In Norse mythology, the dwarves forged a magical chain to shackle the giant wolf Fenrir, using impossibilities as its ingredients: the sound of a cat's footfall, a woman's beard, the roots of a mountain, a bear's sinews, a fish's breath, and a bird's spittle. The gods had already failed to hold Fenrir with ordinary iron chains, so they turned to the dwarves. When they tested this chain named Gleipnir on the island where they lured Fenrir, the wolf agreed to be bound only if one of the gods placed a hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. Fenrir found he could not break Gleipnir and bit off the hand of the god Týr in fury.
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