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Poetic Edda

  Thor spake:19.[1] "Thjazi I felled,  the giant fierce,And I hurled the eyes  of Alvaldi's sonTo the heavens hot above;Of my deeds the mightiest  marks are these,That all men since can see.What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"
  Harbarth spake:20.[2] "Much love-craft I wrought  with them who ride by night,When I stole them by stealth from their husbands;A giant hard  was Hlebarth, methinks:His wand he gave me as gift,And I stole his wits away."
  1. ↑ Thjazi: this giant, by a trick, secured possession of the goddess Ithun and her apples (cf. Skirnismol, 19, note), and carried her off into Jotunheim. Loki, through whose fault she had been betrayed, was sent after her by the gods. He went in Freyja's "hawk's-dress" (cf. Thrymskvitha, 3), turned Ithun into a nut, and flew back with her. Thjazi, in the shape of an eagle, gave chase. But the gods kindled a fire which burnt the eagle's wings, and then they killed him. Snorri's prose version does not attribute this feat particularly to Thor. Thjazi's daughter was Skathi, whom the gods permitted to marry Njorth as a recompense for her father's death. Alvaldi: of him we know only that he was the father of Thjazi, Ithi and Gang, who divided his wealth, each taking a mouthful of gold. The name is variously spelled. It is not known which stars were called "Thjazi's Eyes." In the middle of line 4 begins the fragmentary version of the poem found in the Arnamagnæan Codex.
  2. ↑ Riders by night: witches, who were supposed to ride on wolves in the dark. Nothing further is known of this adventure.

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