Loki, the Salmon:

©2011


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In a previous essay, we discovered correlations between the Greek constellation Aquarius with Njörd, the urn of Aquarius with Mimir’s well and Mimir’s head and saw that water is heavily pouring in a mighty stream out of it like a waterfall. Below the stream of water we find the constellation of the Southern Fish, Pisces Austrinus. There is another tale where a fish and a waterfall play a major role to be found in the prose end part of Lokasenna:

The very same story is found in a longer version in Gylfaginning 50:

"When the gods had become as wroth with him as was to be looked for, he ran off and hid himself in a certain mountain; there he made a house with four doors (gerði þar hús ok fjórar dyrr), so that he could see out of the house in all directions. Often throughout the day he turned himself into the likeness of a salmon and hid himself in the place called Fránangr-Falls (Fránangrsfoss) then he would ponder what manner of wile the gods would devise to take him in the waterfall. But when he sat in the house, he took twine of linen and knitted meshes as a net is made since; but a fire burned before him. Then he saw that the Æsir were close upon him; and Odin had seen from Hlidskjálf where he was. He leaped up at once and out into the river, but cast the net into the fire."

"When the Æsir had come to the house, he went in first who was wisest of all, who is called Kvasir; and when he saw in the fire the white ash where the net had burned, then he perceived that that thing must be a device for catching fish, and told it to the Æsir. Straightway they took hold, and made themselves a net after the pattern of the one which they perceived, by the burnt-out ashes, that Loki had made. When the net was ready, then the Æsir went to the river and cast the net into the fall; Thor held one end of the net, and all of the Æsir held the other, and they drew the net. But Loki darted ahead and lay down between two stones; they drew the net over him, and perceived that something living was in front of it. A second time they went up to the fall and cast out the net, having bound it to something so heavy that nothing should be able to pass under it. Then Loki swam ahead of the net; but when he saw that it was but a short distance to the sea, then he jumped up over the net-rope and ran into the fall. Now the Æsir saw where he went, and went up again to the fall and divided the company into two parts, but Thor waded along in mid-stream; and so they went out toward the sea. Now Loki saw a choice of two courses: it was a mortal peril to dash out into the sea; but this was the second--to leap over the net again. And so he did: be leaped as swiftly as he could over the net-cord. Thor clutched at him and got hold of him, and he slipped in Thor's hand, so that the hand stopped at the tail; and for this reason the salmon has a tapering back."

In direct proximity in the starry sky, indeed we find  a meadow or field, the Pegasus square.
 

Fran might refer to the God Fro or Freyr,  simply meaning lord. The same composition is found in the German holiday Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi, 'body of the Lord'). Freyr is also called Yngvi-Freyr or Ing, bearing the same composition as Franangr.

The identification of Franangr with Pegasus might also lead to the explanation of two more very obscure details: Loki is said to live in a house with 4 doors so that he can look into all directions. This might be another clue to the great square with equal sides looking in all four directions.

The other obscure detail is the net made by Loki, burnt and imitated by the Gods. This could be understood as an additional reference to the Pegasus-square, now seen as a net with a square shape. This identification might look not convincing at first but we will find later a similar equation with the sail of a ship when we search for Freyr's ship Skidbladnir.

If these identifications are correct we find within a single tale three distinct descriptions of the Pegasus square: first as a meadow, secondly as a house with 4 doors and finally as a net – that’s the art of Northern poetry!