The Rare Tale of Idun and Her Golden Apples

Unlike other gods, the Norse Gods are not immortal; they live and they die.

To stay young and strong, the Gods need a rare kind of apples; apples that only the Goddess Idun has. Therefore, she is very important and crucial in Asgard, home of the Gods.

Idun is the goddess of eternal youth and is the wife of Bragi, the god of poetry.

One day, Odin, Loki, and Hœnir were on a journey in Midgard.

Having had a long and tiresome day, the three Gods decided to find something to eat then rest. To their luck, they found a herd of oxen.

Loki, with his wit and tricks, managed to catch the largest of the oxen and slaughtered it. Meanwhile, Odin and Hœnir started a fire.

Having prepared everything, they put the oxen on the fire and waited, then waited, and then waited for what seemed to be a really long time.

When they checked on the oxen, it was as raw as when they put it on the fire.

A huge eagle who had been perching on a nearby tree and watching the scene talked to them and offered his help.

The eagle offered the Gods to help cooking the oxen if they agreed to let him take a part of it.

Having no choice, the Gods accepted the deal. The eagle jumped off the branch and took a huge chunk of the oxen; more than half of it actually.

That made Loki really angry and, without further thought, he jumped on the eagle and hit him with a large stick.

The eagle took off and took the stick and Loki with him.

The eagle started flying into trees and mountains to make sure Loki's trip was very uncomfortable.

Loki, almost getting killed, started begging the eagle to stop.

The eagle (who was actually the giant Thiazi in disguise) told Loki that the only thing that could make him stop is if Loki promised him to have Idun leave Asgard. Loki took the deal.

A few days went by and the Gods were back in Asgard. Loki went to Idun's castle and convinced her to go with him on a tour to Midgard, so she could see the humans' world.

In Midgard, Loki and and Idun were out in a field enjoying the sunshine and the breeze.

The giant Thiazi, again in the form of an eagle, swooped down from the sky and picked Idun in an eye-blink.

He flew to his place in Jötenheim (land of the Giants) where he would be the only one to have the apples of youth.

Back in Asgard, the Gods started feeling weak and their hair began to turn gray. They quickly knew what was wrong and who the culprit was.

Odin, gathering his strength, called for a council of the Gods.

The Gods found Loki and they brought him back to Asgard. They demanded that he find Idun and bring her back or they shall kill him.

Thinking about a way to bring her back, Loki put on his hawk skin and flew to Thiazi's castle in Jötenheim.

In a cold and dark room he found Idun crying.

Besides being obliged to bring her back lest the Gods kill him, Loki did actually feel bad for what he did.

The room's window being only big enough for a hawk (not for a goddess), Loki spoke magic words and turned Idun into a nut. He then picked the nut with his claws and flew towards Asgard.

While Loki was almost halfway to Asgard, Thiazi came back to his castle and didn't find Idun. One of his servants told him he saw a large hawk flying off the castle a few hours earlier. Thiazi understood what happened and quickly put his eagle skin on and took off.

The eagle, being fast and strong, quickly reached Loki as he was about to arrive to Asgard. The Gods watched from Asgard and realized the hawk was unlikely to outrun the eagle.

They brought a huge pile of wood and ignited it just as Loki flew over the walls of Asgard.

Once Thiazi reached the walls, his wings got burned and he fell down. The Gods killed him before he had a chance to take off his eagle skin.

Loki put the nut on the ground and spoke the magic words. The nut turned into the Goddess Idun and she handed a golden apple to every God. The Gods' youth and health was restored.

And once again, Loki proved he could create a huge mess then get out of it while narrowly escaping death.