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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Children of Odin, by Padraic Colum
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Children of Odin
+       The Book of Northern Myths
+
+Author: Padraic Colum
+
+Illustrator: Willy Pogany
+
+Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24737]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDREN OF ODIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Geetu Melwani and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILDREN OF ODIN
+The Book of Northern Myths
+
+By Padraic Colum
+
+Illustrated by Willy Pogany
+
+
+Master storyteller Padraic Colum's rich, musical voice captures all the
+magic and majesty of the Norse sagas in his retellings of the adventures
+of the gods and goddesses who lived in the Northern paradise of Asgard
+before the dawn of history.
+
+Here are the matchless tales of All-Father Odin, who crosses the Rainbow
+Bridge to walk among men in Midgard and sacrifices his right eye to
+drink from the Well of Wisdom; of Thor, whose mighty hammer defends
+Asgard; of Loki, whose mischievous cunning leads him to treachery
+against the gods; of giants, dragons, dwarfs and Valkyries; and of the
+terrible last battle that destroyed their world.
+
+These ancient stories from Northern Europe, which make up one of the
+great myth cycles of Western civilization, spring to life in _The
+Children of Odin_. This classic volume, first published in 1920 and
+reissued in 1962, is now available for the first time in paperback,
+illustrated with the original line drawings by Willy Pogany, to inspire
+a new generation of readers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The late Padraic Colum was a poet, playwright, founder of the _Irish
+Review_ and a leader of the Irish Renaissance, but he is perhaps best
+known today for his outstanding books for children. He was awarded the
+Regina Medal in 1961 for his "distinguished contribution to children's
+literature," honoring works like _The Children's Homer_, _The Golden
+Fleece_ (a Newbery Honor Book), _The Arabian Nights_, _The King of
+Ireland's Son_ and _Roofs of Gold_.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE CHILDREN OF ODIN
+
+The Book of Northern Myths
+
+by
+
+PADRAIC COLUM
+
+illustrated by
+Willy Pogany
+
+Collier Books
+Macmillan Publishing Company
+New York
+
+Collier Macmillan Publishers
+London
+
+
+
+
+Copyright Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of
+Macmillan, Inc., 1920; copyright renewed by
+Padraic Colum and Macmillan Publishing Company 1948
+All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
+or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
+mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any
+information storage and retrieval system, without
+permission in writing from the Publisher.
+
+Macmillan Publishing Company
+866 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022
+Collier Macmillan Canada, Inc.
+
+_The Children of Odin_ is also published in a
+hardcover edition by Macmillan Publishing Company.
+First Collier Books edition 1984
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+10 9 8 7 6 5 4
+
+Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
+Colum, Padraic, 1881-1972.
+
+The children of Odin.
+
+Summary: A retelling of the Norse sagas about Odin,
+Freya, Thor, Loki and the other gods and goddesses who
+lived in Asgard before the dawn of history.
+
+1. Mythology, Norse--Juvenile literature.
+[1. Mythology, Norse] I. Pogany, Willy, 1882-1955, ill.
+II. Title.
+
+BL860.C63 1984b 293'.13 83-20368
+ISBN 0-02-042100-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+PART I _The Dwellers in Asgard_
+
+1. Far Away and Long Ago                        3
+
+2. The Building of the Wall                     6
+
+3. Iduna and Her Apples: How Loki Put the
+   Gods in Danger                              13
+
+4. Sif's Golden Hair: How Loki Wrought
+   Mischief in Asgard                          27
+
+5. How Brock Brought Judgment on Loki          34
+
+6. How Freya Gained Her Necklace and How
+   Her Loved One Was Lost to Her               44
+
+7. How Frey Won Gerda, the Giant Maiden,
+   and How He Lost His Magic Sword             51
+
+8. Heimdall and Little Hnossa: How All
+   Things Came to Be                           62
+
+9. The All-Father's Forebodings: How He
+   Leaves Asgard                               69
+
+
+PART II _Odin the Wanderer_
+
+1. Odin Goes to Mimir's Well: His Sacrifice
+   for Wisdom                                  77
+
+2. Odin Faces an Evil Man                      82
+
+3. Odin Wins for Men the Magic Mead            90
+
+4. Odin Tells to Vidar, His Silent Son, the
+   Secret of His Doings                        99
+
+5. Thor and Loki in the Giants' City          102
+
+6. How Thor and Loki Befooled Thrym the
+   Giant                                      116
+
+7. Ægir's Feast: How Thor Triumphed           124
+
+8. The Dwarf's Hoard, and the Curse that
+   It Brought                                 136
+
+
+PART III _The Witch's Heart_
+
+1. Foreboding in Asgard                       151
+
+2. Loki the Betrayer                          155
+
+3. Loki Against the Æsir                      164
+
+4. The Valkyrie                               169
+
+5. The Children of Loki                       174
+
+6. Baldur's Doom                              180
+
+7. Loki's Punishment                          193
+
+
+PART IV _The Sword of the Volsungs and the
+         Twilight of the Gods_
+
+1. Sigurd's Youth                             199
+
+2. The Sword Gram and the Dragon Fafnir       208
+
+3. The Dragon's Blood                         215
+
+4. The Story of Sigmund and Signy             223
+
+5. The Story of Sigmund and Sinfiotli         233
+
+6. The Story of the Vengeance of the
+   Volsungs and of the Death of Sinfiotli     239
+
+7. Brynhild in the House of Flame             245
+
+8. Sigurd at the House of the Nibelungs       250
+
+9. How Brynhild Was Won for Gunnar            255
+
+10. The Death of Sigurd                       260
+
+11. The Twilight of the Gods                  265
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE DWELLERS IN ASGARD
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO
+
+
+Once there was another Sun and another Moon; a different Sun and a
+different Moon from the ones we see now. Sol was the name of that Sun
+and Mani was the name of that Moon. But always behind Sol and Mani
+wolves went, a wolf behind each. The wolves caught on them at last and
+they devoured Sol and Mani. And then the world was in darkness and cold.
+
+In those times the Gods lived, Odin and Thor, Hödur and Baldur, Tyr and
+Heimdall, Vidar and Vali, as well as Loki, the doer of good and the doer
+of evil. And the beautiful Goddesses were living then, Frigga, Freya,
+Nanna, Iduna, and Sif. But in the days when the Sun and Moon were
+destroyed the Gods were destroyed too--all the Gods except Baldur who
+had died before that time, Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi
+and Magni, the sons of Thor.
+
+At that time, too, there were men and women in the world. But before the
+Sun and the Moon were devoured and before the Gods were destroyed,
+terrible things happened in the world. Snow fell on the four corners of
+the earth and kept on falling for three seasons. Winds came and blew
+everything away. And the people of the world who had lived on in spite
+of the snow and the cold and the winds fought each other, brother
+killing brother, until all the people were destroyed.
+
+Also there was another earth at that time, an earth green and beautiful.
+But the terrible winds that blew leveled down forests and hills and
+dwellings. Then fire came and burnt the earth. There was darkness, for
+the Sun and the Moon were devoured. The Gods had met with their doom.
+And the time in which all these things happened was called Ragnarök, the
+Twilight of the Gods.
+
+Then a new Sun and a new Moon appeared and went traveling through the
+heavens; they were more lovely than Sol and Mani, and no wolves followed
+behind them in chase. The earth became green and beautiful again, and in
+a deep forest that the fire had not burnt a woman and a man wakened up.
+They had been hidden there by Odin and left to sleep during Ragnarök,
+the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+Lif was the woman's name, and Lifthrasir was the man's. They moved
+through the world, and their children and their children's children made
+people for the new earth. And of the Gods were left Vidar and Vali, the
+sons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of Thor; on the new earth
+Vidar and Vali found tablets that the older Gods had written on and had
+left there for them, tablets telling of all that had happened before
+Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+And the people who lived after Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, were
+not troubled, as the people in the older days were troubled, by the
+terrible beings who had brought destruction upon the world and upon men
+and women, and who from the beginning had waged war upon the Gods.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE BUILDING OF THE WALL
+
+
+Always there had been war between the Giants and the Gods--between the
+Giants who would have destroyed the world and the race of men, and the
+Gods who would have protected the race of men and would have made the
+world more beautiful.
+
+There are many stories to be told about the Gods, but the first one that
+should be told to you is the one about the building of their City.
+
+The Gods had made their way up to the top of a high mountain and there
+they decided to build a great City for themselves that the Giants could
+never overthrow. The City they would call "Asgard," which means the
+Place of the Gods. They would build it on a beautiful plain that was on
+the top of that high mountain. And they wanted to raise round their
+City the highest and strongest wall that had ever been built.
+
+Now one day when they were beginning to build their halls and their
+palaces a strange being came to them. Odin, the Father of the Gods, went
+and spoke to him. "What dost thou want on the Mountain of the Gods?" he
+asked the Stranger.
+
+"I know what is in the mind of the Gods," the Stranger said. "They would
+build a City here. I cannot build palaces, but I can build great walls
+that can never be overthrown. Let me build the wall round your City."
+
+"How long will it take you to build a wall that will go round our City?"
+said the Father of the Gods.
+
+"A year, O Odin," said the Stranger.
+
+Now Odin knew that if a great wall could be built around it the Gods
+would not have to spend all their time defending their City, Asgard,
+from the Giants, and he knew that if Asgard were protected, he himself
+could go amongst men and teach them and help them. He thought that no
+payment the Stranger could ask would be too much for the building of
+that wall.
+
+That day the Stranger came to the Council of the Gods, and he swore that
+in a year he would have the great wall built. Then Odin made oath that
+the Gods would give him what he asked in payment if the wall was
+finished to the last stone in a year from that day.
