My life was never easy. I didn’t really know if I was a god or a giant. (You see, my father was a giant, and my mother a goddess.) Being the god of fire didn’t help either: everyone knows that sometimes fire warms you up and sometimes it burns down your house and fields and everything else. Was I good or bad?
As I told you, I’m the god of fire. So is it my fault I’m hot-tempered? It was at Aegir’s feast: he was god of the sea, and as I am the god of fire, I don’t like water, and I didn’t much like Aegir. No-one else was happy either, so you can imagine what sort of party it was, though things did get more cheerful as the servants passed round the great horns of mead. Somehow, they missed me out. They missed me out! I was so angry I leapt up and clobbered one of the servants. He fell backwards onto the flagstones, and lay stiff! There was a terrible silence. The flagstones had killed him…Everyone turned and looked at me in silence. “Out, out!” they cried. “Outcast, cast out.” I got up and left the hall. But not for long, it was too wet outside, so I came back. A servant was outside the hall, and I asked him what they were talking about.
“They’re having a good time,” said the servant looking at me “but they’ve naught good to say about you.”
Incensed, I strode back into the hall and faced the silence. “I am cold and wet. I am thirsty too. Who will pass the horn to me?” No-one spoke. “I have come to take my place. Why are you so quiet? or do you cast me out? Do you turn me away?”
There was a silence and then a voice spoke. “You will never more have a place amongst the gods. You must leave.”
Well, if that’s how it was, I did have something to say. “A curse on you. Not a human curse, but a curse from one of your own, a curse from a god to the gods. You find fault with me, but I, Loki, will never forget the faults that are yours. You, Odin, are a bit short on mercy and forgiveness, aren’t you? And you Idun, didn’t you leave Asgard of your own free will, even if I did sweettalk you all the way out of the gates? You have always been stupid, – all you can do is hold a basket… And you, Thor, aren’t you puffed up with pride? But where would you be without your hammer?”
I agree, it would have been better to leave Thor out of this, but as I said, I am a bit hot-tempered. There was a grumble and a rumble, a few thunderbolts, and then a flash of lightning. Thor stood in front of me, towering with rage, and swinging his hammer about. It was time to go. “Curse the lot of you” I cried “may you and yours be consumed in the endless Fire both now and at the end of days!”
I did go a bit far with these insults and curses. Anyway, I left and wandered on my own over the earth, looking for somewhere safe to hide. The gods were sure to search for me and exact vengeance! I settled in a deep valley with a river hidden in the mountains, and I built a house with windows in every wall so I could always see if anyone was coming… Not that I relied on the windows alone. Don’t forget, I often changed my shape. Because I was afraid of water, I turned myself into a salmon to get used to it: what terrific swims and jumps I had in that mountain river! And I had always liked fish: slippery as a fish, isn’t that what they say?
After a while, I relaxed: my hiding place was safe. No-one came looking. When I was not a salmon, but in my own shape, I started weaving. Not cloth, but fishing nets. They do take a long time to make, but I had plenty of time. One day Odin looked down on the world and saw someone making nets… quickly, he called Thor, and Kvasir who was very clever, to come with him. I was so busy making my net, that I forgot to look out of the window. I heard a rustle, they were just outside! I flung the half-finished net onto the fire, and salmon-jumped into the river. The three gods went into my house and looked around. Kvasir found the charred remains of my net. “I know what it is, it’s a fishing net: Loki was always a brilliant fisherman. Let’s finish the net and fish for him!”
It didn’t take the three of them long to finish the net. Then they walked softly to the river and dragged it slowly from bank to bank. I sank to the bottom and lay between two rocks, so the net passed over me. Then the gods tied a heavy stone to the net so that it could not miss me: but I jumped over it and rushed headlong down a waterfall. The gods moved downstream and tried once more. I jumped again. Thor was watching and seized me as I jumped: I was slipping out of his grasp but he gripped my tail tight. Oh! oh! I wriggled, but he held me fast.
I could do nothing, and was changed back into my true shape. They dragged me to a cave nearby. They made holes in three great rocks, and bound me to the stones with iron chains. And there I had to stay for ever! Even this was not enough. They hung a snake above me, and it dripped poison onto my face…. I can’t tell you how painful this was…. Thank goodness I had a good wife, Sigyn, though I was not a good husband. She heard my screams echoing in the wind and came to help me. She caught the poison in a cup, but when it was full she had to empty it, and the drops of poison fell on me. I could not escape them, though I did try, and pulled and pulled against my chains, so much so that the earth trembled and quaked.
That was how I, Loki, was to be punished until the end of the world. Then I would become pure fire, dissolve my chains and fight against the gods with my flames of destruction.
If you want to listen to the audio version, here is the link:
https://charlotteswonderfulstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/feb-how-loki-was-punished-1.mp3
Both the text and audio versions of How Loki was Punished are copyright to me. So here we go and I hope you’ll be here next month.
Charlotte's Wonderful Stories 