The Myth Of Sif Explained

The Prose Edda tells the tale of Loki's wager with the dwarves, which begins with Loki playing a rather cruel prank and cutting off all of Sif's hair. The story doesn't explain how or why but, as a god of mischief, Loki probably doesn't need any reason for the things he does. Thor, furious at Loki's actions, threatens to maim him, and Loki agrees to find a way to replace Sif's hair. For this, he goes to a group of dwarves known as Ivald's Sons.

Charmed by Loki's silver tongue, the dwarves agree to create a magical hairpiece for Sif. A story book, "The Children of Odin," mentions how Sif's replacement hair is made from a bar of pure gold, hammered into fine silken threads. Prompted by Loki's flattery, the dwarves carefully hammer the gold into fine strands, until the new hair is "as bright as sunlight" and "so light that a bird might not feel its weight." When Sif wears her replacement hair, it even appears as if it's growing naturally from her head.

The reason why this story is so important in Norse mythology, though, is that it's also the origin story of several magical items that the gods are known for. As well as Sif's radiant hair, this tale also sees the dwarves create Odin's unstoppable spear Gungnir and Thor's famous hammer Mjolnir. In an odd turn of events, Loki's mischief ends up giving the other gods their famous weapons.

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