Urban Dictionary: Loki Loki Loki is the Norse God of trickery, mischief, and change; a major character in Norse Mythology. Blood-brother of Odin and traveling companion and friend of Thor ; his wife’s name is Sigyn , his children’s names are Hel , Fenris , Jormungandr , Vali , Narfi and Sleipnir . Loki is pleasing and handsome in appearance according to the Eddas. He is renown for his cleverness and for helping the Gods out after he has gotten them into trouble as well as his great ability to make them laugh and cheer them up. He has domain over fire, and is a master magician, conjurer as well as shape-shifter (In some cases changing gender). Loki is bisexual , having sexual relations with both male and female in mythology. Bearing in mind Loki’s dark side as well as his good one, he is most valuable as a witty, entertaining friend, and a God to call upon. Loki is not an evil malevolent being or the Norse version of Satan or some fallen angel. The later influence of Christianity on Norse culture resulted in changing the mythology portraying Loki as evil incarnate. This is not uncommon, Christianity often demonizes other religions gods.

Loki represents both our divine intelligence and also free will whereby we can choose for good or ill, and if we make a mistake to correct it. He typifies the human mind: on one hand clever, foolish, immature; on the other hand, he personifies the elevating, aspiring traits in human intelligence. Loki is still worshiped today and one who worships or is dedicated to Loki as their primary God is called a Lokean . Compare to Odinist . In pop culture: Loki is a supervillian in Marvel comics. Loki is a hero in Valhalla comic books. Loki is a character on Mario and Luigi video games. Loki is a character in the movie Domga Loki is the spirit who inhabits the mask in the movie, “The Mask”. Loki is a main character in the novel “American Gods”. In Star Gate SG-1 Loki is a renegade Asgard who is responsible of many alien abductions in which he genetically experiments with human DNA in order to try and solve his races genetic degradation that is caused by excessive cloning. The dog star, Sirius, is referred to as "Lokabrenna." Times change, Gods change - why not honor Loki?

Loki Loki is the Norse Trickster god (originally a Jotun till he became Odin Allfather's blood-brother). He plays some part in Ragnarok , the end of the world in Viking myth. For this reason he is often interpreted as a Satan figure. Also, the only reason anyone knows any Norse myths is because of the Eddas, two writings on them. One was by Snorri Sturulson, and that writing is deeply influenced by Christianity . In Pagan beliefs, the end of the world is often seen as one being followed by renewal; it was seen differently by the pagans, and so Christian interpretation is, alas, inherently wrong. Most Wiccans and other modern-day Pagans choose not to pray to Loki. He is the god of change, often change that is very necessary, hard to get through, and unwelcome at the time. Usually Loki's lessons are full of mischief, but the overall meaning is good-natured and helpful. Loki is also, from a different perspective, a distinctly fey god.

While the other Norse gods were all unchanging and fixed, as pagan gods usually are, Loki is the exact opposite, and it is well known that he did not come from Asgard as the Aesir did. Faeries , or fairies , are both destructive and constructive, being nature spirits, and Loki is very much the same. He both can and cannot be trusted. It depends very much on how anyone who prays to him interprets him, for he will appeal to that nature. "Watch what you wish for" applies to him in this case, for you will get what you want and find later that you shouldn't have wanted it. Loki should not be confused with Satan; Satan represents destruction without cease. While Loki too is associated with fire, Loki's representation of it is the sort of fire that ravages a landscape and then allows many plants to grow there; the sort of destruction that makes way for a new beginning. The true Norse Satan figure is most likely Surtr , whose flaming sword, when drawn, signifies the end of the world. He comes from a land of eternal flame.

Loki is also an in-between god--not homosexual or transexual , but a shape-changer , who has spent time in the form of both a man and a woman, and has borne children. If he were pangender and/or pansexual , no one would be surprised. Androgyny and the telling of truth through lies (and jokes and parodies) are his domain. However, he dislikes being untrue to yourself to fit in. He is traditionally supposed to have auburn hair. In the Tudor Humphries illustrations in Michael Harrison's 'The Doom of the Gods', he is shown in motley jester pants, harkening to his Trickster nature. He is known as the "Father of Lies", among other things, but is not malicious.

Loki's first wife's name was Angrboda , and she bore three children: Fenrir , the oldest, was a giant wolf who killed Odin (blood brother to Loki and ruler of all the gods) in Ragnarok; the youngest was Jormungand , the Midgard serpent was a serpent who circled the world on the bottom of the ocean, devouring his own tail (an oroboros ); he destroyed Thor (the Norse Zeus and Loki's constant companion). The middle child's name was Hel , which means death. Her lower body was that of a corpse, though her upper half was living. She rules Niflheim , or Helheim . Loki's second wife's name was Sigyn , and not much about her is known. They had two children, Vali and Narfi. When Loki was finally punished (in a manner similar to the crucifixion of Jesus ), Vali was turned into a wolf and allowed to tear out Narfi's entrails, which were used to bind Loki to three stones. Skadi put a snake up above him and allowed the poison to drip onto his face.

