Greip

• #1338
•  Norse (culture)
•  Giant (attribute)
•  Domestic (attribute)
•  Deadly (behaviour)

A Giantess and daughter of Geirrod from the story of Thor and Geirrod.

One day the trickster god Loki was flying through the air in the form of a bird. The Geirrod caught the bird and imprisoned it without food until the bird told Geirrod who he really was. Eventually Loki confessed it was him. Geirrod made Loki promise to fetch and bring the god Thor to his house without his hammer or armour. Geirrod hoped that without weapons or protection, Thor could be killed to avenge the death of the Giant Hrungnir. Loki told Thor about the Giant’s plans and so Thor left to go to the Giant’s house without weapons or armour. Along the way the god met with a Giantess called Gridr. Gridr gave him some fireproof iron gloves, an unbreakable staff and a belt of strength. During his journey he attempted to cross a river, when suddenly the waters started to rise. He realised that the water was turning red and rising due to the menstruating of Geirrod’s daughter Gjalp. Thor told the Giant to stand up and then swam with a rock to block the Giant’s vulva and stoped the menstruation. Eventually Thor arrived at the abode of Geirrod, he was welcomed to sleep the night in an iron hut. He was woken in the night an realised the floor was moving rapidly towards the ceiling. He used the unbreakable rod to stop the floor from moving any further. When the floor lowered he smashed through it to find the dead bodies of Gierrod’s daughters, Gjalp and Greip, dead. They had tried to kill him but had broken their backs. In the final battle, Geirrod threw a hot iron bar from the fire at Thor. Thor grabbed it in his iron gloves and with his great strength from his belt, he threw it back. The iron rod broke through the room’s central pillar and into the stomach of Geirrod. The room collapsed and buried the body of the Giant.

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