The Apples of Idun

Odin, Loki and Hoenir, three of the gods of Asgard, set out one day to travel over mountains and wild heaths. It was hard, empty country, and they found nothing to eat. At last they came down into a valley where a herd of cattle was grazing. They took one ox, built a fire, and set the meat to cook.

After a while they uncovered it, sure that it must be done. It was still raw. They covered it up, waited a good while longer, and looked a second time. Still raw. The three gods stared at each other and asked how such a thing could happen.

Then a voice spoke from the oak tree above them. “I am the reason your supper will not cook,” it said. They looked up and saw an eagle in the branches, and it was no small eagle. “Let me eat my fill of the ox,” said the bird, “and your meat will cook.”

The gods were hungry, so they agreed. Down swooped the eagle. It landed beside the fire and straight away grabbed both of the ox’s back legs and both of its shoulders, which was nearly all the best meat.

That made Loki furious. He snatched up a long pole and swung it with all his strength at the eagle’s body. The eagle shook off the blow and flew up, but one end of the pole stuck fast to the bird, and the other end stuck fast to Loki’s hands. He could not let go.

The eagle flew low, just high enough that Loki was dragged along beneath it, banging over stones and rocks and crashing through trees. He felt as if his arms were being torn out of his shoulders. He shouted and begged the eagle for mercy. “I will set you free,” said the eagle, “only if you swear to bring Idun and her apples out of Asgard.”

Idun was the goddess who kept the golden apples, and those apples were what kept the gods young. Loki knew how precious she was, but he wanted to be free, so he promised. The eagle let him go. Loki went back to his companions, and the three of them made their way home.

When the agreed day came, Loki went to find Idun. “I have found some apples growing in a forest outside Asgard,” he told her, “and I think you will like them very much. Bring your own apples along, so you can compare them.” Idun believed him, and she followed him out of Asgard and into the forest.

There the giant Thjazi came swooping down in his eagle shape. He seized Idun and flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim, in the land of the giants.

Without Idun and her apples, the gods began to change. Their hair turned grey, and their faces grew lined. They were growing old. Worried, they met in council and asked one another, “Who saw Idun last?” The answer came: the last time anyone saw her, she was walking out of Asgard with Loki.

The gods seized Loki and dragged him before the council. They told him he would be put to death, or tortured, if he did not set things right. Loki was badly frightened. “I will bring Idun back from the land of the giants,” he promised, “if Freyja will lend me her falcon feathers.”

Freyja lent them to him. Loki put on the falcon shape and flew north into Jotunheim until he reached Thjazi’s home. He was in luck. The giant had rowed out to sea, and Idun was alone in the house. Loki turned her into a nut, gripped her tightly in his claws, and flew off as fast as his wings would carry him.

When Thjazi came home and found Idun gone, he put on his eagle feathers and flew after the falcon. His great wings beat harder and harder, and he gained on Loki with every stroke.

From the walls of Asgard, the gods saw them coming: a falcon carrying a nut, and behind it a huge eagle. They rushed to the walls with bundles of wood shavings and heaped them along the top. The falcon flew in over the wall and let itself drop to the ground just inside. At that moment the gods set fire to the shavings.

The eagle was flying too fast to stop when the falcon slipped out of reach. It shot straight into the flames, its feathers caught fire, and it could fly no farther. The gods were waiting, and they killed the giant Thjazi right there inside the gates of Asgard. Idun and her apples were safe at home, and that fight at the gates became one of the most famous deeds of the gods.

About this telling

This myth comes from the Prose Edda, the handbook of Norse myths written in Iceland around 1220 by Snorri Sturluson. In the part called “Bragi’s Talk,” the god of poetry tells the story to a visitor named Aegir as they sit together at a feast in Asgard. This version follows Rasmus B. Anderson’s translation of Snorri’s book, which he called The Younger Edda.

In Anderson’s translation the names are spelled a little differently: Loki is “Loke,” Hoenir is “Honer,” and the giant is “Thjasse.” The idea that the gods stay young only by eating Idun’s apples appears elsewhere in Snorri’s book too, which is why losing her was such a disaster.

Read the original: Rasmus B. Anderson, trans., The Younger Edda (digitised 1901 edition, Project Gutenberg #18947)

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult available: includes abduction, threats of torture, and the giant’s death after his feathers catch fire.

One person’s freedom costs another’s

Loki’s bargain moves danger from himself to Idun without her knowledge. The invented comparison of apples makes her expertise the bait. When the gods age, they discover how much their apparent strength depends on the person tending those apples.

Loki’s rescue repairs the immediate loss, but it is forced by another threat. The ending shows effective action rather than a stated change of heart. Idun’s safety matters independently of the service she provides the gods.

Trace the chain of pressure

Write the eagle’s demand, Loki’s invitation and the gods’ ultimatum in three boxes. Mark who knows the true danger in each exchange. Explain why the invitation is deceptive even though the rescue later succeeds.

Think about it

• Why did Loki make his promise to the eagle?
• What happened to the gods while Idun was gone?
• How did the gods use fire to stop the eagle at the walls of Asgard?

Related stories

• The Death of Baldur — another Norse myth in which Loki causes trouble for the gods
• Tyr and the Binding of Fenrir — another myth from Snorri’s Prose Edda
• Thor and the Giant’s Kettle — another Norse tale of a journey to the land of the giants