Sigyn held a bowl beneath it, to catch it; but whenever it became full, she had to turn away and empty it, and then the poison fell into his face. Loki is more or less a nature god, not one of destruction; he is associated with the seasons and other natural changes, and like Mother Nature is unpredictable, playful, and sometimes dangerous. When prayed to it must be made clear afterwards that he is dismissed, otherwise the pagan has only himself to blame when he cannot find two matching socks the next morning. His holiday is, fittingly, April Fool's Day. Back before it came out in print again, I wanted a copy of Susan Kay's 'Phantom'. Since Erik wears a mask, and Loki's all about masks, I prayed to him to convince my dad to shell out 55 dollars on a used copy. Shortly afterward he ordered it, we walked into a bookstore, and I thought, "It would be really funny if I found that book here." Unfortunately, we did, and bought it--for 50 cents! When a month later I heard it was coming back into print by popular demand, I knew Loki was dancing up in the clouds, laughing hysterically and my mortal stupidity.

If I'd been patient, I would have got in good time, but Loki believes in everyone getting their wishes. (True story.) Loki The most popular supervillain in the Marvel movies at the moment. A sexy mofo with a tragic backstory, Loki was (at least in the Marvel cinematic universe, I do not vouch for comics) left to die by his birth father Laufey, the king of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, because he was the runt. Odin took him in both out of compassion and because he thought adopting a Frost Giant would be useful to him in improving relations between their two kinds. Loki grew up being treated like something of an outcast by his adopted dad, who never told Loki that he was adopted and always favored Loki's brother Thor. This made Loki extremely jealous and desperate for his father's approval, which led to his becoming a villain. That and the fact he's the God of mischief and lies... so with that as your official job title, you probably aren't going to be the world's (realm's?) nicest person. So me and other obsessive fangirls like myself are in love with him because he's beautiful and tragic and possibly even a good person under all that.

And he's played by Tom Hiddleston who is God in a human form. You can't top that. Loki is more popular than Thor because Thor is an arrogant-ish little goody two shoes and Loki is a MAN with fabulous dark hair and a sexy smile. He's also a bad boy, which makes him twice as hot. And British... so three times as hot. Girl 1: TUMBLRRRRRRRRRRR. Girl 2: Has she been Loki'd? Girl 3: Of course she has. Loki is beautiful and perfect. Girl 1: *cries* I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM OKAY? Loki There are a lot of untrue statements here, so I might as well clear things up a bit. Loki is a major character of Norse Mythology. He is often referred to as the trickster god, but he's technically a giant, son of the giant Farbauti. And despite previous definitions, he is NOT related to fire, that's a common misconception because the name Loki is similar to another name meaning fire.

Through the giantess Angrboda, He is the father of the half-dead woman Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jormungand. He also once shapeshifted into a mare and gave birth to the eight-legged Sleipnir, which became Odin's favorite horse. Loki is described as being handsome in appearance, but clever and deceitful. What makes Loki a truly fascinating character are his dynamic and unpredictable actions. Without the exciting, unstable, flawed Loki, the Norse Myths wouldn't have nearly as many interesting tales as they do today. Loki often causes trouble for the gods. However, what's interesting is that it's often also Loki's cunning that gets them out of these messes. Many times, probably for the sake of fun, Loki helps out the gods while they are in tough situations. But at the end of the world, Ragnarok, Loki's true allegiance is tested, and he betrays the gods by fighting against them alongside the giants. At Ragnarok, he encounters the god Heimdall, and the two kill eachother. Loki's awesome. :D The Mythical Detective Loki. Check it out, peoples.

Loki: Norse Trickster God of Mischief | Norse Mythology Loki: Norse Trickster God of Mischief People Category: Norse Mythology Hits: 7928 Loki Laufeyiarson, in Norse Mythology is the "god" of mischief, a son of Farbauti and Laufey, and is described as the "contriver of all fraud." Loki is actually not a god at all, but a Jotun (the Titans and Gigantes of Norse mythology), although he mixed freely with the gods for a long time, even becoming Odins foster-brother. The trickster god is a complex character, a master of guile and deception. He is also conceived of as a fire spiritual being|spirit, with all the potential for good and ill associated with fire. Loki is also an adept shape-shifter, with the ability to change both form (examples include transmogrification to a salmon, horse, bird, flea, etc.) and sex. Loki was the father of many creatures, men and monsters. With Glut, his first wife, he was the father of Einmyria and Eisa.

Jormungand Fenrisulfr Hel Having liaisons with giantesses was nothing unusual for gods in Norse mythology—both Odin and Freyr are good examples; and since Loki was actually a giant himself, there is nothing unusual about this activity. Together with Angerboda, he had three children: *Jormungand, the sea serpent *Fenrisulfr the giant wolf preordained to slay Odin at the time of Ragnarok * Hel, the goddess of the underworld/realm of the dead Stories of Loki Loki was flying as a hawk one day and was captured by Geirrod, a frost giant. Geirrod, who hated Thor, demanded that Loki bring his enemy (without his magic belt and Mjolnir hammer) to Geirrods castle. Loki agreed to lead Thor to the trap. On the way to Geirrods, they stopped at the home of Grid, a giantess. She waited until Loki left the room then told Thor what was happening and gave him her iron gloves and magical belt and staff. Thor killed Geirrod, and all other frost giants he could find.

