Listen! Many of you will have heard of Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse. This is how Sleipnir came to be.
In the very long ago, after the Aesir had made Midgard and Asgard, a Giant came to them one day and offered to build strong walls for them to keep out his kin. The price that he asked was the Sun, and the Moon, and to marry Freyja. The Aesir agreed, with the conditions that the work must be completed within three seasons, and that the Giant could have no help with it. The Giant protested that he needed the aid of his stallion to bring the building stones, and at Loki’s suggestion, the Aesir agreed to this as well.
The Giant worked very speedily. Every night his stallion hauled a great load of stones to the site, and every day the Giant built more wall with them. It began to look as if he would meet his deadline, and this displeased the Aesir. So they met together to consider how to prevent this, as they did not want to lose the Sun and Moon, to say nothing of Freyja.
“You,” they said to Loki, “are the one who suggested we agree to this, so it is you who needs to find a solution. If you do not do so, you will come to an ill end, and soon.”
“Umm,” said Loki. “Well, I have an idea…” And he went away to think, and the Aesir waited.
Three nights before the work was to be finished, while the Giant was leading his stallion through the forest with another great load of stones, a little mare came out of the trees and whinnied at them invitingly. This excited the stallion so much that he broke loose from his harness and galloped eagerly after her, despite all the Giant could do. All night the Giant searched the forest for his horse, but he did not find him until dawn, and by that time both he and the stallion were weary, although the stallion at least seemed happy. Little work was done on the wall that day, and in the end the Giant failed to finish it in time.
“No completion, no pay,” said the Aesir, and pointed out that Thor, who had been elsewhere killing Giants, was due back any day now. The Giant protested loudly, but to no avail. Sadly he went away, taking his stallion with him. The Aesir were left to complete the job properly themselves, as generally happens with home improvement projects when you hire a fly-by-night contractor. They were not happy about this, but on the other hand they got to keep the Sun and the Moon and Freyja.
There was one other sequel to this story. A year later, Loki the Shape-Shifter gave birth to a beautiful gray eight-legged colt. The Aesir named him Sleipnir, and he became Odin’s favorite mount. And that is how Odin got his horse.
