Gullinbursti (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: , meaning "Gold Mane" or "Golden Bristles") is a

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

in Norse mythology. When Loki had

Sif In Norse mythology, Sif (Old Norse: ) is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century ...

's hair,

Freyr Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...

's ship

Skíðblaðnir ''Skíðblaðnir'' (Old Norse: , 'assembled from thin pieces of wood'Simek (2007:289).), sometimes anglicized as ''Skidbladnir'' or ''Skithblathnir'', is the best of ships in Norse mythology. It is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in th ...

, and Odin's spear

Gungnir In Norse mythology, Gungnir (, "the rocking") is the spear of the god Odin. Attestations ''Poetic Edda'' In the Poetic Edda poem ''Völuspá'', the Æsir-Vanir War is described as officially starting when Odin throws a spear over the heads of ...

fashioned by the

Sons of Ivaldi In Norse mythology, the Sons of Ivaldi are a group of dwarfs who fashion Skíðblaðnir, the flying ship of Freyr, Gungnir, the spear belonging to Odin, along with the golden hair for Sif to replace what Loki had cut off. According to ''Skál ...

, he bet his own head with Brokkr that his brother Eitri ( Sindri) would not have been able to make items to match the quality of those mentioned above. So to make gifts to

, Eitri threw a pig's skin into a furnace as Brokkr worked on the bellows, and together they manufactured the boar Gullinbursti which had bristles in its mane that glowed in the dark. The story of Gullinbursti's creation is related in the ''

Skáldskaparmál ''Skáldskaparmál'' (Old Norse: 'The Language of Poetry'; c. 50,000 words; ; ) is the second part of the ''Prose Edda''. The section consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, ...

'' section of Snorri Sturluson's ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been t ...

''. According to '' Húsdrápa'', Freyr rode Gullinbursti to Baldr's funeral, while in ''

Gylfaginning ''Gylfaginning'' (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; c. 20,000 words; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first part of the 13th century ''Prose Edda'' after the Prologue. The ''Gylfaginning'' deals with t ...

'',

Snorri Snorri (; ) is a masculine given name. People with the name include: * Snorri Þorbrandsson, a character in the Icelandic ''Eyrbyggja saga'' * Snorri Goði or Snorri Þorgrímsson (963–1031), a prominent chieftain in Western Iceland, featured i ...

states that Freyr rode to the funeral in a chariot pulled by the boar. The boar is also known as Slíðrugtanni (

: meaning "Sharp Tooth" or "Fearsome Tooth") (sometimes anglicized to "Slidrugtanni").

In fairy tales

In a Dutch fairy tale, a fairy prince named Fro, son of Nerthus, sculpts with gold ''The Pig with the Golden Bristles'', named ''Gullin'' in the story.Griffis, William Elliot. ''Dutch fairy tales for young folks''. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.. 1918. pp. 49-56.

References

{{Norse mythology Creatures in Norse mythology Freyr Mythological pigs Wild boars