Loki was not so much a figure of unmitigated badness as a kind of celestial con man/confidence trickster, who always managed to persuade the gods to give him another chance. Some anthropologists have compared him to Coyote, a trickster figure of Native American mythology. Loki occasionally works with the other gods. For example, he tricked Hrimthur, who built the walls around Asgard, out of being paid for his work by distracting his horse while disguised as a mare—thereby he became the mother of Odins eight-legged horse Sleipnir. He also retrieved Gungnir - Odins spear, Skidbladnir - Freyrs ship and Sifs wig from Dvalin, the Norse dwarves/dwarf, as well as rescuing Idun. Finally,in Trymskvida, the funniest of Thors adventures, Loki manages, with Thor at his side, to get Mjollnir back when the giant Thrym secretly steals it, in order to ask for fair Freya as a bride, in exchange.

Loki overplayed his hand in this respect: disguised as a giantess, he arranged the murder of Baldur (he used mistletoe, the only plant which had not sworn to never harm Baldur, and made a dart of it, which he tricked Baldurs blind brother Hod into throwing at Baldur, thereby killing him), although earlier versions of the myth, attributed to Saxo Grammaticus do not implicate Loki. Significantly, also, the poem in the Elder Edda most associated with Loki, the Lokasenna, does not directly implicate Loki in Baldurs death. The gods, bereft at the loss of Baldur, travelled to the underworld to bargain for Balders life; there, Hel told them that the only way to ensure the gods return was to have everything in the world weep for him. The gods went through the land, and convinced not only men, women and animals to weep for Balder, but also rocks and trees. Finally, they arrived at a cave in which a giantess dwelled. The gods were unable to convince her to cry for Baldur, and so he remained in the underworld.

When the gods discovered that the giantess had been Loki in disguise, they hunted him down and bound him to three rocks with the entrails of either his son Fenrisulfr or Vali. Then they tied a serpent above him, the venom of which dripped onto his face. His wife Sigyn (a goddess, not the giantess who was the mother of Lokis monster brood) gathered the venom in a bowl, but from time to time she had to turn away to empty it, at which point the poison would drip onto Loki, who writhed in pain, thus causing earthquakes. He would free himself, however, in time to attack the gods at Ragnarok along with the other giants and his monster children. Not all lore depicts Loki as a malevolent being. An 18th century ballad (that may have drawn from a much earlier source) from the Faroe Islands, entitled Loka Thaattur, depicts Loki as a friend to man: when a thurs (troll or giant) comes to take a farmers son away, the farmer and his wife pray to Odin to protect him. Odin hides the son in a field of wheat, but the thurs finds him.

Odin rescues the son and takes him back to the farmer and his wife, saying that he is done hiding the son. The couple then prays to Honir, who hides the son in the neck-feathers of a swan, but again the Thurs finds him. On the third day, they pray to Loki, who hides the son amidst the eggs of a flounder. The thurs finds the flounder, but Loki instructs the boy to run into a boathouse. The giant gets his head caught in a peephole (the translation is not complete, but it appears to be a peephole) and Loki kills him by chopping off his leg and inserting a stick and a stone in the leg stump to prevent the thurs from regenerating. He takes the boy home, and the farmer and his wife embrace both of them. "Loki, Norse God of tricksters, jesters and fools." A figure somewhat reminiscent of the Chinese mythology/Chinese Monkey King at times, whose persona in myth underwent changes over the centuries, Loki, for all his ambiguity, was a positive figure before Christianity took over his tale.

Loki - Norse Mythology for Smart People Norse Mythology for Smart People Loki An anonymous painting of Loki from an Icelandic illuminated manuscript Loki (pronounced “LOAK-ee;” Old Norse Loki, whose meaning/etymology is unknown[1]) is the wily trickster god of Norse mythology. While treated as a nominal member of the Aesir tribe of gods in the Eddas and sagas , Loki occupies a highly ambivalent and ultimately solitary position amongst the gods, giants , and the other classes of invisible beings that populate the traditional spirituality of the Norse and other Germanic peoples. His familial relations attest to this. His father is the giant Fárbauti (“Cruel Striker”), and his mother, Laufey (possibly “Tree”), could be a goddess, a giantess, or something else entirely – the surviving sources are silent on this point.

Loki is the father, by the giantess Angrboða (“Anguish-Boding”) of Hel , the goddess of the grave, Jormungand , the great serpent who slays Thor during Ragnarok , and Fenrir , the wolf who bites off one of the hands of Tyr and who kills Odin during Ragnarok – hardly a reputable brood, to say the least. As we’ll see below, Loki demonstrates a complete lack of concern for the well-being of his fellow gods, a trait which could be discerned, in vague outline, merely by considering his offspring. Loki often runs afoul not only of societal expectations, but also of what we today might call “the laws of nature.” In addition to the progeny listed above, Loki is also the mother – yes, the mother – of Sleipnir , Odin’s shamanic horse, whom Loki gave birth to after shapeshifting into a mare and courting the stallion Svaðilfari, as is recounted in the tale of The Fortification of Asgard . In the tales , Loki is portrayed as a scheming coward who cares only for shallow pleasures and self-preservation.

