Bragi
14. Were I without now even in such mood
as within the halls of Ægir,
that head of thine would I hold in my hand: --
'twere little reward for thy lie!
Loki
15. Bold seemst thou sitting, but slack art thou doing,
Bragi, thou pride of the bench!
Come forth and fight if in truth thou art wroth;
a bold warrior bides not to think.
Idunna
16. Nay Bragi, I beg for the sake of blood-kindred,
and of all the war-sons of Odhinn,
upbraid not Loki with bitter speeches
here in Ægir's halls.
Loki
17. Silence, Idunna! I swear, of all women
thou the most wanton art;
who couldst fling those fair-washed arms of thine
about thy brother's slayer.
Idunna
18. I blame thee not, Loki, with bitter speeches
here in Ægir's halls.
I seek but to sooth the ale-stirred Bragi,
lest in your fierceness ye fight.
- Lokasenna (Poetic Edda, Hollander translation).
"Idunn is [Bragi's] wife. She keeps in her casket apples which the gods have to feed on when they age, and then they all become young, and so it will go right on up to Ragnarok."
Then spoke Gangleri: "It seems to me that the gods at are staking a great deal on Idunn's care and trustworthiness".
Then spoke High, laughing: "It nearly led to disaster on one occasion..."
- Gylfaginning (page 25 Anthony Faulkes translation)
"....Loki shouted and begged [Thiassi] most earnestly for a truce but it said that Loki would never get free unles he vowed solemnly to get Idunn to come outside Asgard with her apples, and Loki accepted. Then he got free and went up to his comrades. And nothing else noteworty was told for the moment of their expedition until they got home. But at the agreed time Loki lured Idunn out through Asgard into a certain forest, saying that he had found some apples that she would think worth having, and told her she should bring the apples with her and compare them with these. The giant Thiassi arrived in eagle shape and snatched Idunn and flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim."
" But the Aesir were badly affected by Idunn's disappearance and soon became grey and old. Then the Aesir held a parliament and asked each other what was the last that was known about Idunn, and the last that had been seen was that she had gone outside Asgard with Loki. Then Loki was arrested and brought to the parliament and he was threatened with death or torture. Being filled with terror, he said he would go in search of Idunn in Giantland if Freyja would lend him a falcon shape of hers. And when he got the falcon shape he flew north to Giantland and arrived one day at Thiassi's; he was out at sea in a boat, but Idunn was at home alone. Loki turned her into the form of a nut and he held her in his claws and flew as fast as he could..."
- Gylfaginning (page 60 Anthony Faulkes translation)
"How shall Idunn be referred to? By calling her wife of Bragi and keeper of the apples, and the apples, the Aesir's old-age cure. She is also giant Thiassi's booty in accordance with the story told above about his abducting her from the Aesir."
- Gylfaginning (page 86 Anthony Faulkes translation)
Iğunn is well known as the keeper of the apples of youth, which she feeds to the god/esses to keep them young and strong. The only tale of her is the one recounted in the skaldic poem Haustlöng (ca. 900) and the Prose Edda. To redeem himself from the clutches of the etin Thjazi (father of Skaği - see "Skaği, Gerğr, and other Etin-Brides"), Loki lures her out of the Ases' Garth and Thjazi, in eagle-shape, swoops down and snatches her. Without her, the god/esses quickly begin to fade; but they hold a meeting and find out that Iğunn was last seen with Loki, from whom they eventually get the truth. Loki then borrows the Frowe's falcon-coat and goes to find Iğunn, changing the goddess and her apples into a nut and flying away with them. Thjazi, as an eagle, pursues him, buffeting Loki with the wind from his wings. When Loki lands in the Ases' Garth, the other gods set a fire on the walls which singes Thjazi's wings and forces him to earth so that he can be killed.
Iğunn is clearly the embodiment of the might of new life, that which keeps the worlds strong and fruitful - a trait she shares with the other goddesses desired by etin-men, the Frowe and Sif. Her very name either means "the renewing one" or "the active one" (de Vries, Wörterbuch p. 283); a related word, "iğiagroenn" (renewed-green), is used for the new-born Earth after Ragnarök (Völuspá 59). Her tale is close in many ways to the "Spring Goddess" model of Gerğr, Menglöğ, and Sigrdrífa: the shining hero must pass into Etin-home, defy or slay an etin, and cross a ring of fire to claim the maid. Some may raise their eyebrows at the idea of Loki as "shining hero", but not only is he likely to be a fire-being, but he actually seems to symbolically take Balder's place in the following tale of Thjazi's daughter Skaği. Turville-Petre also compares Loki's theft of Iğunn to Óğinn's theft of the mead of poetry (Myth and Religion, p. 187).
Both apples and nuts are signs, not merely of fruitfulness, but specifically of life springing forth again from death: their meaning of is spoken of more fully in the chapter "Things and Meanings".
Today, Iğunn is called on specifially as the goddess whose might brings the elder Troth forth "iğiagroenn"; for this reason, a form of her name is used for the Ring of Troth's official magazine, Idunna.
Excerpt taken from Our Troth, Chapter XIII.