work known as Sottr Thattr, written about 1400.

At this time Freyja was Odin's favourite mistress. I don't know what was special about this necklace. It was probably to enhance the wearer's beauty, but Freyja was already considered to be the most beautiful woman/goddess in the world.

One night, Freyja left her bed and her palace, wandering through the woods, and came before a cave where she heard dwarves working on a piece of jewellery. Loki secretly followed the goddess, spying on Freyja. When Freyja saw the Brisingamen, she became obsessed with the beautifully crafted necklace.

The dwarfs refused to accept Freyja's gold and silver for the necklace in trade. The Brisings would only give the goddess their Brisingamen if she slept with each one of them. In desperation to possess the Brisingamen, Freyja willingly agreed to their price. For four nights, she spent a night in each of the dwarf's bed.

Loki discovered Freyja's wantonness and informed Odin of her conduct. Odin was disgusted that Freyja was acting like a whore by selling herself for the Brisingamen. Odin had Loki steal the Brisingamen from Freyja.

Most people could not enter her hall, called Sessrumnir, without Freyja's permission, no matter how powerful a god or giant was. Loki entered Sessrumnir by transforming himself into a flea.

Freyja was sleeping, while still wearing the Brisingamen. As a flea, Loki bit her so that the goddess would turn around in the bed. This allowed Loki to unlock the clasp and slip the necklace off Freyja.

When Freyja woke and found that her necklace was missing, she knew that it was Loki who had stolen it. And Freyja also knew that the sly god would not have done so without Odin's order. Freyja went and confronted Odin, demanding the return of her Brisingamen.

Freyja told Odin that it was disgraceful that he would take her necklace. Odin countered that it was she who was even more disgraceful, because she had slept with four dwarves to gain the Brisingamen.

Odin agreed to return the Brisingamen to Freyja, only on the condition that she started a war in the world of men, between two kings. Freyja had no choice, if she wanted the Brisingamen returned to her.

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This war was fought over a woman named Hild, between Hogni, king of Norway and Hedin Hjarrandason. The story was known as Hjadningavig and was found in several different sources.

According Snorri Sturluson, who based his brief legend on one of the stories in the Lay of Ragnar (Ragnarsdrapa) written by 9th century poet named Bragi, Hogni had a daughter named Hild whom Hedin Hjarrandason abducted during Hogni's absence from his kingdom. When Hogni returned and found out that Hedin had raided his kingdom and abducted his daughter, he gathered his forces in his kingdom and set out against Hedin. Hogni found Hedin and her daughter in Orkney.

Hild tried to make peace between Hedin and her father, because she was now Hedin's wife. Hild tried to appeal to her father to not fight her new husband, but he ignored her. When the two armies deployed for battle, Hedin offered his wealth as atonement, in order to avert war. Hogni answered that it was too late for a peace offering, because he had drawn his sword, Dainsleif, and it couldn't be sheathed until the blade had tasted blood.

So that day, they fought until nightfall, and both sides retired to their camps, leaving the dead behind. Hild walked among the dead, and with her magic, she brought the slain back to life, to fight the same battle on the next morning.

In the morning, the dead on both sides fought again with the living, until nightfall ended the battle. During the night, Hild used her magic again on the dead so that they would rise again to fight the same battle. This happened again and again. The two armies fought during the day; at night the dead turned into stone, but when morning came, the dead would pick up their weapons and fight another day.

The two armies were cursed to fight one another until the day of Ragnarok.

This was the endless war that Freyja had to start, to regain her necklace.

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The Brisingamen was frequently mentioned from works earlier than the Sorla Thattr.

In Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson, the Brisingamen was mentioned several times. It mentioned that Freyja was the owner of the Brisingamen. It also mentioned Hjadningavig, but unlike Sorla Thattr, in Snorri's version there are no connections between the theft of the Brisingamen and the ever-lasting battle.

Later, it told of how Loki stole the Brisingamen, which was different from the Sorla Thattr. Loki tried to escape from Sessrumnir with the Brisingamen. However Heimdall, the guardian of Bifrost (Rainbow Bridge), had keen eyes and saw Loki's theft. Heimdall immediately set out on pursuit, and caught and fought with Loki at Singastein. Heimdall recovered the stolen necklace and returned the Brisingamen to Freyja.

According to the Thrymskvida, a poem from the Poetic Edda, when Thor went to recover his stolen hammer from the giants, Thor had to disguise himself as Freyja and as a bride to the giant Thrym. To complete his disguise, Thor had to borrow the Brisingamen from Freyja. See Blushing Bride.