He’s by turns playful, malicious, and helpful, but he’s always irreverent and nihilistic. For example, in The Kidnapping of Idun , Loki, by his recklessness, ends up in the hands of a furious giant, Thiazi, who threatens to kill Loki unless he brings him the goddess Idun . Loki complies in order to save his life, and then finds himself in the awkward position of having the gods threaten him with death unless he rescues Idun. He agrees to this request for the same base motive, shifting his shape into that of a falcon and carrying the goddess back to Asgard in his talons. Thiazi pursues him desperately in the form of an eagle, but, having almost caught up with Loki as he nears his destination, the gods light a fire around the perimeter of their fortress. The flames catch Thiazi and burn him to death, while Idun and Loki reach the halls of the gods safely. Loki ultimately comes to the aid of the gods, but only to rectify a calamity for which he himself is responsible. This theme is repeated in numerous tales, such as in Loki and the Dwarves and the aforementioned The Fortification of Asgard .

After Thiazi’s death, the giant’s daughter, Skadi , arrives in Asgard demanding restitution for the slaying of her father. One of her demands is that the gods make her laugh, something which only Loki is able to do. To accomplish this, he ties one end of a rope to the beard of a goat and the other end to his testicles. Both he and the goat squawk and squeal as one pulls one way and the other pulls the other way. Eventually he falls over in Skadi’s lap, and the giantess can’t help but laugh at such an absurd spectacle. Here, Loki once again comes to the aid of the gods, but simply by being silly and outlandish, not by accomplishing any feat that a Viking Age Scandinavian would have found to be particularly honorable. Loki alternately helps both the gods and the giants, depending on which course of action is most pleasurable and advantageous to him at the time. During Ragnarok, when the gods and giants engage in their ultimate struggle and the cosmos is destroyed and re-created, Loki joins the battle on the side of the giants. He and the god Heimdall mortally wound each other.

Loki is perhaps best known for his malevolent role in The Death of Baldur . After the death of the beloved god Baldur is prophesied, Baldur’s mother, Frigg , secures a promise from every living thing to not harm her son. Well, almost everything – no such oath is obtained from the mistletoe, which the gods think too small and safe a thing to harm Baldur. Upon discovering this omission, Loki carves a mistletoe spear, places it in the hands of the blind god Hod, and instructs him to throw it at Baldur. Hod, not knowing the origin of the weapon, complies, and Baldur is impaled and dies. The god Hermod rides Sleipnir to Helheim and implores Hel to release Baldur, pointing out how beloved he is by all living things. Hel retorts that if this is so, then it shouldn’t be difficult to compel every being in the world to weep for Baldur, and, should this happen, the dead god would be released from the grave.

Every living thing does indeed cry for Baldur’s return, with one sole exception: a frost-hearted giantess named Tokk (Þökk, “Thanks”), who is almost certainly Loki in disguise. So Baldur must remain in Hel until Ragnarok. For these and many more crimes against them, the gods eventually forge a chain from the entrails of another seldom-mentioned son of Loki’s and tie him down to three rocks inside a cave. A venomous serpent sits above him, dripping poison onto him. Loki’s apparently very faithful and loving wife, Sigyn , sits at his side with a bowl to catch the venom. But when the bowl becomes full, of course, she has to leave her husband’s side to pour it out. When this happens, the drops of venom that fall onto him cause him to writhe in agony, and these convulsions create earthquakes. And in this state he lies until breaking free at Ragnarok. A fascinating variant of the tale of Loki’s being bound comes to us from the medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus.

In his History of the Danes, Thor, on one of his many journeys to Jotunheim , the homeland of the giants, finds a giant named Útgarðaloki (“Loki of the Utangard “). Útgarðaloki is bound in exactly the same manner as that in which Loki is bound in the tale mentioned above, which comes from Icelandic sources.[2][3] It seems that even the heathen Scandinavians themselves held conflicting views on whether Loki was a god, a giant, or something else entirely. No traces of any kind of historical worship of Loki have survived into modern times.[4] Is this any wonder, given that his character is virtually the antithesis of the traditional values to which most pre-Christian Germanic people subscribed? Loki’s Role in the Pre-Christian Northern European Worldview Why, then, did the Scandinavians have such a god in their mythology at all? What did he represent to them? To which modalities of life does his character correspond? To answer these vexing questions, we must consider Loki from the perspective of the pre-Christian northern European worldview itself.

