Introduction
Svadilfari is an unusually strong and tireless stallion, belonging to the giant mason who undertook to build a wall around Asgard in exchange for the sun, the moon and the goddess Freyja, and whose own labours, more than the giant's, threatened to let the builder complete the wall on time.
Family
- Son: Sleipnir
The wall-building wager
The giant builder's horse Svadilfari did the majority of the heavy work of hauling stone for the wall, working through the night as well as the day, bringing the giant dangerously close to completing the wall within the agreed, seemingly impossible deadline, which alarmed the gods as the day approached.
Loki's intervention
To sabotage the builder's progress, Loki transformed himself into a beautiful mare and lured Svadilfari away from his work on the night before the deadline, pursuing and distracting him so effectively that the wall was left unfinished, and the builder, his true giant nature revealed in his fury, was killed by Thor.
Father of Sleipnir
Some time later, Loki, still in mare form, gave birth to a foal sired by Svadilfari: an eight-legged horse of extraordinary speed and strength, who became Odin's own mount, Sleipnir.