Skadi (Old Norse Skaði), or Skade, is the goddess of hunt and winter in Norse mythology, after whom Scandinavia is possibly named.
After the gods killed her father Thiazi, she traveled to Asgard to have his death atoned for. She requested a husband as well as to be made to laugh.
The first request was granted on the condition that she choose her future husband only on the look of his feet. So Skadi chose Njord on the basis of his feet, although she hoped for Baldr. The second request was granted to her by Loki, who made her laugh with a goat.
He tied his testicles to the goat's chin beard with a ribbon and began a sort of "tug of war." Overwhelmed by this silly sight, Skadi burst out laughing. With that, she was reconciled with the Aesir. Odin himself did penance by casting her father's eyes into the sky, where they henceforth twinkled as two stars.
The marriage with Njord did not go well - Skadi loved the mountains, Njord the sea. So they agreed to spend 9 nights each in one place, but this solution was of no avail.
Skadi was disturbed by the cries of the sea birds, Njord by the howling of the wolves. So Skadi went back to Thrymheim, where she enjoyed hunting with a bow.
Later she mounted a poisonous snake over Loki's head, because he insulted her in foul taunts. With Odin she is said to have fathered the Norwegian king Säming.
Since Skadi is also called "ski goddess" (öndurdís) by the skalds, while the god Ullr is called "ski god" (önduráss), it is assumed that both were a couple, either siblings or even a married couple, but literary evidence for this assumption is lacking.