Only then can we hope to understand what Loki meant to the people who told tales of him around their hearth-fires during the long winter nights. Before the victory of Christianity, the Germanic peoples had no conception of what we think of as absolute moral “good” or “evil.” Some values and actions were appropriate for some people and some situations; others were inappropriate for those people and those situations, but very well might be appropriate for other people and other situations. This was not the free-for-all of moral relativism, however, which is, after all, simply the inversion or denial of the Judeo-Christian perspective of an absolute, universal morality. In traditional Germanic society, a person who occupied a particular social role and was a devotee of that role’s corresponding god or goddess could rightly be held to the standard of conduct appropriate for that role and its divinity. Thus, while most Viking Age men were held to the standards of honor and manliness exemplified by such figures as Tyr, Thor, or Freyr , for example, not everyone was necessarily held to these standards.

Devotees of Odin, for example – a god for whom we have ample evidence of true historical worship – followed a path of ecstatic and creative self-actualization that often seemed fickle, ruthless, irresponsible, and even shameful by the standards of, say, a man of Thor. (See Polytheistic Theology and Ethics .) Thus, Loki can’t rightly be considered a model of moral “evil.” Instead, he’s a model of one of the countless, and often opposing and contradictory, principles and meanings of which life consists. Odin shares many of Loki’s boundary-crossing, trickster-like attributes. One Old Norse poem even states that the two are blood brothers.[5] Why, then, was Odin the recipient of considerable worship and active emulation, and Loki, as far as we can tell, received hardly any or none at all? If the modality of life to which Odin corresponds were to be expressed in conceptual terms, it would be something like the modern German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Will to Power,” a restless, vital force that strives to continually overcome itself and its surroundings, fostering growth through the mastery of subtle, arcane knowledge and abilities.

That this could be seen as sacred, worthy of the name of a god, is perfectly comprehensible from the perspective of a worldview that seeks to affirm life unconditionally, which the pre-Christian Germanic worldview, much like Nietzsche’s, certainly does. The principle to which Loki corresponds, however, is the disregard for or hatred of the sacred as such. For Loki, the gods are “not to be worshiped, but ignored, to be overcome, or in the last analysis mocked.”[6] This perspective certainly had its adherents in the Viking Age, such as Glúmr in Víga-Glúms Saga (not to mention that this perspective has been enshrined as the norm by modern humanism). Why would such people, who place their trust solely in their own might, reverence a god who happens to share their anti-spiritual perspective? Paradoxically, however, in order to affirm life as being inherently and unconditionally sacred, one must affirm even Loki and the principle to which he corresponds as being an embodiment of divinity in and of itself.

One embodies Loki whenever one lives in a totally profane manner, without any reference to sacred models – hence Loki’s utter lack of any allegiances to the gods, giants, or anyone else. Thus, while the animistic and pantheistic Germanic peoples held the sacred to be categorically superior to the merely profane, they recognized that, since, in their perspective, the sacred and the profane are not dualistic, mutually exclusive conceptions (as they are in Judeo-Christianity), all that is profane is – again paradoxically – ultimately sacred as well. The difference lies solely in the mindset with which one approaches any given phenomenon. To a profane mindset such as Loki’s, it will be profane; to a sacred mindset such as Odin’s, it will be sacred. And from a sacred perspective, even the apparently profane is ultimately sacred and worthy of being called a god. Loki features so prominently in the tales of Norse mythology because, from the perspective of the heathen Norse themselves, those tales expressed the inner meaning of the physical world we inhabit.

Since most people live most of their lives with the mindset exemplified by Loki, it’s inevitable that the pre-Christian Scandinavians would have had much to say about him, as a way of reminding themselves that everything, even irreverence itself, is ultimately worthy of reverence. Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion? While this site provides the ultimate online introduction to the topic, my book The Viking Spirit provides the ultimate introduction to Norse mythology and religion period. I’ve also written a popular list of The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books , which you’ll probably find helpful in your pursuit. References: Native American Indian Legends - The Mischief Maker. A tradition of the origin of the mythology of the Senecas - Seneca The Mischief Maker. A tradition of the origin of the mythology of the Senecas A Seneca Legend An Indian mischief maker was once roving about. He saw that he was approaching a village, and said, "How can I attract attention?" Seeing two girls coming from the wigwams, he pulled up a wild plum-bush and placed it upon his head, the roots clasping about his chin. "It will be strange to see a plum-tree on my head, bearing ripe fruit.

These girls will want trees also." So he thought. The tree shook as he walked, and many plums fell to the ground. The girls wondered greatly at the strange man with the tree. They admired it, and said they, too, would like to be always supplied with fruit in such a manner. "I can manage that," he replied. So he pulled up a bush for each, and planted them on their heads. The plums were delicious, and grew as fast as they were plucked; and the girls stepped along proudly, for they had something which certainly no girls ever had before. The Mischief Maker went on to the village. On the way he reflected, "There is no such thing in the world as a plum-tree growing on a man's head. I will take this off." He did so, and, on entering the village, gave a loud signal (a whoop). All the people listened, and the chiefs sent messengers to inquire what news he brought. He said, "I have seen a very strange sight. As I was coming hither I saw two girls walking.

