Winter Moon of the Winter Solstice
The Lay of Thrym. It recounts how Loki convinced Thor to visit jotunheim (home of the giants) in drag. Thor woke up one day and his hammer, the famed mjollnir, had gone missing. He complained to Loki and Loki agreed to set off on a quest to find it.
(detail from Marten Winge’s Thor’s Battle with the Giants)
Find it he did. Thrym had it. “Eight rasts below the surface of the midgard.” A rast, according to one website, was a bit more than a mile. Too far to dig, in other words.
Thrym offered Loki a deal. He wanted Freyja, a goddess among the Aesir famed for her attractiveness to giants.
Loki agreed, returned to Asgard, told Thor and then went to see Freyja who rejected the idea. A lot.
Loki had another idea. He convinced Thor to wear Freyja’s bridal wear, including her famed Brisinga necklace. Thrym was so taken with her appearance at jotunheim that he ordered mjollnir brought in and placed on her knees.
The lay then says, “Laughed Thor’s soul in his breast…” And in the very next sentence: “He first slew Thrym…and the jotun’s race all crushed…”
“So got Odin’s son his hammer back.”
