Idunn and the Golden Apples

About the legend

Being

Idunn (keeper of the golden apples)

Cultural meaning

In Norse myth, Idunn is the goddess who keeps the apples of youth. Snorri Sturluson writes that she keeps them in a box, and that when the gods grow old, they eat the apples and become young again. The skalds called her apples the gods' medicine against old age. Idunn is married to Bragi, the master of poetry, and without her the gods themselves would grow old.

Fun fact

The oldest poem about Idunn is about 1,100 years old. A Norwegian poet made it as a thank-you for the gift of a shield, and in the poem he describes the pictures on that shield: the eagle, Loki, the gods and the fire.

Cultural notes

The myth of Idunn's abduction is told by Snorri Sturluson in his Edda, written in Iceland in the 1200s. In the part called Skáldskaparmál, Bragi tells it to Ægir, a guest from the island of Hlésey, at a feast in Asgard. Snorri built on a much older poem, Haustlöng, made around the year 900 by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (Tjodolv from Kvine). In the Old Norse poem, Idunn is the maid who knew the gods' cure for old age; the poem itself never mentions apples, although Rasmus B. Anderson's English translation of 1880 adds them. Snorri's word for Idunn's box is eski, a box of ash wood. The Old Norse names are Iðunn, Þjazi, Hœnir and Þrymheimr, Thjazi's home in Jötunheimr, the land of the giants. In Rasmus Nyerup's Danish translation of the Edda from 1808, Loki turns Idunn into a swallow instead of a nut.

About this retelling

Traditional tale, retold for children A retelling of the Norse myth of how the giant Thjazi carried off Idunn and her golden apples, and how Loki brought her home.

The story follows Snorri's Edda (Skáldskaparmál) and the older poem Haustlöng: Odin, Loki and Hoenir on the road, the meat that will not cook, the eagle in the oak, Loki stuck to the pole and his promise, the lure with finer apples, Thjazi carrying Idunn to Thrymheim, the gods turning grey and old, the question of who saw her last, Freya's falcon shape, the nut, the chase, and the wood shavings lit on Asgard's wall. Three things are changed for children. In the myth the gods threaten Loki with death or torment; here Thor tells him that he must bring her home. In the myth the eagle's feathers catch fire and the gods kill Thjazi inside the gates; here his feathers are singed and he flies home for good. In the myth Thjazi's daughter Skadi then comes in armour to avenge her father, and the gods make peace with her by letting her choose a husband by his feet alone, by making her laugh, and by turning Thjazi's eyes into two stars; that part is left out. Snorri gives Idunn only a box of apples: the orchard and the word 'golden' are ours, and so are the gods' morning habit, Freya's words when the gods notice who is missing, Hoenir as the one who saw her leave with Loki, Thjazi asking her for an apple and Idunn's no, her choice to trust Loki, Odin's words at the end and Loki's apology.

Sources

• Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál: «Idun and her Apples»; Gylfaginning 26) — Snorri Sturluson (tr. Rasmus B. Anderson, 1880)
• Haustlöng — Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (ed. Finnur Jónsson, Carmina Scaldica, 1929)
• Edda eller Skandinavernes hedenske Gudelære: Braga-rædur — Snorri Sturluson (tr. Rasmus Nyerup, 1808)

Themes

• gratitude
• responsibility
• trust
• caring
• Idunn
• Iðunn
• golden apples
• apples of youth
• Loki
• Thjazi
• Odin
• Thor
• Freya
• Hoenir
• Asgard
• Thrymheim
• falcon cloak
• eagle
• Norse mythology
• Prose Edda
• Haustlöng
• Viking

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