Trees grew on their heads; the boughs were covered with plums, and the roots, which came through their hair, were fastened about their necks. They were beautiful, and seemed to be very happy." "We will go and see them!" cried the women. They had not gone far before they saw one of the girls lying on the ground, while the other pulled at the tree on her head. The roots gave way and the tree came out, but all the hair came with it also. Then the other lay down, and her friend in turn pulled the tree from her head. They were very angry, and said, "If we meet with the man who played us this trick we will punish him." When the women who had gathered round them learned how the trees had been fastened by magic upon the girls' heads, they returned to the village, resolved to chastise the man who had played the trick. But when they reached home he was gone. Gone far and away to another town. Before reaching it he sat down, and said, "Now I will show these people also what I can do." He went a little distance into the woods, where he found a wigwam.

A woman with a bucket in her hand came from it. He saw that as she passed along she reached high with one hand, and felt her way by a thong which ran from tree to tree till it ended at a spring of cold water. She went on, filled her bucket, and so returned. Then another woman after her did the same. "They must be blind," said the Mischief Maker. "I will have some fun with them." And so it was. There lived in that wigwam five blind sisters. Then he untied the thong from the tree near the spring and fastened it to another, where there was no water. Then a third blind woman came with a bucket, and followed the line to the end, but found no water. She returned to the wigwam, and said, "The spring is dried up." "No, it isn't," replied one of the sisters, who was stirring pudding over the fire. "You say that because you are too lazy to bring water; you never work. Here, do you stir the pudding, and let me go for water." The Mischief Maker heard all this, and made haste to tie the end of the thong where it belonged.

The blind woman filled her bucket, and when she returned said to her sister, "There, you lazy creature, I found the water!" By this time the Mischief Maker was in the house, and slipping quietly up to the fire he dipped out some of the pudding and threw it, scalding hot, into the face of the scolding woman, who cried in a rage,-- "You throw hot pudding at me, do you?" "No, I did not throw any at you," replied the sister. Then the Mischief Maker threw some into her face. She screamed, being very angry. "You mean thing! You threw hot pudding at me, when I did you no harm." "I didn't throw any!" said the other, in a rage. "Yes, you did, you mean thing!" "Stop! stop!" cried the others. Just then hot pudding flew in all their faces; they had a terrible quarrel, and the Mischief Maker left them to settle it among themselves as they could. He entered the village near by, and gave the usual signal for news. The runners came out and met him; the chiefs and all the people assembled, lining the path on both sides for a long way.

They asked, "What news do you bring?" He replied, "I come from a village where there is great distress. A pestilence visited the people. The medicine man could not cure the sick; till I came there was no remedy; the tribe was becoming very small. But I told them the remedy, and now they are getting well. I have come to tell you to prepare for the pestilence: it will soon be here; it is flying like the wind, and there is only one remedy." "What is it? what is it? what is it?" interrupted the people. He answered, "Every man must embrace the woman who is next to him at this very instant; kiss her, quick, immediately!" They all did so on the spot, he with the rest. As he was leaving them an elderly man came to him and whispered, "Are you going to do this thing again at the next village? If you are I should like to be on hand. I didn't get any girl myself here. The woman I went for dodged me, and said she had rather have the pestilence, and death too, than have me kiss her.

Is the operation to be repeated?" The Mischief Maker said that it certainly would be, about the middle of the morrow forenoon. "Then I will start now," said the middle-aged man, "for I am lame, and it will take me all night to get there." So he hurried on, and at daylight entered the village. He found a wigwam, by which several beautiful Indian girls were pounding corn in a great wooden mortar. He sat down by them. He could hardly take his eyes from them, they were so charming, and they wondered at his strange behavior. He talked with them, and said, "My eyelids quiver, and by that I know that some great and strange news will soon be brought to this tribe. Hark!"--here he moved up towards the one whom he most admired,--"did you not hear a signal?" "No," they replied. The middle-aged man became very uneasy. Suddenly the girls gave a cry, and dropped their corn pestles. A voice was heard afar; the runners leaped and flew, the chiefs and people went forth.

With them went the girls and the middle-aged man, who took great pains to keep very near his chosen one, so as to lose no time in applying the remedy for the pestilence when the Mischief Maker should give the signal. He was determined that a life should not be lost if he could prevent it. The Stranger went through his story as at the other village. The people became very much excited. They cried out to know the remedy, and the old bachelor drew nearer to the pretty girl. "The only remedy for the pestilence is for every woman to knock down the man who is nearest her." The women began to knock down, and the first to fall was the too familiar old bachelor. So the Mischief Maker waited no longer than to see the whole town in one general and bitter fight, tooth and nail, tomahawk and scalper, and then ran at the top of his speed far away and fleet, to find another village. Then the people, finding they had been tricked, said, as people generally do on such occasions, "If we had that fellow here, wouldn't we pay him up for this?" The Mischief Maker was greatly pleased at his success.