+
+The Stranger went away and came back on the morrow. It was the first day
+of Summer when he started work. He brought no one to help him except a
+great horse.
+
+Now the Gods thought that this horse would do no more than drag blocks
+of stone for the building of the wall. But the horse did more than this.
+He set the stones in their places and mortared them together. And day
+and night and by light and dark the horse worked, and soon a great wall
+was rising round the palaces that the Gods themselves were building.
+
+"What reward will the Stranger ask for the work he is doing for us?" the
+Gods asked one another.
+
+Odin went to the Stranger. "We marvel at the work you and your horse are
+doing for us," he said. "No one can doubt that the great wall of Asgard
+will be built up by the first day of Summer. What reward do you claim?
+We would have it ready for you."
+
+The Stranger turned from the work he was doing, leaving the great horse
+to pile up the blocks of stone. "O Father of the Gods," he said, "O
+Odin, the reward I shall ask for my work is the Sun and the Moon, and
+Freya, who watches over the flowers and grasses, for my wife."
+
+Now when Odin heard this he was terribly angered, for the price the
+Stranger asked for his work was beyond all prices. He went amongst the
+other Gods who were then building their shining palaces within the great
+wall and he told them what reward the Stranger had asked. The Gods said,
+"Without the Sun and the Moon the world will wither away." And the
+Goddesses said, "Without Freya all will be gloom in Asgard."
+
+They would have let the wall remain unbuilt rather than let the Stranger
+have the reward he claimed for building it. But one who was in the
+company of the Gods spoke. He was Loki, a being who only half belonged
+to the Gods; his father was the Wind Giant. "Let the Stranger build the
+wall round Asgard," Loki said, "and I will find a way to make him give
+up the hard bargain he has made with the Gods. Go to him and tell him
+that the wall must be finished by the first day of Summer, and that if
+it is not finished to the last stone on that day the price he asks will
+not be given to him."
+
+The Gods went to the Stranger and they told him that if the last stone
+was not laid on the wall on the first day of the Summer not Sol or Mani,
+the Sun and the Moon, nor Freya would be given him. And now they knew
+that the Stranger was one of the Giants.
+
+The Giant and his great horse piled up the wall more quickly than
+before. At night, while the Giant slept, the horse worked on and on,
+hauling up stones and laying them on the wall with his great forefeet.
+And day by day the wall around Asgard grew higher and higher.
+
+But the Gods had no joy in seeing that great wall rising higher and
+higher around their palaces. The Giant and his horse would finish the
+work by the first day of Summer, and then he would take the Sun and the
+Moon, Sol and Mani, and Freya away with him.
+
+But Loki was not disturbed. He kept telling the Gods that he would find
+a way to prevent him from finishing his work, and thus he would make the
+Giant forfeit the terrible price he had led Odin to promise him.
+
+It was three days to Summer time. All the wall was finished except the
+gateway. Over the gateway a stone was still to be placed. And the Giant,
+before he went to sleep, bade his horse haul up a great block of stone
+so that they might put it above the gateway in the morning, and so
+finish the work two full days before Summer.
+
+It happened to be a beautiful moonlit night. Svadilfare, the Giant's
+great horse, was hauling the largest stone he ever hauled when he saw a
+little mare come galloping toward him. The great horse had never seen so
+pretty a little mare and he looked at her with surprise.
+
+"Svadilfare, slave," said the little mare to him and went frisking past.
+
+Svadilfare put down the stone he was hauling and called to the little
+mare. She came back to him. "Why do you call me 'Svadilfare, slave'?"
+said the great horse.
+
+"Because you have to work night and day for your master," said the
+little mare. "He keeps you working, working, working, and never lets you
+enjoy yourself. You dare not leave that stone down and come and play
+with me."
+
+"Who told you I dare not do it?" said Svadilfare.
+
+"I know you daren't do it," said the little mare, and she kicked up her
+heels and ran across the moonlit meadow.
+
+Now the truth is that Svadilfare was tired of working day and night.
+When he saw the little mare go galloping off he became suddenly
+discontented. He left the stone he was hauling on the ground. He looked
+round and he saw the little mare looking back at him. He galloped after
+her.
+
+He did not catch up on the little mare. She went on swiftly before him.
+On she went over the moonlit meadow, turning and looking back now and
+again at the great Svadilfare, who came heavily after her. Down the
+mountainside the mare went, and Svadilfare, who now rejoiced in his
+liberty and in the freshness of the wind and in the smell of the
+flowers, still followed her. With the morning's light they came near a
+cave and the little mare went into it. They went through the cave. Then
+Svadilfare caught up on the little mare and the two went wandering
+together, the little mare telling Svadilfare stories of the Dwarfs and
+the Elves.
+
+They came to a grove and they stayed together in it, the little mare
+playing so nicely with him that the great horse forgot all about time
+passing. And while they were in the grove the Giant was going up and
+down, searching for his great horse.
+
+He had come to the wall in the morning, expecting to put the stone over
+the gateway and so finish his work. But the stone that was to be lifted
+up was not near him. He called for Svadilfare, but his great horse did
+not come. He went to search for him, and he searched all down the
+mountainside and he searched as far across the earth as the realm of the
+Giants. But he did not find Svadilfare.
+
+The Gods saw the first day of Summer come and the gateway of the wall
+stand unfinished. They said to each other that if it were not finished
+by the evening they need not give Sol and Mani to the Giant, nor the
+maiden Freya to be his wife. The hours of the summer day went past and
+the Giant did not raise the stone over the gateway. In the evening he
+came before them.
+
+"Your work is not finished," Odin said. "You forced us to a hard
+bargain and now we need not keep it with you. You shall not be given Sol
+and Mani nor the maiden Freya."
+
+"Only the wall I have built is so strong I would tear it down," said the
+Giant. He tried to throw down one of the palaces, but the Gods laid
+hands on him and thrust him outside the wall he had built. "Go, and
+trouble Asgard no more," Odin commanded.
+
+Then Loki returned to Asgard. He told the Gods how he had transformed
+himself into a little mare and had led away Svadilfare, the Giant's
+great horse. And the Gods sat in their golden palaces behind the great
+wall and rejoiced that their City was now secure, and that no enemy
+could ever enter it or overthrow it. But Odin, the Father of the Gods,
+as he sat upon his throne was sad in his heart, sad that the Gods had
+got their wall built by a trick; that oaths had been broken, and that a
+blow had been struck in injustice in Asgard.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+IDUNA AND HER APPLES: HOW LOKI PUT THE GODS IN DANGER
+
+
+In Asgard there was a garden, and in that garden there grew a tree, and
+on that tree there grew shining apples. Thou knowst, O well-loved one,
+that every day that passes makes us older and brings us to that day when
+we will be bent and feeble, gray-headed and weak-eyed. But those shining
+apples that grew in Asgard--they who ate of them every day grew never a
+day older, for the eating of the apples kept old age away.
+
+Iduna, the Goddess, tended the tree on which the shining apples grew.
+None would grow on the tree unless she was there to tend it. No one but
+Iduna might pluck the shining apples. Each morning she plucked them and
+left them in her basket and every day the Gods and Goddesses came to her
+garden that they might eat the shining apples and so stay for ever
+young.
+
+Iduna never went from her garden. All day and every day she stayed in
+the garden or in her golden house beside it, and all day and every day
+she listened to Bragi, her husband, tell a story that never had an end.
+Ah, but a time came when Iduna and her apples were lost to Asgard, and
+the Gods and Goddesses felt old age approach them. How all that happened
+shall be told thee, O well beloved.
+
+Odin, the Father of the Gods, often went into the land of men to watch
+over their doings. Once he took Loki with him, Loki, the doer of good
+and the doer of evil. For a long time they went traveling through the
+world of men. At last they came near Jötunheim, the realm of the Giants.
+
+It was a bleak and empty region. There were no growing things there, not
+even trees with berries. There were no birds, there were no animals. As
+Odin, the Father of the Gods, and Loki, the doer of good and the doer of
+evil, went through this region hunger came upon them. But in all the
+land around they saw nothing that they could eat.
+
+Loki, running here and running there, came at last upon a herd of wild
+cattle. Creeping up on them, he caught hold of a young bull and killed
+him. Then he cut up the flesh into strips of meat. He lighted a fire and
+put the meat on spits to roast. While the meat was being cooked, Odin,
+the Father of the Gods, a little way off, sat thinking on the things he
+had seen in the world of men.
+
+Loki made himself busy putting more and more logs on the fire. At last
+he called to Odin, and the Father of the Gods came and sat down near the
+fire to eat the meal.
+
+But when the meat was taken off the cooking-spits and when Odin went to
+cut it, he found that it was still raw. He smiled at Loki for thinking
+the meat was cooked, and Loki, troubled that he had made a mistake, put
+the meat back, and put more logs upon the fire. Again Loki took the meat
+off the cooking-spits and called Odin to the meal.
+
+Odin, when he took the meat that Loki brought him, found that it was as
+raw as if it had never been put upon the fire. "Is this a trick of
+yours, Loki?" he said.
+
+Loki was so angry at the meat being uncooked that Odin saw he was
+playing no tricks. In his hunger he raged at the meat and he raged at
+the fire. Again he put the meat on the cooking-spits and put more logs
+on the fire. Every hour he would take up the meat, sure that it was now
+cooked, and every time he took it off Odin would find that the meat was
+as raw as the first time they took it off the fire.
+
+Now Odin knew that the meat must be under some enchantment by the
+Giants. He stood up and went on his way, hungry but strong. Loki,
+however, would not leave the meat that he had put back on the fire. He
+would make it be cooked, he declared, and he would not leave that place
+hungry.
