Apples of Youth

• Abduction of Idun

• Skadi

Abduction of Idun

Odin was travelling with Loki and Haenir through the wilderness of mountains and woods, but had difficulty in finding food until they came across a herd of oxen. They slaughtered one of the oxen and set to cook it in an earthen oven. Despite their effort, the fire would not cook the meat. The gods were upset and hungry, but were helpless.

Above them a giant eagle told them that he would help them cook the meat if he was given a share in the meal. The gods agreed, but when the eagle took a large share of meat, Loki became angry and struck the eagle with a pole. The pole pierced the eagle's chest. The eagle flew away with Loki still holding the pole.

Loki pleaded with the eagle to let him down, but the eagle refused unless Loki swore to bring the goddess Idun, keeper of the apples of youth, out of Asgard to him. As it turned out, the giant eagle was really Thiassi (Thiazi), a giant from Thrymheim. Loki had no choice but to agree, since he was no match against the giant.

One day, Loki told Idun that he found some apples that she could use. As Idun followed Loki deep into the forest, Thiassi, in the form of an eagle again, snatched Idun and flew back to Thrymheim, along with the goddess' basket of fruit.

Idun was the keeper of apples of youth. These special apples were required to keep the Aesir youthful. Without the apples, the gods and goddesses would grow old and weak.

The Aesir in Asgard began to grow old very quickly without Idun's apples. Their minds were also beginning to become feeble. Odin and the other gods managed to capture Loki and forced the Trickster to bring back Idun and her apples, or else they would torture Loki to death.

Loki had no choice but to rescue Idun. Borrowing Freyja's cloak of feathers, Loki transformed into a falcon and flew to Thrymheim. It was fortunate for Loki, because Thiassi was temporarily absent. Finding Idun alone, Loki transformed the goddess into a nut and flew back to Asgard with the nut (Idun) in his claw.

Thiassi immediately pursued Loki in his gigantic eagle's form. Loki managed to escape the eagle by flying over the wall of Asgard. When eagle (Thiassi) tried to follow, the Aesir set fire to Thiassi's feathers so that the eagle plummeted within the wall of Asgard. The other Aesir killed Thiassi where he fell.

Loki restored Idun's form. Idun gave apples to all the gods so they were restored to their youthful looks.

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Skadi

The frost-giantess, Skadi, daughter of Thiassi, heard of her father's death. She immediately set out for Asgard with her weapon to attack the Aesir.

Instead of trying to kill Skadi, the Aesir tried to appease her by allowing her to marry one of the Aesir. She was to choose one as her husband by selecting the feet she liked best. Skadi thought she had chosen Balder because he was the most beautiful of the male gods. However the feet she had chosen belonged to the former Vanir god Njörd (Njord).

Skadi was far from making peace with the Aesir unless they could make her laugh. So they tied the beard of a nanny-goat to Loki's testicle. When one or the other would pull, both would squeal. For the first time in her life, Skadi laughed at these antics.

Odin had also taken her father's eyes and threw them in the sky to create two new stars, to further compensate for the death of Thiassi.

Skadi married Njörd, but the marriage didn't last long. Njörd, being the god of the sea, preferred to live near the sea at Noatun, while Skadi preferred to live in her father's mountain home in Thrymheim. Skadi didn't like the sea, because the sound of the sea and seagulls kept her awake. Meanwhile, Njörd complained about the howlings of the wolves. So they divorced, and Skadi returned to the mountains.

Skadi was the goddess of the ski and known as the ski-lady, because that was the way she travelled. Skadi was also skilled with the bow and arrows, and hunt for game in the mountain.

Skadi remarried another Aesir god, Ull.