It was nearly dark when he stopped, and said, "I will not enter the next village to-night; I will camp here in the woods." So he had piled up logs for a fire, and was just about to strike a light, when he saw a stranger approaching. "Camp with me here over night," said the Mischief Maker, "and we will go to the village in the morning." So they ate and smoked their pipes, and told stories till it was very late. But the stranger did not seem to tire; nay, he even proposed to tell stories all night long. The Mischief Maker looked at him aslant. "My friend," he said, "can you tell me of what wood my back-log is?" "Hickory?" inquired the stranger. "No, not cedar." "Birch?" The stranger began to yawn, but he kept on guessing. Then his head nodded. By the time he had found out that it was slippery elm he was sound asleep. "This fellow deserves punishment," remarked the Mischief Maker. "He is an enemy to mankind." Here he adroitly put some sticky clay on the sleeper's eyes, and departed.

When the stranger awoke he thought himself still fast asleep in darkness, and then that he was blind. "If ever I meet with that fellow again," he said, "I'll punish him!" The Mischief Maker played so many pranks that all the tribes sent out runners to catch him. He heard their whoops in every forest. He knew that he was being hunted down. He hurried on, and once at night hid in a cave under a rock. The runners did not quite overtake him, but they saw that his tracks were fresh, and thought they might catch him in the morning. In the morning he was up and far away long before they awoke. The next night he hid again in a hollow log. In the middle of the afternoon of the next day he heard the whoops of the pursuers very near, and knew that they were gaining fast on him. He climbed a thickly limbed tree, and hid in the top. Here the runners lost his track, because he had broken the weeds and bushes down beyond the tree, as if he had gone further on. They ran for a long distance. Then they returned, and camped and built a fire under the tree.

The smoke crept up among the branches and curled above, and rose in a straight column to the sky. The fugitive sailed away on the smoke, going up and up,--past beautiful lakes and hunting-grounds stocked with deer, large fields of corn and beans, tobacco and squashes; past great companies of handsome Indians, whose wigwams were hung full of dried venison and bear's meat. And so he went on and up to the wigwam. of the Great Chief. Here he rested. He remained for a hundred moons observing the customs of the people and learning their language. One morning the Great Chief told him that he must return to his own people. He disliked to do this, for he was very happy in the new place. The Chief said, "These are the happy hunting-grounds. We have admitted you that you may know how and what to teach your people, that they may get here. Go, and if you do what I tell you, you may return to remain forever. You have not been allowed to come here to remain, but only to observe. When you come again, you shall join us in all things. You shall hunt and fish then, and have whatever you wish.

But return now, and teach what you have learned here." A cloud of smoke in the form of a great eagle came to him, and, seated on its back, he was borne down to the top of the tree from which he had risen. He opened his eyes. The sun was shining. His pursuers had gone away. He descended and traveled on. His mind was filled with what he had seen. He said, "I will no longer play tricks, but tell the people about what I learned in the happy hunting-grounds." After a long journey he drew near a village. He gave the common signal. Runners came to meet him. The head chief and all the people came to hear. He was asked, "What news do you bring us? He said, "I that was the Mischief Maker am the Peace Maker now. The Great Spirit took me to the happy hunting-grounds, and I am sent back to tell you how to get there." Then the Peace Maker described all he had seen. The people built a great fire and danced around it, and shouted as they had never done before. Then he said, "This is the message I bring you." So the people sat in a great circle round the fire and listened.

He spoke:-- "The Great Spirit is unseen, but he is about us. He will not forsake us. He rules all things for us. He will take care of us. He told me that we should return thanks to him, for he changes the seasons, and makes corn and beans and squashes grow for us. He is displeased when we kill our brothers. He hopes that we will not forget him. He will never die. His name is Ha-wen-ni-yu,--the Ruler. He bids us keep away from his wicked brother, whose name is Ha-ne-go-ate-geh, the Evil-Minded. He is very bad. He brings pestilence and fevers, and lizards and poisonous weeds. He destroys peace, and brings war. Ha-wen-ni-yu will care for us if we trust in him. Obey his words, and Ha-ne-go-ate-geh will never harm us. "The Great Spirit, has messengers, who aid him in his work. They watch over the people. They take care of the mother and her new-born babe, that they receive no harm; they watch over those whom the Evil-Minded has troubled with disease.

The Evil-Minded has messengers who do his work. They scatter pestilence, and whisper in our ears, and tell us to go against Ha-wen-ni-yu. "The Great Spirit has messengers. Heno has a pouch filled with thunderbolts. Heno gathers the clouds and sends the rain. He is a friend to the corn and beans and squashes. He also punishes witches and evil persons. Pray to Heno when you plant, and thank him when you gather your crop. Pray also to Ha-wen-ni-yu, who will send Heno to care for you. Let Heno be called Grandfather. "Ga-oh is the Spirit of the Winds. He moves the winds, but he is chained to a rock. The winds trouble him, and he tries very hard to get free. When he struggles the winds are forced away from him, and they blow upon the earth. Sometimes he suffers terrible pain, and then his struggles are violent. This makes the winds wild, and they do damage on the earth. Then he feels better and goes to sleep, and the winds become quiet also. "There is a spirit for the corn, another for beans, another for squashes.

