In Myth 14, The Lay of Thrym, it is Heimdall’s idea to Dress up Thor as a woman, in order to trick Thrym, the king of the frost giants, into thinking it was Freyja. The ploy works and Thor recovers his stolen hammer Mjollnir.
Heimdall was associated with the sea and was the son of nine maidens (9 waves??). In Myth 5 – The Song of Rig he calls himself Rig and travels across the land visiting several households, speaking honeyed words, winning over the woman of the household and creating the three races of men.
His acute senses make him an ideal watchman for the gods. His hall is Himinbjorg (Cliffs of Heaven) which stands near the rainbow Bifrost. He owns the horn Gjall which can be heard throughout the nine worlds.
He needs less sleep than a bird and can see a hundred leagues in front of him as well by night as by day. He can hear the grass growing on the earth and the wool on sheep, and everything that makes more noise – Snorri Sturluson
Ben
Here is some more info for you lazy buggers who can’t use the web. By the way, great site.
The watchman of the Gods, HEIMDALL is the strong silent type and guards BIFROST, the gateway to ASGARD. He can see for a hundred leagues night or day, and can hear the grass growing.
Apart from guard duty, HEIMDALL is the ever-watchful sentinel who waits with his horn to announce the end of the world. His horn is called Gjail or Gjallar. When RAGNAROK arrives, he’ll blow the most amazing note and the last battle will commence. Listen out for further announcements.
Although he seems to be the most placid and stationary God, HEIMDALL has been known to sneak off duty under the name RIG and have exciting adventures. He also rescued FREYA’s precious necklace after it was stolen by LOKI.
Apparently there were two seals sitting on a rock, looking at a bright shiny thing by their feet. They nodded a cursory ‘Good Morning’ to each other and continued to gaze down at what was actually the infinitely precious Brisingamen.
One of these seals was LOKI. He’d stolen the necklace and retreated to the safety of an obscure sea-bound rock in the guise of a seal. Blending in with the seal population was proving somewhat difficult, but it was his best chance to avoid detection.
The other seal, having sat quietly on the rock for several hours with hardly a glance in his direction, hauled itself up, brushed itself down and unexpectedly punched LOKI in the face. It was HEIMDALL, come to rescue the necklace. He’d disguised himself as a seal, positioned himself on the rock first and lulled LOKI into the most embarrassingly false sense of security.
The Brisingamen was returned to ASGARD for safekeeping, but we understand FREYA wasn’t let near it ever again.