(2) Codex Upsalensis: "Then were taken Loke's sons Vali and Nari. The Asas changed Vali into a wolf, and the latter tore into pieces his brother Nari."
(d) Skaldskaparmal, ch. 16. (1) "Loke is the father of the wolf Fenrer, the Midgard-serpent, and Hel, 'and also of Nari and Ali.'"
(2) Codex Wormianus and Codex Hypnonesiensis, 3: "Loke is father of the Fenris-wolf, of the Midgard-serpent, and of Hel, 'and also of Nari and Vali.'"
The mythology has stated that Loke was bound with chains which were originally entrails, and that he who contributed the materials of these chains was his own son, who was torn into pieces by his brother in wolf guise. It is possible that there is something symbolic in this myth—that it originated in the thought that the forces created by evil contend with each other and destroy their own parent. There is at least no reason for doubting that this account is a genuine myth, that is to say, that it comes from a heathen source and from some heathen poem.
But, in regard to the names of Loke's two sons here in question, we have a perfect right to doubt.
We discover at once the contradictions betrayed by the records in regard to them. The discrepancy of the statements can best be shown by the following comparisons. Besides Fenrer, the Midgard-serpent, and Hel, Loke has, according to
| Gylfaginning, 33: | the son Nari, also called Narfi | No other son is named; | |
| The Prose added to Lokasenna: | the son Nari, | and the son Narfi; | |
| Codex Hypnon. (Gylfag., 33): | the son Nari, also called Narvi, | and the son Vali; | |
| Gylfaginning, ch. 50: | the son Nari, also called Narfi, | and the son Vali; | |
| Skaldskaparmal, ch. 16: | the son Nari, | and the son Ali; | |
| The Prose added to Lokasenna: | Nari, | is torn into pieces by | Narfi; |
| Gylfaginning: | Nari-Narfi | is torn into pieces by | Vali. |
The discrepancy shows that the author of these statements did not have any mythic song or mythic tradition as the source of all these names of Loke's sons.
The matter becomes even more suspicious when we find—
That the variations Nare and Narve, both of which belong to one of the foremost and noblest of mythic beings, namely, to Mimer, are here applied in such a manner that they either are given to two sons of Loke or are attributed to one and the same Loke-son, while in the latter case it happens—