Exactly what the title says it is.
This is adapted from Monsters and Villains of the Movies and Literature by Gerrie McCall, Dragons: Fearsome Monsters from Myth and Fiction by Gerrie McCall, and Mythical Monsters by Chris McNab.
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BODY: Lean, flat muscles in Sleipnir's shoulders and hindquarters propel his eight legs at high speeds. LEGS: The swiftest of steeds has eight legs, one for each direction of the compass. His gallop cannot be slowed by water, air, or land.
MOUTH: Runes, which are ancient symbols with magical power, are carved on Sleipnir's teeth. BACK: Only Odin, the greatest of the Norse gods, can ride the swiftest of steeds. Any other rider on Sleipnir's back must have Odin's permission to be there.
Sleipnir is Odin's magical eight-legged steed. The greatest of all horses, and the swiftest on Earth, Sleipnir is the offspring of the shape-shifting god Loki and the horse of the giants. Odin, the chief god in Norse mythology, first sees Sleipnir as a colt being led by Loki with a rope. Odin admires the young horse, and Loki gives Sleipnir to him. He is the perfect mount for a god because no horse can keep up with him. Sleipnir can travel anywhere, galloping on top of ocean waves and over rainbows. He can also carry his rider to the land of the dead and back again safely.
Odin's son Hermod rides Sleipnir for nine days and nights through the valley so deep and dark he could not see a thing. He rides into the realm of the dead to find his dead brother Balder. Sleipnir leaps over the vast iron gates into the land of the dead. The rotting dead all stare. Hermod strikes a deal with the ruler of the underworld for the return of his brother. If everything in all nine realms, dead and alive, will weep for Balder, Hermod may take his brother home.
DID YOU KNOW? Hermod rides Sleipnir out of the land of the dead back to Asgard, the world of the gods. Hermod manages to convince every living and dead creature to weep for his brother Balder, with one exception. A single giantess refuses to cry, so Balder has to remain among the dead.
Odin once rode Sleipnir to the land of the giants, where Odin bet his own head that Sleipnir could outrun any of their horses. Sleipnir easily beat even the fastest of the giants' horses.
The bones of horses are often found in Viking burials. Horses were buried with their owners in the belief that they could carry their owner through the afterlife.
