When the gods had finished creating Middle-earth and Asgard, a man came and offered them to build a wall around Asgard.
He promised that it could keep all the evil forces out and that it could be finished in three winters.

The Aesir liked it and asked what he should have for the work. The man replied that he wanted Freya as his wife as well as Sun and Moon.
This the Aesir chewed a little, and agreed to give him what he demanded, if he could finish the work in a winter without help.
The man only asked to have his stallion Svadilfar help him, and on Loki's recommendation he was allowed to do so.

The first day of winter, the man took up work. At night he and the stallion dragged stones together, and it turned out that the stallion could drag twice as much as the man, so the work progressed rapidly.

As there were only three days left of the winter, it seemed that the man would reach his goal, and the Aesir now became apprehensive. They were not much to pay the man the agreed salary, and they blamed Loki because he had advised them to let the man get his stallion to help. Now they threatened him with all the misfortunes of the country if he did not take counsel.
Loki promised that he would probably come up with something. That same evening, when the man and the stallion drove out to collect stones, they met a rutting mare that sent enticing squeals after Svadilfar.

The stallion could not stand it. It ran after the mare to mate with it, and they disappeared into the woods.
The man ran afterwards to get hold of the stallion, and the hunt lasted all night, so the man could not accomplish anything. When he saw that he would now not be able to finish on time, he was seized with rage. The Assyrians now saw that he was a giant, and called on Thor. He gave the giant one on the forehead with Mjølner, so he jumped into a thousand pieces.
Loki's adventure with Svadilfare led to the eight - legged horse Slejpner.

See a piece of jewelry with the eight-legged horse Slejpner.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share the story - so it lives on.

Year and peace