Gullfaxi (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ) is a horse in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

. Its name means "golden mane". It was originally owned by

Hrungnir Hrungnir (Old Norse: , 'brawler') is a jötunn in Norse mythology. He is described as made of stone and is ultimately killed in a duel with the thunder god Thor. Prior to his demise, Hrungnir engaged in a wager with Odin in which Odin stakes his ...

, and was later given to Magni by

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

as a reward for lifting off the leg of Hrungnir, which lay over the unconscious Thor and strangled him: :'And I will give thee,' he said, 'the horse Gold-Mane, which Hrungnir possessed.' :Then

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

spake and said that Thor did wrong to give the good horse to the son of a giantess, and not to his father. ::—''Skáldskaparmál'' (17) Gullfaxi is equally fast on land, in the air and on the water, but not quite as fast as

Sleipnir In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...

, Odin's horse.

Folk tale

Gullfaxi is also the name of a horse in the modern Icelandic folk-tale '' The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder'' collected by Jón Árnason, translated into German by , then rendered into English and included in the ''Crimson Fairy Book'' (1903) compiled by

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

References

Horses in Norse mythology Mythological horses Thor {{Norse-myth-stub

Folk tale

See also

References