"There was a giantess in Giantland called Angrboða. Loki had three children by her, the first was the wolf Fenrir, the second, Jörmungand--that is the Miðgarð Serpent--and the third, Hel. Now when the gods knew that these three children were being brought up in Giantland and had gathered from prophecy that they would meet with great harm and misfortune on their account (and they all anticipated evil, first from the mother and still worse from the father), All-father sent some of the gods to capture the children and bring them to him...

"The gods brought the wolf up at home, and only Tðr had the courage to go up to it and give it food. But when the gods saw how fast it was growing daily, and all prophecies foretold that it was doomed to do them injury, the Æsir adopted the plan of making a very strong fetter which they called Loe ðing, and they took it to the wolf and bade him try his strength against it. But the wolf thought that it would not be too difficult for him [to snap it] and allowed them to do as they would; and the first time the wolf strained against it the fetter broke, so he got free from Loeðing.

"Then the Æsir made another fetter twice as strong, which they called Drómi, and bade the wolf test himself again against that fetter, saying that he would become very famous for strength if such a strong chain would not hold him. The wolf, however, was thinking htat, although the fetter was very strong, he had grown in might since he had broken Loeðing; it also occurred to him that he would have to expose himself to danger in order to become famous, so he let the fetter be put on him. When the Æsir said they were ready, he shook himself, knocking the fetter against the ground, and struggled against it, digging his feet in so hard that the fetter broke into pieces which flew far and wide; so he got himself out of Drómi. It has since become a proverb when anything is extraordinarily difficult that one gets loose from Loeðing or battles out of Drómi.

"After that the Æsir feared that they would never be able to get the wolf bound. Then All-father sent one called Skírnir, Frey's messenger, down to the World-of-dark-elves to some dwarfs, and had made the fetter called Gleipnir. This was made from six things: the noise a cat makes when it moves, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird. Now, although you may not have known this before, you can easily prove that you are not being told a falsehood, since you will have observed that a woman has no beard, a cat makes no noise when running, a mountain has no roots and, upon my word, everything I have told you is just as true, although there are some things that you can't put to the test."

Then Gangleri said: "I can certainly understand it's true. I can see [that from] these things you have taken as examples, but how was the fetter made?"

High One replied: "I can easily tell you that. The fetter was as smooth and soft as a ribbon of silk, but as trusty and strong as you are now going to hear. When the fetter was brought to the Æsir they thanked the messenger very much for carrying out his mission. Then the Æsir, calling to the wolf to go with them, went out on to an island called Lyngvi in a lake called Ámsvartnir. They showed him the silken band and bade him break it. They said it was a bit stronger than it appeared to be from its thickness and passed it from one to the other, testing its strength with their hands, and it did not break. They said, however, that the wolf would be able to snap it. The wolf's answer was: "This ribbon looks to me as if I could gain no renown from breaking it--it is so slight a cord; but if it has been made by guile and cunning, slender though it looks, it is not going to come on my legs." Then the gods said that he would soon snap so slight a ribbon of silk, when he had broken great fetters of iron before, "and if you don't succeed in snapping this cord you need not be afraid of the gods; we will set you free again." The wolf said: "If you bind me so that I can't get free, then you will sneak away so that it will be a long time before I get any help from you. I don't want to have that ribbon put on me. But rather than be accused of cowardice by you, let one of you place his hand in my mouth as a pledge that this is done in good faith." Each of the gods looked at the other then and thought that they were in a fix, and not one of them would stretch forth his hand, until Týr put out his right hand and laid it in the wolf's mouth. Now when the wolf began to struggle against it, the band tightened, and the more fiercely he struggled the firmer it got. They all laughed except Týr; he lost his hand. When the gods saw that the wolf was well and truly bound, they took the chain that was fast to this fatter and which was called Gelgja, and drawing it through a great boulder called Gjöll drove the boulder deep down into the earth. Then they took a huge stone called Thviti and sank it still deeper in the earth, and used this stone as a fastening peg. The wolf opened his mouth to a frightful width and struggled violently, wanting to bite them. Then they shoved a sword into his mouth so that the hilt was in its lower jaw and the point in the upper; that is his gag. He howls horribly, and the slaver running from his mouth forms the river called Vón ("expectation"). There he will lie until Ragnarök."