+
+The dawn came and he took up the meat again. As he was lifting it off
+the fire he heard a whirr of wings above his head. Looking up, he saw a
+mighty eagle, the largest eagle that ever appeared in the sky. The eagle
+circled round and round and came above Loki's head. "Canst thou not cook
+thy food?" the eagle screamed to him.
+
+"I cannot cook it," said Loki.
+
+"I will cook it for thee, if thou wilt give me a share," screamed the
+eagle.
+
+"Come, then, and cook it for me," said Loki.
+
+The eagle circled round until he was above the fire. Then flapping his
+great wings over it, he made the fire blaze and blaze. A heat that Loki
+had never felt before came from the burning logs. In a minute he drew
+the meat from the spits and found it was well cooked.
+
+"My share, my share, give me my share," the eagle screamed at him. He
+flew down, and seizing on a large piece of meat instantly devoured it.
+He seized on another piece. Piece after piece he devoured until it
+looked as if Loki would be left with no meat for his meal.
+
+As the eagle seized on the last piece Loki became angry indeed. Taking
+up the spit on which the meat had been cooked, he struck at the eagle.
+There was a clang as if he had struck some metal. The wood of the spit
+did not come away. It stuck to the breast of the eagle. But Loki did not
+let go his hold on the spit. Suddenly the eagle rose up in the air.
+Loki, who held to the spit that was fastened to the eagle's breast, was
+drawn up with him.
+
+Before he knew what had happened Loki was miles and miles up in the air
+and the eagle was flying with him toward Jötunheim, the Realm of the
+Giants. And the eagle was screaming out, "Loki, friend Loki, I have thee
+at last. It was thou who didst cheat my brother of his reward for
+building the wall round Asgard. But, Loki, I have thee at last. Know now
+that Thiassi the Giant has captured thee, O Loki, most cunning of the
+dwellers in Asgard."
+
+Thus the eagle screamed as he went flying with Loki toward Jötunheim,
+the Realm of the Giants. They passed over the river that divides
+Jötunheim from Midgard, the World of Men. And now Loki saw a terrible
+place beneath him, a land of ice and rock. Great mountains were there:
+they were lighted by neither sun nor moon, but by columns of fire thrown
+up now and again through cracks in the earth or out of the peaks of the
+mountains.
+
+Over a great iceberg the eagle hovered. Suddenly he shook the spit from
+his breast and Loki fell down on the ice. The eagle screamed out to him,
+"Thou art in my power at last, O thou most cunning of all the Dwellers
+in Asgard." The eagle left Loki there and flew within a crack in the
+mountain.
+
+Miserable indeed was Loki upon that iceberg. The cold was deadly. He
+could not die there, for he was one of the Dwellers in Asgard and death
+might not come to him that way. He might not die, but he felt bound to
+that iceberg with chains of cold.
+
+After a day his captor came to him, not as an eagle this time, but in
+his own form, Thiassi the Giant.
+
+"Wouldst thou leave thine iceberg, Loki," he said, "and return to thy
+pleasant place in Asgard? Thou dost delight in Asgard, although only by
+one-half dost thou belong to the Gods. Thy father, Loki, was the Wind
+Giant."
+
+"O that I might leave this iceberg," Loki said, with the tears freezing
+on his face.
+
+"Thou mayst leave it when thou showest thyself ready to pay thy ransom
+to me," said Thiassi. "Thou wilt have to get me the shining apples that
+Iduna keeps in her basket."
+
+"I cannot get Iduna's apples for thee, Thiassi," said Loki.
+
+"Then stay upon the iceberg," said Thiassi the Giant. He went away and
+left Loki there with the terrible winds buffeting him as with blows of a
+hammer.
+
+When Thiassi came again and spoke to him about his ransom, Loki said,
+"There is no way of getting the shining apples from Iduna."
+
+"There must be some way, O cunning Loki," said the Giant.
+
+"Iduna, although she guards well the shining apples, is simple-minded,"
+said Loki. "It may be that I shall be able to get her to go outside the
+wall of Asgard. If she goes she will bring her shining apples with her,
+for she never lets them go out of her hand except when she gives them to
+the Gods and Goddesses to eat."
+
+"Make it so that she will go beyond the wall of Asgard," said the Giant.
+"If she goes outside of the wall I shall get the apples from her. Swear
+by the World-Tree that thou wilt lure Iduna beyond the wall of Asgard.
+Swear it, Loki, and I shall let thee go."
+
+"I swear it by Ygdrassil, the World-Tree, that I will lure Iduna beyond
+the wall of Asgard if thou wilt take me off this iceberg," said Loki.
+
+Then Thiassi changed himself into a mighty eagle, and taking Loki in his
+talons, he flew with him over the stream that divides Jötunheim, the
+Realm of the Giants, from Midgard, the World of Men. He left Loki on the
+ground of Midgard, and Loki then went on his way to Asgard.
+
+Now Odin had already returned and he had told the Dwellers in Asgard of
+Loki's attempt to cook the enchanted meat. All laughed to think that
+Loki had been left hungry for all his cunning. Then when he came into
+Asgard looking so famished, they thought it was because Loki had had
+nothing to eat. They laughed at him more and more. But they brought him
+into the Feast Hall and they gave him the best of food with wine out of
+Odin's wine cup. When the feast was over the Dwellers in Asgard went to
+Iduna's garden as was their wont.
+
+There sat Iduna in the golden house that opened on her garden. Had she
+been in the world of men, every one who saw her would have remembered
+their own innocence, seeing one who was so fair and good. She had eyes
+blue as the blue sky, and she smiled as if she were remembering lovely
+things she had seen or heard. The basket of shining apples was beside
+her.
+
+To each God and Goddess Iduna gave a shining apple. Each one ate the
+apple given, rejoicing to think that they would never become a day
+older. Then Odin, the Father of the Gods, said the runes that were
+always said in praise of Iduna, and the Dwellers in Asgard went out of
+Iduna's garden, each one going to his or her own shining house.
+
+All went except Loki, the doer of good and the doer of evil. Loki sat in
+the garden, watching fair and simple Iduna. After a while she spoke to
+him and said, "Why dost thou still stay here, wise Loki?"
+
+"To look well on thine apples," Loki said. "I am wondering if the apples
+I saw yesterday are really as shining as the apples that are in thy
+basket."
+
+"There are no apples in the world as shining as mine," said Iduna.
+
+"The apples I saw were more shining," said Loki. "Aye, and they smelled
+better, Iduna."
+
+Iduna was troubled at what Loki, whom she deemed so wise, told her. Her
+eyes filled with tears that there might be more shining apples in the
+world than hers. "O Loki," she said, "it cannot be. No apples are more
+shining, and none smell so sweet, as the apples I pluck off the tree in
+my garden."
+
+"Go, then, and see," said Loki. "Just outside Asgard is the tree that
+has the apples I saw. Thou, Iduna, dost never leave thy garden, and so
+thou dost not know what grows in the world. Go outside of Asgard and
+see."
+
+"I will go, Loki," said Iduna, the fair and simple.
+
+Iduna went outside the wall of Asgard. She went to the place Loki had
+told her that the apples grew in. But as she looked this way and that
+way, Iduna heard a whirr of wings above her. Looking up, she saw a
+mighty eagle, the largest eagle that had ever appeared in the sky.
+
+She drew back toward the gate of Asgard. Then the great eagle swooped
+down; Iduna felt herself lifted up, and then she was being carried away
+from Asgard, away, away; away over Midgard where men lived, away toward
+the rocks and snows of Jötunheim. Across the river that flows between
+the World of Men and the Realm of the Giants Iduna was borne. Then the
+eagle flew into a cleft in a mountain and Iduna was left in a cavernous
+hall lighted up by columns of fire that burst up from the earth.
+
+The eagle loosened his grip on Iduna and she sank down on the ground of
+the cavern. The wings and the feathers fell from him and she saw her
+captor as a terrible Giant.
+
+"Oh, why have you carried me off from Asgard and brought me to this
+place?" Iduna cried.
+
+"That I might eat your shining apples, Iduna," said Thiassi the Giant.
+
+"That will never be, for I will not give them to you," said Iduna.
+
+"Give me the apples to eat, and I shall carry you back to Asgard."
+
+"No, no, that cannot be. I have been trusted with the shining apples
+that I might give them to the Gods only."
+
+"Then I shall take the apples from you," said Thiassi the Giant.
+
+He took the basket out of her hands and opened it. But when he touched
+the apples they shriveled under his hands. He left them in the basket
+and he set the basket down, for he knew now that the apples would be no
+good to him unless Iduna gave them to him with her own hands.
+
+"You must stay with me here until you give me the shining apples," he
+said to her.
+
+Then was poor Iduna frightened: she was frightened of the strange cave
+and frightened of the fire that kept bursting up out of the earth and
+she was frightened of the terrible Giant. But above all she was
+frightened to think of the evil that would fall upon the Dwellers in
+Asgard if she were not there to give them the shining apples to eat.
+
+The Giant came to her again. But still Iduna would not give him the
+shining apples. And there in the cave she stayed, the Giant troubling
+her every day. And she grew more and more fearful as she saw in her
+dreams the Dwellers in Asgard go to her garden--go there, and not being
+given the shining apples, feel and see a change coming over themselves
+and over each other.
+
+It was as Iduna saw it in her dreams. Every day the Dwellers in Asgard
+went to her garden--Odin and Thor, Hödur and Baldur, Tyr and Heimdall,
+Vidar and Vali, with Frigga, Freya, Nanna, and Sif. There was no one to
+pluck the apples of their tree. And a change began to come over the Gods
+and Goddesses.
+
+They no longer walked lightly; their shoulders became bent; their eyes
+no longer were as bright as dewdrops. And when they looked upon one
+another they saw the change. Age was coming upon the Dwellers in Asgard.
