Editing Skaði (section)

====''Gylfaginning''====
[[File:Njörd's desire of the Sea.jpg|right|thumb|''Njörd's desire of the Sea'' (1908) by [[W. G. Collingwood]]]]
[[File:Skadi's longing for the Mountains.jpg|right|thumb|''Skadi's longing for the Mountains'' (1908) by W. G. Collingwood]]
In chapter 23 of the ''Prose Edda'' book ''[[Gylfaginning]]'', the enthroned figure of [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] details that Njörðr's wife is Skaði, that she is the daughter of the jötunn Þjazi, and recounts a tale involving the two. High recalls that Skaði wanted to live in the home once owned by her father called Þrymheimr. However, Njörðr wanted to live nearer to the sea. Subsequently, the two made an agreement that they would spend [[numbers in Germanic paganism|nine]] nights in Þrymheimr and then the next three nights in Njörðr's sea-side home [[Nóatún (mythology)|Nóatún]] (or nine winters in Þrymheimr and another nine in Nóatún according to the ''[[Codex Regius]]''.<ref name=BYOCK141>Byock (2006:141)</ref>). However, when Njörðr returned from the mountains to Nóatún, he said:
<blockquote>
:"Hateful for me are the mountains,
:I was not long there,
:only nine nights.
:The howling of the wolves
:sounded ugly to me
:after the song of the swans."<ref name=BYOCK34>Byock (2006:33–34).</ref>
</blockquote>
Skaði responded:
<blockquote>
:"Sleep I could not
:on the sea beds
:for the screeching of the bird.
:That gull wakes me
:when from the wide sea
:he comes each morning."<ref name=BYOCK34/>
</blockquote>
The sources for these stanzas are not provided in the ''Prose Edda'' or elsewhere. High says that afterward Skaði went back up to the mountains and lived in Þrymheimr, and there Skaði often travels on skis, wields a bow, and shoots wild animals. High notes that Skaði is also referred to as "ski god" (Old Norse ''Öndurgud'') or Öndurdis and the "ski lady" (''Öndurdís''). In support, the above-mentioned stanza from the ''Poetic Edda'' poem ''Grímnismál'' is cited.<ref name=BYOCK141/> In the next chapter (24), High says that "after this", Njörðr "had two children": Freyr and Freyja. The name of the mother of the two children is not provided here.<ref name=BYOCK35>Byock (2006:35).</ref>

At the end of chapter 51 of ''Gylfaginning'', High describes how the gods caught and bound Loki. Skaði is described as having taken a venomous snake and fastening it above the bound Loki, so that the venom may drip on to Loki's face. Loki's wife Sigyn sat by his side and caught the venom in a bowl. But when the bowl becomes full, she must leave to empty it, and then Loki is burned by the acidic liquid and he writhes in extreme pain, causing the earth to shake and resulting in what we know as an earthquake.<ref name=BYOCK70>Byock (2006:70).</ref>