They are sisters, and are very kind to each other. They dwell together, and live in the fields. They shall be known as De-o-ha-ka,--the keepers of our life. "There are spirits in the water, in fire, in all the trees and berries, in herbs and in tobacco, in the grass. They assist the Great Spirit. "Always return thanks to Ho-noh-che-noh-keh, the Guardian Spirits. "Ha-ne-go-ate-geh has messengers. These are the spirits of disease, of fever, of witches, weeds, and murder. But the Great Spirit will keep them away from his children. "This is the message I bring from the happy hunting-grounds. Obey these words, and the Great Spirit will give you a place there." So Peace Maker taught the people. They threw tobacco on the fire, according to his instructions, and on the column of its smoke he was borne away to the happy hunting-grounds. And the people danced and sang around the dying embers of the council fire. This is probably an ancient legend with a modern moral.

The idea of an Indian Tyl Eulenspiegel going about the country making mischief recalls a great part of the adventures of Hiawatha or Manobozho; in fact, it could not fail to suggest itself to a believer in Shamanism, or pow-wow, according to which evil spirits and men like them are continually teasing mankind, out of sheer malice. The reform of the wicked man, under the influence of the "Great Spirit," is of later days. I do not believe that the idea of a Great Spirit, in the sense in which it is generally used by Indians, or is attributed to them, was ever known till learned from the whites. Nothing is more natural than that during the two hundred years past intelligent Indians, who felt that there were many evils in the old barbaric state, yet who were still under the influence of its myths and poetry, should have made up legends like this purporting to be revelations. There is one of the kind given in the Hiawatha Legend, as "Eroneniera, an Indian visit to the Great Spirit," which bears on its face every mark of modern manufacture for a purpose. For these very reasons, however, the tale here given is of great interest to the impartial historian.

I am indebted for it to the kindness of Colonel T. Wentworth Higginson, who informs me that it was written by the Rev. J. Wentworth Sanborn (alias O-yo-gah-weh) of Batavia, N. Y. In the first part we have in the Mischief Maker the same character or principle who appears as Lox, the Wolverine, the Raccoon, and Badger among the Wabanaki. The setting the blind women together by the ears, and the dashing of hot pudding, soup, or water in their faces, is another form of a Lox story, which occurs again in the Kalevala. But the entire spirit of the tricks is that of Lox, as those of Lox are like those of Loki. The Rev. Moncure D. Conway once said to me, as Miss E. Robins has also said in an article in the Atlantic Monthly, that it is only in the Norse mythology that the Evil One, or devil, is represented as growing up from or inspired solely by reckless wanton mischief,--the mischief of a bad boy or a monkey.

But the very same is as true of so much of a devil as there is in the Wabanaki mythology. It is as a grotesque shadow of Loki, but still it is his. The Germans say the devil is God's ape; the Indian Lox is the Norse devil's. Loki | The Norse Gods The Norse Gods In Gods Featured , The Gods Loki, the Trickster, challenges the structure and order of the Gods which is necessary in bringing about needed change. In the Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson writes that Loki: is handsome and fair of face, but has an evil disposition and is very changeable of mood. He excelled all men in the art of cunning, and he always cheats. He was continually involving the Aesir in great difficulties and he often helped them out again by guile. Neither an Aesir or a Vanir, he is the son of two giants and yet the foster-brother of Odin. Loki embodies the ambiguous and darkening relationship between the gods and the giants. He is dynamic and unpredictable and because of that he is both the catalyst in many of the myths and the most fascinating character in the entire mythology.

Without the exciting, unstable, flawed figure Loki, there would be no change in the fixed order of things, no quickening pulse, and no Ragnarok. He is responsible for a wager with a giant which puts Freyja into peril ( Myth 3 ) but by changing both shape and sex (characteristics he has in common with Odin) he bails her out. In Myth 10 he shears Sif’s hair which is more mischievous than evil, but he makes amends in the end. In Myth 8 his deceit leads to the loss of the golden apples of youth… but he retrieves them again. He helps the Gods and gets them out of predicaments, but spawns the worst monsters ever seen on the face of the Earth: Fenrir, Jormungand, the Midgard Wyrm. His other children include the goddess Hel (Hella, Holle), and Sleipnir, Odin’s 8-legged horse. It is now generally accepted that he is not a late invention of the Norse poets but an ancient figure descended from a common Indo-European prototype and as such, Loki’s origins are particularly complex.

He has been compared to a number of European and other mythological figures, most notably the Trickster of Native American mythology. As the myths play out, the playful Loki gives way to a cruel predator, hostile to the gods. He not only guides the mistletoe dart that kills Balder but stands in his way on his return from Hel (the citadel of Niflheim). His accusations against the gods at Aegir’s feast (Myth 30) are vicious. He is an agent of destruction causing earthquakes. And when he breaks loose at Ragnarok, Loki reveals his true colors; he is no less evil than his three appalling children, the serpent Jormungand, the wolf Fenrir and the half-dead, half-alive Hel ( Myth 7 ), and he leads the giants and monsters into battle against the gods and heros.

Question: What was the name of the Norse God of or spirit of Mischief?
Answer: Loki