+
+They knew that the time would come when Frigga would be gray and old;
+when Sif's golden hair would fade; when Odin would no longer have his
+clear wisdom, and when Thor would not have strength enough to raise and
+fling his thunderbolts. And the Dwellers in Asgard were saddened by this
+knowledge, and it seemed to them that all brightness had gone from their
+shining City.
+
+Where was Iduna whose apples would give back youth and strength and
+beauty to the Dwellers in Asgard? The Gods had searched for her through
+the World of Men. No trace of her did they find. But now Odin, searching
+through his wisdom, saw a means to get knowledge of where Iduna was
+hidden.
+
+He summoned his two ravens, Hugin and Munin, his two ravens that flew
+through the earth and through the Realm of the Giants and that knew all
+things that were past and all things that were to come. He summoned
+Hugin and Munin and they came, and one sat on his right shoulder and one
+sat on his left shoulder and they told him deep secrets: they told him
+of Thiassi and of his desire for the shining apples that the Dwellers in
+Asgard ate, and of Loki's deception of Iduna, the fair and simple.
+
+What Odin learnt from his ravens was told in the Council of the Gods.
+Then Thor the Strong went to Loki and laid hands upon him. When Loki
+found himself in the grip of the strong God, he said, "What wouldst thou
+with me, O Thor?"
+
+"I would hurl thee into a chasm in the ground and strike thee with my
+thunder," said the strong God. "It was thou who didst bring it about
+that Iduna went from Asgard."
+
+"O Thor," said Loki, "do not crush me with thy thunder. Let me stay in
+Asgard. I will strive to win Iduna back."
+
+"The judgment of the Gods," said Thor, "is that thou, the cunning one,
+shouldst go to Jötunheim, and by thy craft win Iduna back from the
+Giants. Go or else I shall hurl thee into a chasm and crush thee with my
+thunder."
+
+"I will go," said Loki.
+
+From Frigga, the wife of Odin, Loki borrowed the dress of falcon
+feathers that she owned. He clad himself in it, and flew to Jötunheim in
+the form of a falcon.
+
+He searched through Jötunheim until he found Thiassi's daughter, Skadi.
+He flew before Skadi and he let the Giant maid catch him and hold him as
+a pet. One day the Giant maid carried him into the cave where Iduna, the
+fair and simple, was held.
+
+When Loki saw Iduna there he knew that part of his quest was ended. Now
+he had to get Iduna out of Jötunheim and away to Asgard. He stayed no
+more with the Giant maid, but flew up into the high rocks of the cave.
+Skadi wept for the flight of her pet, but she ceased to search and to
+call and went away from the cave.
+
+Then Loki, the doer of good and the doer of evil, flew to where Iduna
+was sitting and spoke to her. Iduna, when she knew that one of the
+Dwellers in Asgard was near, wept with joy.
+
+Loki told her what she was to do. By the power of a spell that was given
+him he was able to change her into the form of a sparrow. But before she
+did this she took the shining apples out of her basket and flung them
+into places where the Giant would never find them.
+
+Skadi, coming back to the cave, saw the falcon fly out with the sparrow
+beside him. She cried out to her father and the Giant knew that the
+falcon was Loki and the sparrow was Iduna. He changed himself into the
+form of a mighty eagle. By this time sparrow and falcon were out of
+sight, but Thiassi, knowing that he could make better flight than they,
+flew toward Asgard.
+
+Soon he saw them. They flew with all the power they had, but the great
+wings of the eagle brought him nearer and nearer to them. The Dwellers
+in Asgard, standing on the wall, saw the falcon and the sparrow with the
+great eagle pursuing them. They knew who they were--Loki and Iduna with
+Thiassi in pursuit.
+
+As they watched the eagle winging nearer and nearer, the Dwellers in
+Asgard were fearful that the falcon and the sparrow would be caught upon
+and that Iduna would be taken again by Thiassi. They lighted great fires
+upon the wall, knowing that Loki would find a way through the fires,
+bringing Iduna with him, but that Thiassi would not find a way.
+
+The falcon and the sparrow flew toward the fires. Loki went between the
+flames and brought Iduna with him. And Thiassi, coming up to the fires
+and finding no way through, beat his wings against the flames. He fell
+down from the wall and the death that came to him afterwards was laid to
+Loki.
+
+Thus Iduna was brought back to Asgard. Once again she sat in the golden
+house that opened to her garden, once again she plucked the shining
+apples off the tree she tended, and once again she gave them to the
+Dwellers in Asgard. And the Dwellers in Asgard walked lightly again, and
+brightness came into their eyes and into their cheeks; age no more
+approached them; youth came back; light and joy were again in Asgard.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+SIF'S GOLDEN HAIR: HOW LOKI WROUGHT MISCHIEF IN ASGARD
+
+
+All who dwelt in Asgard, the Æsir and the Asyniur, who were the Gods and
+the Goddesses, and the Vanir, who were the friends of the Gods and the
+Goddesses, were wroth with Loki. It was no wonder they were wroth with
+him, for he had let the Giant Thiassi carry off Iduna and her golden
+apples. Still, it must be told that the show they made of their wrath
+made Loki ready to do more mischief in Asgard.
+
+One day he saw a chance to do mischief that made his heart rejoice. Sif,
+the wife of Thor, was lying asleep outside her house. Her beautiful
+golden hair flowed all round her. Loki knew how much Thor loved that
+shining hair, and how greatly Sif prized it because of Thor's love.
+Here was his chance to do a great mischief. Smilingly, he took out his
+shears and he cut off the shining hair, every strand and every tress.
+She did not waken while her treasure was being taken from her. But Loki
+left Sif's head cropped and bare.
+
+Thor was away from Asgard. Coming back to the City of the Gods, he went
+into his house. Sif, his wife, was not there to welcome him. He called
+to Sif, but no glad answer came from her. To the palaces of all the Gods
+and Goddesses Thor went, but in none of them did he find Sif, his
+golden-haired wife.
+
+When he was coming back to his house he heard his name whispered. He
+stopped, and then a figure stole out from behind a stone. A veil covered
+her head, and Thor scarce knew that this was Sif, his wife. As he went
+to her she sobbed and sobbed. "O Thor, my husband," she said, "do not
+look upon me. I am ashamed that you should see me. I shall go from
+Asgard and from the company of the Gods and Goddesses, and I shall go
+down to Svartheim and live amongst the Dwarfs. I cannot bear that any of
+the Dwellers in Asgard should look upon me now."
+
+"O Sif," cried Thor, "what has happened to change you?"
+
+"I have lost the hair of my head," said Sif, "I have lost the beautiful
+golden hair that you, Thor, loved. You will not love me any more, and so
+I must go away, down to Svartheim and to the company of the Dwarfs. They
+are as ugly as I am now."
+
+Then she took the veil off her head and Thor saw that all her beautiful
+hair was gone. She stood before him, shamed and sorrowful, and he grew
+into a mighty rage. "Who was it did this to you, Sif?" he said. "I am
+Thor, the strongest of all the Dwellers in Asgard, and I shall see to it
+that all the powers the Gods possess will be used to get your fairness
+back. Come with me, Sif." And taking his wife's hand in his, Thor went
+off to the Council House where the Gods and the Goddesses were.
+
+Sif covered her head with her veil, for she would not have the Gods and
+Goddesses look upon her shorn head. But from the anger in Thor's eyes
+all saw that the wrong done to Sif was great indeed. Then Thor told of
+the cutting of her beautiful hair. A whisper went round the Council
+House. "It was Loki did this--no one else in Asgard would have done a
+deed so shameful," one said to the other.
+
+"Loki it was who did it," said Thor. "He has hidden himself, but I shall
+find him and I will slay him."
+
+"Nay, not so, Thor," said Odin, the Father of the Gods. "Nay, no Dweller
+in Asgard may slay another. I shall summon Loki to come before us here.
+It is for you to make him (and remember that Loki is cunning and able to
+do many things) bring back to Sif the beauty of her golden hair."
+
+Then the call of Odin, the call that all in Asgard have to harken to,
+went through the City of the Gods. Loki heard it, and he had to come
+from his hiding-place and enter the house where the Gods held their
+Council. And when he looked on Thor and saw the rage that was in his
+eyes, and when he looked on Odin and saw the sternness in the face of
+the Father of the Gods, he knew that he would have to make amends for
+the shameful wrong he had done to Sif.
+
+Said Odin, "There is a thing that you, Loki, have to do: Restore to Sif
+the beauty of her hair."
+
+Loki looked at Odin, Loki looked at Thor, and he saw that what was said
+would have to be done. His quick mind searched to find a way of
+restoring to Sif the beauty of her golden hair.
+
+"I shall do as you command, Odin All-Father," he said.
+
+But before we tell you of what Loki did to restore the beauty of Sif's
+golden hair, we must tell you of the other beings besides the Gods and
+the Goddesses who were in the world at the time. First, there was the
+Vanir. When the Gods who were called the Æsir came to the mountain on
+which they built Asgard, they found other beings there. These were not
+wicked and ugly like the Giants; they were beautiful and friendly; the
+Vanir they were named.
+
+Although they were beautiful and friendly the Vanir had no thought of
+making the world more beautiful or more happy. In that way they differed
+from the Æsir who had such a thought. The Æsir made peace with them, and
+they lived together in friendship, and the Vanir came to do things that
+helped the Æsir to make the world more beautiful and more happy. Freya,
+whom the Giant wanted to take away with the Sun and the Moon as a reward
+for the building of the wall round Asgard, was of the Vanir. The other
+beings of the Vanir were Frey, who was the brother of Freya, and Niörd,
+who was their father.
