jazi was a jötunn in Norse folklore. Skai was his son, the brother of Ii and Gangr and the parent of the jötunn lvaldi. His most infamous crime, detailed in the classical Prose Edda and a skaldic poem Haustlöng, was the abduction of the deity Iunn. During their travels through the mountains and wilderness, Odin, Loki, and Hoenir ran out of sustenance, as told in Skáldskaparmál. They came across a herd of oxen in the valley and decided to prepare one of them using an earth oven, but after a while, they realized that the ox would not cook. As they tried to figure out what had happened, they overheard someone in the oak tree over them claim responsibility for the oven’s inability to heat up.

After realizing it was jazi, they decided to give him the ox in exchange for his promise to make the oven work if he could consume it. They consented, and he descended from the tree to immediately begin gorging himself. After consuming so much of it, Loki became enraged and tried to strike jazi with his long staff, but it stuck firmly to the back of his body, and jazi took to the air, taking Loki with him. While in midair, Loki screamed and pleaded to be let down because his legs were banging against the trees and stones below. However, jazi would only agree to do so on a demand that Loki bring Iunn and her apples for youth out of Asgard.

At the appointed time, Loki coaxed Iunn away from Asgard and into a forest, telling her he’d discovered some apples she might like and inviting her to bring her own so they could compare. The eagle-man jazi then materialized, snatched Iunn in his talons, and whisked her away to his domain, rymheimr, in Jötunheimr.

Not having Iunn’s fruits to eat, the gods quickly aged and grew grey. Loki was threatened with death and torment after discovering that Iunn had left Asgard with him. Loki stole Freyja’s magical coat that would transform him into a falcon and flew to Jotunheim, where he eventually landed in the hall of jazi. When Loki discovered Iunn alone while jazi was out at sea in a boat, he turned her into a nut and flew back with her as quickly as possible. When he got back home, he found that she had left, so he changed into an eagle and chased after Loki. After seeing Loki and ‘jazi flying toward them, the gods set fire to the earth, where the feathers of ‘jazi were burned, and he fell to his death.

Skadi, jazi’s daughter, donned her battle armour and travelled to Asgard for retribution, but the gods appeased her with atonement and rewards instead. In addition to Njord’s hand in marriage, Odin had jazi’s eyes turned into stars as a form of restitution. Skáldskaparmál also claims that Olvaldi was the father of jazi and his siblings Gangr and Idi. When Olvaldi passed away, he left his three boys a fortune in gold, which they divided by each taking a mouthful. Because of this, phrases like “speech of jazi, Gangr, or Idi” and “Idi’s shining talk” have kennings for gold, and jazi is referred to as the “lady wolf” twice within the same book. Another name for the divinity or goddess who travels on snowshoes is “snowshoe deity’s fosterer.”