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Beli (Norse giant)

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See also Beli Mawr, a Welsh ancestor deity.
In Norse mythology Beli was a giant killed by Freyr, as mentioned in Gylfaginning (stanza 37) during the recounting of the wooing of Gerd. The circumstances surrounding the event are not given but it is stated that since Freyr had given his sword to his servant Skirnir before sending him to court Gerd, he was weaponless and therefore used the antler of a hart to kill the giant. When Gylfi/Gangleri expressed wonder that Freyr would give up his sword, Hárr/Odin dismissed his concern by saying that Freyr could have killed Beli with just his bare hands if he so wished, but then added that he would indeed regret his decision during the upcoming time of Ragnarök when Freyr would be defeated by the fire giants led by Surtr (the "sons of Muspell").

It is often assumed, though quite plausibly, that Beli was the brother of Gerd based on stanza 16 of Skírnismál where Gerd expresses her fear that the unknown man who has come to visit is her "brother's slayer".

Norse mythology
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