+
+On the earth below there were other beings--the dainty Elves, who danced
+and fluttered about, attending to the trees and flowers and grasses. The
+Vanir were permitted to rule over the Elves. Then below the earth, in
+caves and hollows, there was another race, the Dwarfs or Gnomes, little,
+twisted creatures, who were both wicked and ugly, but who were the best
+craftsmen in the world.
+
+In the days when neither the Æsir nor the Vanir were friendly to him
+Loki used to go down to Svartheim, the Dwarfs' dwelling below the earth.
+And now that he was commanded to restore to Sif the beauty of her hair,
+Loki thought of help he might get from the Dwarfs.
+
+Down, down, through the winding passages in the earth he went, and he
+came at last to where the Dwarfs who were most friendly to him were
+working in their forges. All the Dwarfs were master-smiths, and when he
+came upon his friends he found them working hammer and tongs, beating
+metals into many shapes. He watched them for a while and took note of
+the things they were making. One was a spear, so well balanced and made
+that it would hit whatever mark it was thrown at no matter how bad the
+aim the thrower had. The other was a boat that could sail on any sea,
+but that could be folded up so that it would go into one's pocket. The
+spear was called Gungnir and the boat was called Skidbladnir.
+
+Loki made himself very agreeable to the Dwarfs, praising their work and
+promising them things that only the Dwellers in Asgard could give,
+things that the Dwarfs longed to possess. He talked to them till the
+little, ugly folk thought that they would come to own Asgard and all
+that was in it.
+
+At last Loki said to them, "Have you got a bar of fine gold that you can
+hammer into threads--into threads so fine that they will be like the
+hair of Sif, Thor's wife? Only the Dwarfs could make a thing so
+wonderful. Ah, there is the bar of gold. Hammer it into those fine
+threads, and the Gods themselves will be jealous of your work."
+
+Flattered by Loki's speeches, the Dwarfs who were in the forge took up
+the bar of fine gold and flung it into the fire. Then taking it out and
+putting it upon their anvil they worked on the bar with their tiny
+hammers until they beat it into threads that were as fine as the hairs
+of one's head. But that was not enough. They had to be as fine as the
+hairs on Sif's head, and these were finer than anything else. They
+worked on the threads, over and over again, until they were as fine as
+the hairs on Sif's head. The threads were as bright as sunlight, and
+when Loki took up the mass of worked gold it flowed from his raised hand
+down on the ground. It was so fine that it could be put into his palm,
+and it was so light that a bird might not feel its weight.
+
+Then Loki praised the Dwarfs more and more, and he made more and more
+promises to them. He charmed them all, although they were an unfriendly
+and a suspicious folk. And before he left them he asked them for the
+spear and the boat he had seen them make, the spear Gungnir and the
+boat Skidbladnir. The Dwarfs gave him these things, though in a while
+after they wondered at themselves for giving them.
+
+Back to Asgard Loki went. He walked into the Council House where the
+Dwellers in Asgard were gathered. He met the stern look in Odin's eyes
+and the rageful look in Thor's eyes with smiling good humor. "Off with
+thy veil, O Sif," he said. And when poor Sif took off her veil he put
+upon her shorn head the wonderful mass of gold he held in his palm. Over
+her shoulders the gold fell, fine, soft, and shining as her own hair.
+And the Æsir and the Asyniur, the Gods and the Goddesses, and the Van
+and Vana, when they saw Sif's head covered again with the shining web,
+laughed and clapped their hands in gladness. And the shining web held to
+Sif's head as if indeed it had roots and was growing there.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HOW BROCK BROUGHT JUDGMENT ON LOKI
+
+
+It was then that Loki, with the wish of making the Æsir and the Vanir
+friendly to him once more, brought out the wonderful things he had
+gained from the Dwarfs--the spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir. The
+Æsir and the Vanir marveled at things so wonderful. Loki gave the spear
+as a gift to Odin, and to Frey, who was chief of the Vanir, he gave the
+boat Skidbladnir.
+
+All Asgard rejoiced that things so wonderful and so helpful had been
+brought to them. And Loki, who had made a great show in giving these
+gifts, said boastingly:
+
+"None but the Dwarfs who work for me could make such things. There are
+other Dwarfs, but they are as unhandy as they are misshapen. The Dwarfs
+who are my servants are the only ones who can make such wonders."
+
+Now Loki in his boastfulness had said a foolish thing. There were other
+Dwarfs besides those who had worked for him, and one of these was there
+in Asgard. All unknown to Loki he stood in the shadow of Odin's seat,
+listening to what was being said. Now he went over to Loki, his little,
+unshapely form trembling with rage--Brock, the most spiteful of all the
+Dwarfs.
+
+"Ha, Loki, you boaster," he roared, "you lie in your words. Sindri, my
+brother, who would scorn to serve you, is the best smith in Svartheim."
+
+The Æsir and the Vanir laughed to see Loki outfaced by Brock the Dwarf
+in the middle of his boastfulness. As they laughed Loki grew angry.
+
+"Be silent, Dwarf," he said, "your brother will know about smith's work
+when he goes to the Dwarfs who are my friends, and learns something from
+them."
+
+"He learn from the Dwarfs who are your friends! My brother Sindri learn
+from the Dwarfs who are your friends!" Brock roared, in a greater rage
+than before. "The things you have brought out of Svartheim would not be
+noticed by the Æsir and the Vanir if they were put beside the things
+that my brother Sindri can make."
+
+"Sometime we will try your brother Sindri and see what he can do," said
+Loki.
+
+"Try now, try now," Brock shouted. "I'll wager my head against yours,
+Loki, that his work will make the Dwellers in Asgard laugh at your
+boasting."
+
+"I will take your wager," said Loki. "My head against yours. And glad
+will I be to see that ugly head of yours off your misshapen shoulders."
+
+"The Æsir will judge whether my brother's work is not the best that ever
+came out of Svartheim. And they will see to it that you will pay your
+wager, Loki, the head off your shoulders. Will ye not sit in judgment, O
+Dwellers in Asgard?"
+
+"We will sit in judgment," said the Æsir. Then, still full of rage,
+Brock the Dwarf went down to Svartheim, and to the place where his
+brother Sindri worked.
+
+There was Sindri in his glowing forge, working with bellows and anvil
+and hammers beside him, and around him masses of metal--gold and silver,
+copper and iron. Brock told his tale, how he had wagered his head
+against Loki's that Sindri could make things more wonderful than the
+spear and the boat that Loki had brought into Asgard.
+
+"You were right in what you said, my brother," said Sindri, "and you
+shall not lose your head to Loki. But the two of us must work at what I
+am going to forge. It will be your work to keep the fire so that it will
+neither blaze up nor die down for a single instant. If you can keep the
+fire as I tell you, we will forge a wonder. Now, brother, keep your
+hands upon the bellows, and keep the fire under your control."
+
+Then into the fire Sindri threw, not a piece of metal, but a pig's skin.
+Brock kept his hands on the bellows, working it so that the fire neither
+died down nor blazed up for a single instant. And in the glowing fire
+the pigskin swelled itself into a strange shape.
+
+But Brock was not left to work the bellows in peace. In to the forge
+flew a gadfly. It lighted on Brock's hands and stung them. The Dwarf
+screamed with pain, but his hands still held the bellows, working it to
+keep the fire steady, for he knew that the gadfly was Loki, and that
+Loki was striving to spoil Sindri's work. Again the gadfly stung his
+hands, but Brock, although his hands felt as if they were pierced with
+hot irons, still worked the bellows so that the fire did not blaze up or
+die down for a single instant.
+
+Sindri came and looked into the fire. Over the shape that was rising
+there he said words of magic. The gadfly had flown away, and Sindri bade
+his brother cease working. He took out the thing that had been shaped in
+the fire, and he worked over it with his hammer. It was a wonder
+indeed--a boar, all golden, that could fly through the air, and that
+shed light from its bristles as it flew. Brock forgot the pain in his
+hands and screamed with joy. "This is the greatest of wonders," he said.
+"The Dwellers in Asgard will have to give the judgment against Loki. I
+shall have Loki's head!"
+
+But Sindri said, "The boar Golden Bristle may not be judged as great a
+wonder as the spear Gungnir or the boat Skidbladnir. We must make
+something more wonderful still. Work the bellows as before, brother, and
+do not let the fire die down or blaze up for a single instant."
+
+Then Sindri took up a piece of gold that was so bright it lightened up
+the dark cavern that the Dwarfs worked in. He threw the piece of gold
+into the fire. Then he went to make ready something else and left Brock
+to work the bellows.
+
+The gadfly flew in again. Brock did not know it was there until it
+lighted on the back of his neck. It stung him till Brock felt the pain
+was wrenching him apart. But still he kept his hands on the bellows,
+working it so that the fire neither blazed up nor died down for a single
+instant. When Sindri came to look into the fire, Brock was not able to
+speak for pain.
+
+Again Sindri said magic words over the gold that was being smelted in
+the fire. He took it out of the glow and worked it over on the
+main-anvil. Then in a while he showed Brock something that looked like
+the circle of their sun. "A splendid armring, my brother," he said. "An
+armring for a God's right arm. And this ring has hidden wonders. Every
+ninth night eight rings like itself will drop from this armring, for
+this is Draupnir, the Ring of Increase."
+
+"To Odin, the Father of the Gods, the ring shall be given," said Brock.
+"And Odin will have to declare that nothing so wonderful or so
+profitable to the Gods was ever brought into Asgard. O Loki, cunning
+Loki, I shall have thy head in spite of thy tricks."
+
+"Be not too hasty, brother," said Sindri. "What we have done so far is
+good. But better still must be the thing that will make the Dwellers in
+Asgard give the judgment that delivers Loki's head to thee. Work as
+before, brother, and do not let the fire blaze up or die down for a
+single instant."
