... Freir once seated himself on the throne Hlidskialf, from which he could look over the whole world.  This throne was designed only for Odin, and Freir was immediately punished for the liberty he took by becoming enamoured of a Jote maiden, namely, the beautiful Gerdur, daughter of the mountain-giant, Gymer, and of Aurboda.  When he came home, he neither ate nor drank, nor said anything.  A consuming melancholy fell upon him, and no one dared to talk with him.  Even his father Niord asked his servant, Skirner, to find out what was the trouble.  Freir said he loved the beautiful Jote maiden, and could not live without her any longer.  Skirner then went out to woo Gerdur for him, after he had asked Freir for his trusty sword, which had been made by dwarfs, and possessed the singular faculty of killing of itself after it had once been drawn.  Freir gave it to him, and thus, when he was attacked by the powerful Beli, he was forced to slay him with the horns of a reindeer.  Skirner brought back the favorable answer that after nine nights Gerdur would appear to him.  Then Freir said, "I cannot wait so long, for a single night is longer than a whole month."  Gerdur is the northern light personified.  Freir lives with her in Alfheim.(Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, McClintock, v.2, 1887)