 |
| God of Hokey Pokey and one of the world's major Trickster Gods. |
Loki was a rascal; crafty, sneaky, silly and malicious. The son of two Giants, he was so outrageously mischievous that he even sneaked his way into becoming a God. He was the first Anti-Hero, quick-witting his way out of tight corners and confrontations caused by his own misdeeds.
Lokis' first escapade was in true form. When the Gods were struggling to build Åsgard, they ran out of funds. All the basic construction had been completed but they needed a large wall to keep out all the riff-raff.
Loki came up with the plan of contracting a giant to do the job. As payment, and only if he managed to complete his work on schedule, the giant asked for the Goddess Freya. The Gods were not too sure. "Don't worry," advised Loki. "He'll never manage it on his own, even if he works night and day. We'll just let him keep the wheelbarrow or something."
Alas, the giant was not on his own. He had a huge stallion called Svadilfari, which could haul boulders like there was no tomorrow. With three days to go, Freya was in distress and the Gods aghast.
Now Loki, like fire and smoke, was a shape-shifter. A talent he'd developed to make him the shiftiest rascal of all time. So he changed himself into a mare and seduced the Giant's stallion. The both of them pranced off into the woods, and Svadilfari was led far away from the stone pile.
With his horse missing, the Giant didn't quite make the schedule. Seething with rage, he tried to take Freya by force but unfortunatly for him Thor came along and cracked his skull with his famous hammer.
Meanwhile Loki was having a fine old time frolicking in the fields. In fact he became pregnant, and gave birth to a fine baby boy stallion with eight legs. He gave this as a gift to ODIN and it was called Sleipnir.
Loki was now well in with Odin and his son Thor, with whom he shared numerous adventures. Thor, the perfect fall guy, was even once persuaded to appear in drag as the prospective bride of a giant. That is another story. Thor could always be relied on to supply the muscle when corners became too tight for Lokis' trickery.
Loki also had many run-ins with the dwarves, which he cheated at any opportunity until they stitched his mouth shut, which kept him quiet for quite some time. That is my cue for now. There are so many stories of Loki that they could fill a book. Do you know anyone like him?