+
+This time Sindri threw into the fire a bar of iron. Then he went away to
+fetch the hammer that would shape it. Brock worked the bellows as
+before, but only his hands were steady, for every other part of him was
+trembling with expectation of the gadfly's sting.
+
+He saw the gadfly dart into the forge. He screamed as it flew round and
+round him, searching out a place where it might sting him most
+fearfully. It lighted down on his forehead, just between his eyes. The
+first sting it gave took the sight from his eyes. It stung again and
+Brock felt the blood flowing down. Darkness filled the cave. Brock tried
+to keep his hands steady on the bellows, but he did not know whether the
+fire was blazing up or dying down. He shouted and Sindri hurried up.
+
+Sindri said the magic words over the thing that was in the fire. Then he
+drew it out. "An instant more," he said, "and the work would have been
+perfect. But because you let the fire die down for an instant the work
+is not as good as it might have been made." He took what was shaped in
+the fire to the main-anvil and worked over it. Then when Brock's
+eyesight came back to him he saw a great hammer, a hammer all of iron.
+The handle did not seem to be long enough to balance the head. This was
+because the fire had died down for an instant while it was being formed.
+
+"The hammer is Miölnir," said Sindri, "and it is the greatest of the
+things that I am able to make. All in Asgard must rejoice to see this
+hammer. Thor only will be able to wield it. Now I am not afraid of the
+judgment that the Dwellers in Asgard will give."
+
+"The Dwellers in Asgard will have to give judgment for us," Brock cried
+out. "They will have to give judgment for us, and the head of Loki, my
+tormentor, will be given me."
+
+"No more wonderful or more profitable gifts than these have ever been
+brought into Asgard," Sindri said. "Thy head is saved, and thou wilt be
+able to take the head of Loki who was insolent to us. Bring it here, and
+we will throw it into the fire in the forge."
+
+The Æsir and the Vanir were seated in the Council House of Asgard when a
+train of Dwarfs appeared before them. Brock came at the head of the
+train, and he was followed by a band of Dwarfs carrying things of great
+weight. Brock and his attendants stood round the throne of Odin, and
+hearkened to the words of the Father of the Gods.
+
+"We know why you have come into Asgard from out of Svartheim," Odin
+said. "You have brought things wonderful and profitable to the Dwellers
+in Asgard. Let what you have brought be seen, Brock. If they are more
+wonderful and more useful than the things Loki has brought out of
+Svartheim, the spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir, we will give
+judgment for you."
+
+Then Brock commanded the Dwarfs who waited on him to show the Dwellers
+in Asgard the first of the wonders that Sindri had made. They brought
+out the boar, Golden Bristle. Round and round the Council House the boar
+flew, leaving a track of brightness. The Dwellers in Asgard said one to
+the other that this was a wonder indeed. But none would say that the
+boar was a better thing to have in Asgard than the spear that would hit
+the mark no matter how badly it was flung, or the boat Skidbladnir that
+would sail on any sea, and that could be folded up so small that it
+would fit in any one's pocket: none would say that Golden Bristle was
+better than these wonders.
+
+To Frey, who was Chief of the Vanir, Brock gave the wondrous boar.
+
+Then the attending Dwarfs showed the armring that was as bright as the
+circle of the Sun. All admired the noble ring. And when it was told how
+every ninth night this ring dropped eight rings of gold that were like
+itself, the Dwellers in Asgard spoke aloud, all saying that Draupnir,
+the Ring of Increase, was a wonder indeed. Hearing their voices raised,
+Brock looked triumphantly at Loki who was standing there with his lips
+drawn closely together.
+
+To Odin, the Father of the Gods, Brock gave the noble armring.
+
+Then he commanded the attending Dwarfs to lay before Thor the hammer
+Miölnir. Thor took the hammer up and swung it around his head. As he did
+so he uttered a great cry. And the eyes of the Dwellers in Asgard
+lightened up when they saw Thor with the hammer Miölnir in his hands;
+their eyes lightened up and from their lips came the cry, "This is a
+wonder, a wonder indeed! With this hammer in his hand none can withstand
+Thor, our Champion. No greater thing has ever come into Asgard than the
+hammer Miölnir."
+
+Then Odin, the Father of the Gods, spoke from his throne, giving
+judgment. "The hammer Miölnir that the Dwarf Brock has brought into
+Asgard is a thing wonderful indeed and profitable to the Gods. In
+Thor's hands it can crush mountains, and hurl the Giant race from the
+ramparts of Asgard. Sindri the Dwarf has forged a greater thing than the
+spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir. There can be no other judgment."
+
+Brock looked at Loki, showing his gnarled teeth. "Now, Loki, yield your
+head, yield your head," he cried.
+
+"Do not ask such a thing," said Odin. "Put any other penalty on Loki for
+mocking you and tormenting you. Make him yield to you the greatest thing
+that it is in his power to give."
+
+"Not so, not so," screamed Brock. "You Dwellers in Asgard would shield
+one another. But what of me? Loki would have taken my head had I lost
+the wager. Loki has lost his head to me. Let him kneel down now till I
+cut it off."
+
+Loki came forward, smiling with closed lips. "I kneel before you,
+Dwarf," he said. "Take off my head. But be careful. Do not touch my
+neck. I did not bargain that you should touch my neck. If you do, I
+shall call upon the Dwellers in Asgard to punish you."
+
+Brock drew back with a snarl. "Is this the judgment of the Gods?" he
+asked.
+
+"The bargain you made, Brock," said Odin, "was an evil one, and all its
+evil consequences you must bear."
+
+Brock, in a rage, looked upon Loki, and he saw that his lips were
+smiling. He stamped his feet and raged. Then he went up to Loki and
+said, "I may not take your head, but I can do something with your lips
+that mock me."
+
+"What would you do, Dwarf?" asked Thor.
+
+"Sew Loki's lips together," said Brock, "so that he can do no more
+mischief with his talk. You Dwellers in Asgard cannot forbid me to do
+this. Down, Loki, on your knees before me."
+
+Loki looked round on the Dwellers in Asgard and he saw that their
+judgment was that he must kneel before the Dwarf. He knelt down with a
+frown upon his brow. "Draw your lips together, Loki," said Brock. Loki
+drew his lips together while his eyes flashed fire. With an awl that he
+took from his belt Brock pierced Loki's lips. He took out a thong and
+tightened them together. Then in triumph the Dwarf looked on Loki.
+
+"O Loki," he said, "you boasted that the Dwarfs who worked for you were
+better craftsmen than Sindri, my brother. Your words have been shown to
+be lies. And now you cannot boast for a while."
+
+Then Brock the Dwarf, with great majesty, walked out of the Council
+House of Asgard, and the attending Dwarfs marched behind him in
+procession. Down the passages in the earth the Dwarfs went, singing the
+song of Brock's triumph over Loki. And in Svartheim it was told forever
+after how Sindri and Brock had prevailed.
+
+In Asgard, now that Loki's lips were closed, there was peace and a
+respite from mischief. No one amongst the Æsir or the Vanir were sorry
+when Loki had to walk about in silence with his head bent low.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HOW FREYA GAINED HER NECKLACE AND HOW HER LOVED ONE WAS LOST TO HER
+
+
+Yes, Loki went through Asgard silent and with head bent, and the
+Dwellers in Asgard said one unto the other, "This will teach Loki to
+work no more mischief." They did not know that what Loki had done had
+sown the seeds of mischief and that these seeds were to sprout up and
+bring sorrow to the beautiful Vana Freya, to Freya whom the Giant wanted
+to carry off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for his building the
+wall around Asgard.
+
+Freya had looked upon the wonders that Loki had brought into Asgard--the
+golden threads that were Sif's hair, and Frey's boar that shed light
+from its bristles as it flew. The gleam of these golden things dazzled
+her, and made her dream in the day time and the night time of the
+wonders that she herself might possess. And often she thought, "What
+wonderful things the Three Giant Women would give me if I could bring
+myself to go to them on their mountaintop."
+
+Long ere this, when the wall around their City was not yet built, and
+when the Gods had set up only the court with their twelve seats and the
+Hall that was for Odin and the Hall that was for the Goddesses, there
+had come into Asgard Three Giant Women.
+
+They came after the Gods had set up a forge and had begun to work metal
+for their buildings. The metal they worked was pure gold. With gold they
+built Gladsheim, the Hall of Odin, and with gold they made all their
+dishes and household ware. Then was the Age of Gold, and the Gods did
+not grudge gold to anyone. Happy were the Gods then, and no shadow nor
+foreboding lay on Asgard.
+
+But after the Three Giant Women came the Gods began to value gold and to
+hoard it. They played with it no more. And the happy innocence of their
+first days departed from them.
+
+At last the Three were banished from Asgard. The Gods turned their
+thoughts from the hoarding of gold, and they built up their City, and
+they made themselves strong.
+
+And now Freya, the lovely Vanir bride, thought upon the Giant Women and
+on the wonderful things of gold they had flashed through their hands.
+But not to Odur, her husband, did she speak her thoughts; for Odur, more
+than any of the other dwellers in Asgard, was wont to think on the days
+of happy innocence, before gold came to be hoarded and valued. Odur
+would not have Freya go near the mountaintop where the Three had their
+high seat.
+
+But Freya did not cease to think upon them and upon the things of gold
+they had. "Why should Odur know I went to them?" she said to herself.
+"No one will tell him. And what difference will it make if I go to them
+and gain some lovely thing for myself? I shall not love Odur the less
+because I go my own way for once."
