Chapter 4: The Creation of Thor Hammer

The famous Mjolnir hammer of God Thor did not just appear in Norse myth. Mjolnir hammer, in fact, was the creation of dwarves the most talented craftsmen. And Loki was the one that gifted Mjolnir hammer to Thor. 

HOW MJOLNIR HAMMER OF THOR CAME INTO BEING?

Loki did it all

On one beautiful day, Loki found his life boring and he wanted to create something interesting. Knowing Sif, Thor's wife, had a long golden hair, he came up with an idea which he regarded himself as a genius. He sneaked into the room where Sif was sleeping and cut off Sif's hair without hesitation. 

Loki the mischievous cut off the hair of Sif while she was sleeping

Knowing this, Thor hit the ceiling and threatened to break the neck of Loki. The trickster was afraid of Thor the most because he knew Thor could do whatever he wanted. Loki promised to travel the Nine Worlds to find the hair as the compensation for Sif. And among the Nine Worlds, the only ones that could create Sif's hair were only the dwarves. 

Off Loki went to the Svartalfheim land of the dwarves. 

The sons of Ivaldi the Dwarf forged the hair for Sif. They even granted Loki with two more treasures: Skidbladnir the best ship in the cosmos and Gungnir the Spear that never missed its target. 

Accomplishing the task, Loki remained in Svartalfheim to feast and to carry out some tricks. He approached two dwarves Brokkr "Metalworker" and Sindri "Spark-sprayer" to insult them that they could produce no treasure like sons of Ivaldi. 

Loki bet his head for what he said. 

The dwarves found Loki's words so offensive that they were determined to win the head of Loki. 

When the two dwarves were working their treasures, one fly (Loki in disguise) stung them to cause trouble. But the pair managed to pull out the Gullinbursti the Boar that could give out the light in the dark and could run very fast. They also created Draupnir the Ring which later belonged to Odin. 

The final work of them started with a piece of iron. Sindri said to Brokkr to be careful for each mistake could cause a short-coming to the upcoming treasure. When the two were forging this new treasure, Loki stung Brokkr in the eye making him see nothing. This affected their final result. 

 Sindri and Brokkr were trying to create the Mjolnir hammer when Loki stung them

This last treasure was the Mjolnir hammer. And because of the mistake when Brokkr was stung, the Mjolnir hammer had only one short-coming. That was its short handle. 

The dwarves proved themselves masters of forging coming to Asgard to claim Loki's head. 

In the meantime, Loki went to Asgard and gift every god with the treasures he had earned. He gave Odin the Gungnir spear and the Draupnir ring which later Odin placed in the burial ship of Baldur Odin's son. Loki compensated Sif for her hair and Thor with the Mjolnir hammer. He gave Freyr Skidbladnir and Gullinbursti. 

Dwarves held the knife on their hands to take the head of Loki. But once again, with his fast talk, Loki escaped the cut in his neck. The dwarves only sewed Loki's mouth because he talked too much.

LIFE LESSONS FROM THE CREATION OF THOR HAMMER

One big lesson from this tale is the way to treat and win the heart of other people. We know that Loki was not a god. Rather, he was a giant who persuaded Odin to let him stay in Asgard. The hatred among gods and giant was needless to say. We vaguely see that Norse gods let their enemy live with them. 

Loki must have known his position in Asgard. So he tried to win and influence as many people as possible. The way he did this was to gift the gods with treasures. He did this as if his life depended on this.

Besides being the king of shapeshifting, Loki was the one who knew people surrounding him the most. He knew the importance of giving the gift to the gods. Because everyone loved gifts. It made people feel they were important. 

Loki gained more trustworthiness from the gods. Thereby, he could strengthen his position and prolong his stay in Asgard. Also, some sources say the action of giving gifts brought to Loki the heroic feeling. This was what Loki wanted to experience. Most of the time, Loki caused trouble and helped people out only because of the heroic feeling. Loki did kill two birds with one stone.

Overall, this piece from Norse mythology teaches us how to win people's heart. It is to give them the gift sincerely (though Loki didn't mean to be sincere). One verse from Viking quotes reads that:

Be your friend's true friend. 
Return gift for gift.
Repay laughter with laughter again
But betrayal with treachery