also known as the Bristlings, were the mysterious owners of a golden necklace, called the Brisingamen, that the fertility goddess Freyja craved. To Odin's disgust she slept on four successive nights with the dwarfs Alfrigg, Dvalin, Berling and Grer in order to acquire it. When she returned to Asgard, Odin accused her of debasing her divinity by paying such a price. As a penace he made her stir up war in Midgard, the world of men. Freyja and Odin shared those slain on the battlefield.
No agreement exists about the meaning of this strange myth, not least because the identity of the Brisings is unknown. It has been suggested that necklaces were the special adornment of mother goddess, but this hardly does more than explain Freyja's attraction to this particular one. What seems more likely is that the sexual price Freyja paid for it represents the other side of love, namely, blind passion and lust. Nothing could stop her, not even Odin's great disapproval, when she desired something badly enough. The Brisingamen came to be identified so closely with Freyja that when Thor wished to disguise himself as the goddess to retrieve his hammer from Thrym, she lent it to him to make his costume convincing.