+
+Then one day she left their palace, leaving Odur, her husband, playing
+with their little child Hnossa. She left the palace and went down to the
+Earth. There she stayed for a while, tending the flowers that were her
+charge. After a while she asked the Elves to tell her where the mountain
+was on which the Three Giant Women stayed.
+
+The Elves were frightened and would not tell her, although she was queen
+over them. She left them and stole down into the caves of the Dwarfs. It
+was they who showed her the way to the seat of the Giant Women, but
+before they showed her the way they made her feel shame and misery.
+
+"We will show you the way if you stay with us here," said one of the
+Dwarfs.
+
+"For how long would you have me stay?" said Freya.
+
+"Until the cocks in Svartheim crow," said the Dwarfs, closing round her.
+"We want to know what the company of one of the Vanir is like." "I will
+stay," Freya said.
+
+Then one of the Dwarfs reached up and put his arms round her neck and
+kissed her with his ugly mouth. Freya tried to break away from them, but
+the Dwarfs held her. "You cannot go away from us now until the cocks of
+Svartheim crow," they said.
+
+Then one and then another of the Dwarfs pressed up to her and kissed
+her. They made her sit down beside them on the heaps of skins they had.
+When she wept they screamed at her and beat her. One, when she would not
+kiss him on the mouth, bit her hands. So Freya stayed with the Dwarfs
+until the cocks of Svartheim crew.
+
+They showed her the mountain on the top of which the Three banished from
+Asgard had their abode. The Giant Women sat overlooking the World of
+Men. "What would you have from us, wife of Odur?" one who was called
+Gulveig said to her.
+
+"Alas! Now that I have found you I know that I should ask you for
+nought," Freya said.
+
+"Speak, Vana," said the second of the Giant Women.
+
+The third said nothing, but she held up in her hands a necklace of gold
+most curiously fashioned. "How bright it is!" Freya said. "There is
+shadow where you sit, women, but the necklace you hold makes brightness
+now. Oh, how I should joy to wear it!"
+
+"It is the necklace Brisingamen," said the one who was called Gulveig.
+
+"It is yours to wear, wife of Odur," said the one who held it in her
+hands.
+
+Freya took the shining necklace and clasped it round her throat. She
+could not bring herself to thank the Giant Women, for she saw that
+there was evil in their eyes. She made reverence to them, however, and
+she went from the mountain on which they sat overlooking the World of
+Men.
+
+In a while she looked down and saw Brisingamen and her misery went from
+her. It was the most beautiful thing ever made by hands. None of the
+Asyniur and none other of the Vanir possessed a thing so beautiful. It
+made her more and more lovely, and Odur, she thought, would forgive her
+when he saw how beautiful and how happy Brisingamen made her.
+
+She rose up from amongst the flowers and took leave of the slight Elves
+and she made her way into Asgard. All who greeted her looked long and
+with wonder upon the necklace that she wore. And into the eyes of the
+Goddesses there came a look of longing when they saw Brisingamen.
+
+But Freya hardly stopped to speak to anyone. As swiftly as she could she
+made her way to her own palace. She would show herself to Odur and win
+his forgiveness. She entered her shining palace and called to him. No
+answer came. Her child, the little Hnossa, was on the floor, playing.
+Her mother took her in her arms, but the child, when she looked on
+Brisingamen, turned away crying.
+
+Freya left Hnossa down and searched again for Odur. He was not in any
+part of their palace. She went into the houses of all who dwelt in
+Asgard, asking for tidings of him. None knew where he had gone to. At
+last Freya went back to their palace and waited and waited for Odur to
+return. But Odur did not come.
+
+One came to her. It was a Goddess, Odin's wife, the queenly Frigga. "You
+are waiting for Odur, your husband," Frigga said. "Ah, let me tell you
+Odur will not come to you here. He went, when for the sake of a shining
+thing you did what would make him unhappy. Odur has gone from Asgard and
+no one knows where to search for him."
+
+"I will seek him outside of Asgard," Freya said. She wept no more, but
+she took the little child Hnossa and put her in Frigga's arms. Then she
+mounted her car that was drawn by two cats, and journeyed down from
+Asgard to Midgard, the Earth, to search for Odur her husband.
+
+Year in and year out, and over all the Earth, Freya went searching and
+calling for the lost Odur. She went as far as the bounds of the Earth,
+where she could look over to Jötunheim, where dwelt the Giant who would
+have carried her off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for the
+building of the wall around Asgard. But in no place, from the end of the
+Rainbow Bifröst, that stretched from Asgard to the Earth, to the
+boundary of Jötunheim, did she find a trace of her husband Odur.
+
+At last she turned her car toward Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge that
+stretched from Midgard, the Earth, to Asgard, the Dwelling of the Gods.
+Heimdall, the Watcher for the Gods, guarded the Rainbow Bridge. To him
+Freya went with a half hope fluttering in her heart.
+
+"O Heimdall," she cried, "O Heimdall, Watcher for the Gods, speak and
+tell me if you know where Odur is."
+
+"Odur is in every place where the searcher has not come; Odur is in
+every place that the searcher has left; those who seek him will never
+find Odur," said Heimdall, the Watcher for the Gods.
+
+Then Freya stood on Bifröst and wept. Frigga, the queenly Goddess, heard
+the sound of her weeping, and came out of Asgard to comfort her.
+
+"Ah, what comfort can you give me, Frigga?" cried Freya. "What comfort
+can you give me when Odur will never be found by one who searches for
+him?"
+
+"Behold how your daughter, the child Hnossa, has grown," said Frigga.
+Freya looked up and saw a beautiful maiden standing on Bifröst, the
+Rainbow Bridge. She was young, more youthful than any of the Vanir or
+the Asyniur, and her face and her form were so lovely that all hearts
+became melted when they looked upon her.
+
+And Freya was comforted in her loss. She followed Frigga across Bifröst,
+the Rainbow Bridge, and came once again into the City of the Gods. In
+her own palace in Asgard Freya dwelt with Hnossa, her child.
+
+Still she wore round her neck Brisingamen, the necklace that lost her
+Odur. But now she wore it, not for its splendor, but as a sign of the
+wrong she had done. She weeps, and her tears become golden drops as they
+fall on the earth. And by poets who know her story she is called The
+Beautiful Lady in Tears.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HOW FREY WON GERDA, THE GIANT MAIDEN, AND HOW HE LOST HIS MAGIC SWORD
+
+
+Frey, chief of the Vanir, longed to have sight of his sister who had
+been from Asgard for so long. (You must know that this happened during
+the time when Freya was wandering through the world, seeking her
+husband, the lost Odur.) Now there was in Asgard a place from which one
+could overlook the world and have a glimpse of all who wandered there.
+That place was Hlidskjalf, Odin's lofty Watch-Tower.
+
+High up into the blue of the air that Tower went. Frey came to it and he
+knew that Odin All-Father was not upon Hlidskjalf. Only the two wolves,
+Geri and Freki, that crouched beside Odin's seat at the banquet, were
+there, and they stood in the way of Frey's entrance to the Tower. But
+Frey spoke to Geri and Freki in the language of the Gods, and Odin's
+wolves had to let him pass.
+
+But, as he went up the steps within the Tower, Frey, chief of the Vanir,
+knew that he was doing a fateful thing. For none of the High Gods, not
+even Thor, the Defender of Asgard, nor Baldur, the Best-Beloved of the
+Gods, had ever climbed to the top of that Tower and seated themselves
+upon the All-Father's seat. "But if I could see my sister once I should
+be contented," said Frey to himself, "and no harm can come to me if I
+look out on the world."
+
+He came to the top of Hlidskjalf. He seated himself on Odin's lofty
+seat. He looked out on the world. He saw Midgard, the World of Men, with
+its houses and towns, its farms and people. Beyond Midgard he saw
+Jötunheim, the Realm of the Giants, terrible with its dark mountains and
+its masses of snow and ice. He saw Freya as she went upon her
+wanderings, and he marked that her face was turned toward Asgard and
+that her steps were leading toward the City of the Gods. "I have
+contented myself by looking from Hlidskjalf," said Frey to himself, "and
+no harm has come to me."
+
+But even as he spoke his gaze was drawn to a dwelling that stood in the
+middle of the ice and snow of Jötunheim. Long he gazed upon that
+dwelling without knowing why he looked that way. Then the door of the
+house was opened and a Giant maiden stood within the doorway. Frey gazed
+and gazed on her. So great was the beauty of her face that it was like
+starlight in that dark land. She looked from the doorway of the house,
+and then turned and went within, shutting the door.
+
+Frey sat on Odin's high seat for long. Then he went down the steps of
+the Tower and passed by the two wolves, Geri and Freki, that looked
+threateningly upon him. He went through Asgard, but he found no one to
+please him in the City of the Gods. That night sleep did not come to
+him, for his thoughts were fixed upon the loveliness of the Giant maid
+he had looked upon. And when morning came he was filled with loneliness
+because he thought himself so far from her. He went to Hlidskjalf again,
+thinking to climb the Tower and have sight of her once more. But now the
+two wolves, Geri and Freki, bared their teeth at him and would not let
+him pass, although he spoke to them again in the language of the Gods.
+
+He went and spoke to wise Niörd, his father. "She whom you have seen, my
+son," said Niörd, "is Gerda, the daughter of the Giant Gymer. You must
+give over thinking of her. Your love for her would be an ill thing for
+you."
+
+"Why should it be an ill thing for me?" Frey asked.
+
+"Because you would have to give that which you prize most for the sake
+of coming to her."
+
+"That which I prize most," said Frey, "is my magic sword."
+
+"You will have to give your magic sword," said his father, the wise
+Niörd.
+
+"I will give it," said Frey, loosening his magic sword from his belt.
