creature
Hildisvíni
Freyja's golden-bristled boar in Hyndluljóð, made by the dwarves Dáinn and Nabbi. The giantess Hyndla claims it is really Freyja's human lover Óttarr in disguise.
Hildisvíni appears only in Hyndluljóð. Freyja wakes the giantess Hyndla and asks her to ride to Valhalla with her, Hyndla on a wolf and Freyja on her boar, which is "slow ... on the road of the gods" Hyndluljóð 5. Hyndla is not fooled: the boar, she says, is Freyja's lover, "Ottar the young, the son of Instein" Hyndluljóð 6. Freyja denies it and describes the animal instead: "There shines the boar with bristles of gold, Hildisvini, he who was made By Dain and Nabbi, the cunning dwarfs" Hyndluljóð 7.
The rest of the poem gives Hyndla away. Freyja wants Óttarr's family tree so that he can win a wager over his inheritance Hyndluljóð 9, and at the end she asks for "memory-beer" for her boar, so that he will remember every name three days later Hyndluljóð 46. Most readers conclude that the boar is indeed Óttarr in disguise. The golden bristles recall Freyr's boar Gullinbursti, but the two are made by different dwarves and the texts do not link them.
In the sources
Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.
There shines the boar with bristles of gold, Hildisvini, he who was made By Dain and Nabbi, the cunning dwarfs.
On the way of the slain thy lover goes with thee, Ottar the young, the son of Instein.
To my boar now bring the memory-beer, So that all thy words, that well thou hast spoken, The third morn hence he may hold in mind
