The Forge of Sindri and Brokkr

“Thereupon Loke wagered his head with the dwarf, who hight Brok, that his brother Sindre would not be able to make three other treasures equally as good as these were. … That was now a boar, and its bristles were of gold. … the gold ring called Draupner. … Thereupon he took a hammer out of the furnace.”

In Skáldskaparmál, as Anderson translates it, Loki has cut off Sif’s hair and promises Thor to have golden hair made for her. He gets it, with the ship Skidbladner and the spear Gungner, from the sons of Ivaldi. He then wagers his head with the dwarf Brok that Brok’s brother Sindre cannot make three treasures as good.

In the smithy Sindre lays a pig-skin, gold and iron in the furnace in turn while Brok works the bellows. A fly bites Brok each time, and at the third bite he lets go for a moment. The brothers produce a boar with golden bristles, the ring Draupner and the hammer. The gods judge the hammer best, and Loki’s head is forfeit, though he escapes and the dwarf instead sews his lips shut.

The account never says where the smithy stands.

The translation used here prints the smith’s name as Sindre, that is Sindri, and his brother as Brok, Brokkr. The brothers’ names vary between editions and manuscripts of the Prose Edda, and a reader comparing editions may meet the smith under the name Eitri as well.

The treasures recur elsewhere: Gylfaginning and Völuspá mention Sindri’s race and a hall of that name, discussed under Sindri’s hall. The sons of Ivaldi, who make the earlier treasures in the story, have their own entry.