Mythical Creatures Series
As one of the most well known runice stone pictures in Scandanavia, the image below depicts Sleipnir, Odin’s horse, with a serpent twining between his legs, Odin on his back wearing a sword and holding a drinking horn. In truth, the Selipnir myth has been around for a long time to grow into what it is today! But it still makes an intriguing tale.
What is it?
Sleipnir is Odin’s steed – a magical horse whose eight legs represent the eight directions of heaven and eight dimensions. It is the child of Loki and Svaðilfar from Norse mythology, and his story goes like this:
A giant called Hrimthursar was using a strong horse named Svadilfari to build a wall around the Norse god’s city walls in exchange for the Sun, Moon and the hand of the goddess Freya. Fearing that the giant would actually complete this task, Loki was sent by the gods to intervene and foil the progress of the mighty giant. Loki turned into a mare and led the horse Svadilfari away. They coupled together and bore Sleipnir. The wall wasn’t built in time, so the giant never received payment.
But Odin was gifted with this incredible war horse and rode him from the the Halls of Asgard to the Realms of the Dead.
Ability / Power
He is apparently the fastest, largest and most powerful horse in the world, capable of incredible speeds across land, sea and air. His name means gliding and relates to the English word slippery – giving Odin a smooth ride.
He has eight legs, a fair colored coat and is Odin’s to command. What’s interesting is that Viking horses were brought to Iceland from Norway around 900 A.D. These horses have two unusual extra gaits in addition to Walk, Trot and Canter. Tölt, a 4-beat lateral gait, also known as running walk, can be performed at any speed and is smooth and comfortable for the rider. In Flying Pace, a 2-beat lateral gait used for racing, the horse can reach speeds of 30 mph. An Icelandic horse in action looks like it does have eight legs!*
Did you know? According to some traditional picture sources, Sleipnir actually has four legs which are split at the knee to make eight.
Previous Mythical Creature Posts:
Marchosias: A Kick-Ass Creature, Ningyo: The Deadly Mermaid, Abatwa: Riding Ants To Victory, Cait Sith: It Gets Into Your Mind, Anka: The Goliath Bird, Huldra: Norse Forest Lady, iele: Romanian Nymphs Of The Air, Manticore: The Man-Eater, Hantu Demon: Legendary Spirit, Lich: Undead Necromancer, Joan The Wad: Queen of Piskies, Fomorian: Ancient Gigantic God, Rakshasa: Shape Shifter Demon, Hellhound: Guarding The Gates Of The Dead