How Sif Lost Her Hair

Loki, the trickster of Asgard, loved mischief more than almost anything. One day he played a cruel trick on Sif, the wife of Thor. He slyly cut off every bit of her hair.

When Thor found out, he grabbed Loki and was ready to break every bone in his body. Loki begged for his life. He swore an oath that he would go to the dark elves, the dwarfs who live underground, and have them make Sif new hair out of gold, hair that would grow on her head just like real hair.

So Loki went to the dwarfs known as the sons of Ivaldi. They made the golden hair. They also made a ship called Skidbladnir, and a spear called Gungnir that would belong to Odin.

Loki was so pleased with these treasures that he made a bet. He went to a dwarf named Brokk. “I will bet my head,” Loki said, “that your brother Sindri cannot make three treasures as fine as these.”

Brokk took the bet, and the two dwarf brothers went to their smithy. Sindri laid a pigskin in the furnace and told Brokk to work the bellows. “Do not stop blowing,” he said, “until I take out what I have put in.” Then he went out of the smithy.

While Brokk was pumping the bellows, a fly landed on his hand and stung him. He kept blowing just as steadily as before. When Sindri came back and took his work out of the fire, it was a boar with bristles of gold.

Next Sindri put gold into the furnace. Again he told Brokk not to stop blowing until he came back, and again he went out. This time the fly landed on Brokk’s neck and stung him even harder, but he kept working the bellows. Out of the furnace came a gold ring called Draupnir.

Last of all, Sindri put iron into the furnace. “Keep blowing,” he warned, “or everything will be ruined.” Now the fly landed between Brokk’s eyes and stung his eyelids, so that blood ran into his eyes and he could not see. Just for a moment, he let go of the bellows to brush the fly away. Then Sindri came back. “That nearly spoiled everything in the furnace,” he said. He took out a hammer.

Sindri handed all three treasures to his brother and sent Brokk with Loki to Asgard to collect the bet. The gods took their seats as judges, and it was agreed that Odin, Thor and Frey would decide who had won.

Loki showed his treasures first. He gave Odin the spear Gungnir, which would never miss its target. He gave Thor the golden hair for Sif, which would start to grow as soon as it was set on her head. He gave Frey the ship Skidbladnir, which would always have a good wind the moment its sails went up, wherever its owner wanted to go. Better still, it could be folded up like a cloth and carried in a pocket.

Then Brokk brought out his treasures. He gave Odin the ring and said that every ninth night, eight more rings just as heavy would drop from it. He gave Frey the boar, which could run through the air and over the sea, by night or by day, faster than any horse. Its bristles shone so brightly that wherever it went, even in the darkest night, there would be light.

Then he gave Thor the hammer. Thor could strike with it as hard as he liked, and it would never be damaged. If he threw it, he would never lose it, for it would always fly back to his hand. And when he wanted, it would shrink so small that he could hide it inside his shirt. It had only one fault: the handle was a little short.

The gods decided that the hammer was the best of all the treasures, because it would protect them against the frost giants. Brokk had won the bet.

Loki offered to pay something else instead of his head, but the dwarf would not hear of it. “Catch me, then!” said Loki. When Brokk reached for him, Loki was far away, for he had shoes that could run through the air and over the sea. So Brokk asked Thor to catch him, and Thor did.

Brokk was about to cut off Loki’s head when Loki spoke up. “The head is yours,” he said, “but not the neck.” Since there was no way to take the head without touching the neck, the dwarf had to think of something else. He decided to sew up Loki’s mouth instead. His knife would not cut, so he wished for his brother’s awl, and the moment he named it, there it was. The awl pierced Loki’s lips, and Brokk stitched the trickster’s mouth shut. As for Sif, she had her new hair of gold, and it grew on her head like real hair.

Where this story comes from

This myth is told by Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic writer who put together the Prose Edda around 1220. He tells it to explain why poets sometimes called gold “Sif’s hair.” It is retold here from Rasmus B. Anderson’s English translation, The Younger Edda (the linked digitisation is a 1901 edition), where the story is headed “Loke’s wager with the dwarfs.”

The Anderson passage names the makers of the hair collectively as “Ivald’s sons.” It introduces the stinging fly without explicitly identifying it as Loki, so this retelling leaves that identity unstated.

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

For older readers: includes threatened beheading, blood from stung eyelids and Loki’s lips being pierced and sewn shut.

The imperfect treasure wins

The hammer’s short handle records the interrupted work, but the judges value what it can do more than its flaw. That distinction makes the contest more interesting than a simple prize for perfect craftsmanship. Meanwhile, replacing Sif’s hair settles only the first injury: Loki’s new wager creates a separate dispute with the dwarfs.

Judge with stated reasons

Choose two treasures and give each a useful task. Decide which would better serve that task, then compare your reason with the gods’ reason for choosing the hammer. Finally, separate the repair owed to Sif from the violent penalty imposed on Loki; are they serving the same purpose?

Questions to ask

• Why did Loki have to go to the dwarfs in the first place?
• How did the fly almost ruin the third treasure?
• How did Loki use clever words to save his head?

You may also like

• The Theft of Thor’s Hammer (Thrymskvida) — another Norse myth about Thor’s hammer
• The Apples of Idun — another myth where Loki has to fix the trouble he caused
• Odin’s Quest for Wisdom — another story of the Norse gods