+
+"Bethink thee, my son," said Niörd. "If thou givest thy sword, what
+weapon wilt thou have on the day of Ragnarök, when the Giants will make
+war upon the Gods?"
+
+Frey did not speak, but he thought the day of Ragnarök was far off. "I
+cannot live without Gerda," he said, as he turned away.
+
+There was one in Asgard who was called Skirnir. He was a venturesome
+being who never cared what he said or did. To no one else but Skirnir
+could Frey bring himself to tell of the trouble that had fallen on
+him--the trouble that was the punishment for his placing himself on the
+seat of the All-Father.
+
+Skirnir laughed when he heard Frey's tale. "Thou, a Van, in love with a
+maid of Jötunheim! This is fun indeed! Will ye make a marriage of it?"
+
+"Would that I might even speak to her or send a message of love to her,"
+said Frey. "But I may not leave my watch over the Elves."
+
+"And if I should take a message to Gerda," said Skirnir the Venturesome,
+"what would my reward be?"
+
+"My boat Skidbladnir or my boar Golden Bristle," said Frey.
+
+"No, no," said Skirnir. "I want something to go by my side. I want
+something to use in my hand. Give me the magic sword you own."
+
+Frey thought upon what his father said, that he would be left weaponless
+on the day of Ragnarök, when the Giants would make war upon the Gods and
+when Asgard would be endangered. He thought upon this, and drew back
+from Skirnir, and for a while he remained in thought. And all the time
+thick-set Skirnir was laughing at him out of his wide mouth and his blue
+eyes. Then Frey said to himself, "The day of Ragnarök is far off, and I
+cannot live without Gerda."
+
+He drew the magic sword from his belt and he placed it in Skirnir's
+hand. "I give you my sword, Skirnir," he said. "Take my message to
+Gerda, Gymer's daughter. Show her this gold and these precious jewels,
+and say I love her, and that I claim her love."
+
+"I shall bring the maid to you," said Skirnir the Venturesome.
+
+"But how wilt thou get to Jötunheim?" said Frey, suddenly remembering
+how dark the Giants' land was and how terrible were the approaches to
+it.
+
+"Oh, with a good horse and a good sword one can get anywhere," said
+Skirnir. "My horse is a mighty horse, and you have given me your sword
+of magic. Tomorrow I shall make the journey."
+
+Skirnir rode across Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge, laughing out of his
+wide mouth and his blue eyes at Heimdall, the Warder of the Bridge to
+Asgard. His mighty horse trod the earth of Midgard, and swam the river
+that divides Midgard, the World of Men, from Jötunheim, the Realm of the
+Giants. He rode on heedlessly and recklessly, as he did all things. Then
+out of the iron forests came the monstrous wolves of Jötunheim, to tear
+and devour him and his mighty horse. It was well for Skirnir that he had
+in his belt Frey's magic sword. Its edge slew and its gleam frighted
+the monstrous beasts. On and on Skirnir rode on his mighty horse. Then
+he came to a wall of fire. No other horse but his mighty horse could go
+through it. Skirnir rode through the fire and came to the dale in which
+was Gymer's dwelling.
+
+And now he was before the house that Frey had seen Gerda enter on the
+day when he had climbed Hlidskjalf, Odin's Watch-Tower. The mighty
+hounds that guarded Gymer's dwelling came and bayed around him. But the
+gleam of the magic sword kept them away. Skirnir backed his horse to the
+door, and made his horse's hooves strike against it.
+
+Gymer was in the feast hall drinking with his Giant friends, and he did
+not hear the baying of the hounds nor the clatter that Skirnir made
+before the door. But Gerda sat spinning with her maidens in the hall.
+"Who comes to Gymer's door?" she said.
+
+"A warrior upon a mighty horse," said one of the maidens.
+
+"Even though he be an enemy and one who slew my brother, yet shall we
+open the door to him and give him a cup of Gymer's mead," said Gerda.
+
+One of the maidens opened the door and Skirnir entered Gymer's dwelling.
+He knew Gerda amongst her maidens. He went to her and showed her the
+rich gold and the precious jewels that he had brought from Frey. "These
+are for you, fairest Gerda," he said, "if you will give your love to
+Frey, the Chief of the Vanir."
+
+"Show your gold and jewels to other maidens," said Gerda. "Gold and
+jewels will never bring me to give my love."
+
+Then Skirnir the Venturesome, the heedless of his words, drew the magic
+sword from his belt and held it above her. "Give your love to Frey, who
+has given me this sword," he said, "or meet your death by the edge of
+it."
+
+Gerda, Gymer's daughter, only laughed at the reckless Skirnir, "Make the
+daughters of men fearful by the sharpness of Frey's sword," she said,
+"but do not try to frighten a Giant's daughter with it."
+
+Then Skirnir the Reckless, the heedless of his words, made the magic
+sword flash before her eyes, while he cried out in a terrible voice,
+saying a spell over her:
+
+     Gerda, I will curse thee;
+     Yes, with this magic
+     Blade I shall touch thee;
+     Such is its power
+     That, like a thistle,
+     Withered 'twill leave thee,
+     Like a thistle the wind
+     Strips from the roof.
+
+Hearing these terrible words and the strange hissings of the magic
+sword, Gerda threw herself on the ground, crying out for pity. But
+Skirnir stood above her, and the magic sword flashed and hissed over
+her. Skirnir sang:
+
+     More ugly I'll leave thee
+     Than maid ever was;
+     Thou wilt be mocked at
+     By men and by Giants;
+     A Dwarf only will wed thee;
+     Now on this instant
+     With this blade I shall touch thee,
+     And leave thee bespelled.
+
+She lifted herself on her knees and cried out to Skirnir to spare her
+from the spell of the magic sword.
+
+"Only if thou wilt give thy love to Frey," said Skirnir.
+
+"I will give my love to him," said Gerda. "Now put up thy magic sword
+and drink a cup of mead and depart from Gymer's dwelling."
+
+"I will not drink a cup of your mead nor shall I depart from Gymer's
+dwelling until you yourself say that you will meet and speak with Frey."
+
+"I will meet and speak with him," said Gerda.
+
+"When will you meet and speak with him?" asked Skirnir.
+
+"In the wood of Barri nine nights from this. Let him come and meet me
+there."
+
+Then Skirnir put up his magic sword and drank the cup of mead that Gerda
+gave him. He rode from Gymer's house, laughing aloud at having won Gerda
+for Frey, and so making the magic sword his own for ever.
+
+Skirnir the Venturesome, the heedless of his words, riding across
+Bifröst on his mighty horse, found Frey standing waiting for him beside
+Heimdall, the Warder of the Bridge to Asgard.
+
+"What news dost thou bring me?" cried Frey. "Speak, Skirnir, before thou
+dost dismount from thine horse."
+
+"In nine nights from this thou mayst meet Gerda in Barri Wood," said
+Skirnir. He looked at him, laughing out of his wide mouth and his blue
+eyes. But Frey turned away, saying to himself:
+
+     Long is one day;
+     Long, long two.
+     Can I live through
+     Nine long days?
+
+Long indeed were these days for Frey. But the ninth day came, and in the
+evening Frey went to Barri Wood. And there he met Gerda, the Giant maid.
+She was as fair as when he had seen her before the door of Gymer's
+house. And when she saw Frey, so tall and noble looking, the Giant's
+daughter was glad that Skirnir the Venturesome had made her promise to
+come to Barri Wood. They gave each other rings of gold. It was settled
+that the Giant maid should come as a bride to Asgard.
+
+Gerda came, but another Giant maid came also. This is how that came to
+be:
+
+All the Dwellers in Asgard were standing before the great gate, waiting
+to welcome the bride of Frey. There appeared a Giant maid who was not
+Gerda; all in armor was she.
+
+"I am Skadi," she said, "the daughter of Thiassi. My father met his
+death at the hands of the Dwellers in Asgard. I claim a recompense."
+
+"What recompense would you have, maiden?" asked Odin, smiling to see a
+Giant maid standing so boldly in Asgard.
+
+"A husband from amongst you, even as Gerda. And I myself must be let
+choose him."
+
+All laughed aloud at the words of Skadi. Then said Odin, laughing, "We
+will let you choose a husband from amongst us, but you must choose him
+by his feet."
+
+"I will choose him whatever way you will," said Skadi fixing her eyes on
+Baldur, the most beautiful of all the Dwellers in Asgard.
+
+They put a bandage round her eyes, and the Æsir and the Vanir seat in a
+half circle around. As she went by she stooped over each and laid hands
+upon their feet. At last she came to one whose feet were so finely
+formed that she felt sure it was Baldur. She stood up and said:
+
+"This is the one that Skadi chooses for her husband."
+
+Then the Æsir and the Vanir laughed more and more. They took the bandage
+off her eyes and she saw, not Baldur the Beautiful, but Niörd, the
+father of Frey. But as Skadi looked more and more on Niörd she became
+more and more contented with her choice; for Niörd was strong, and he
+was noble looking.
+
+These two, Niörd and Skadi, went first to live in Niörd's palace by the
+sea; but the coming of the sea mew would waken Skadi too early in the
+morning, and she drew her husband to the mountaintop where she was more
+at home. He would not live long away from the sound of the sea. Back and
+forward, between the mountain and the sea, Skadi and Niörd went. But
+Gerda stayed in Asgard with Frey, her husband, and the Æsir and the
+Vanir came to love greatly Gerda, the Giant maid.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HEIMDALL AND LITTLE HNOSSA: HOW ALL THINGS CAME TO BE
+
+
+Hnossa, the child of Freya and the lost Odur, was the youngest of all
+the Dwellers in Asgard. And because it had been prophesied that the
+child would bring her father and her mother together, little Hnossa was
+often taken without the City of the Gods to stand by Bifröst, the
+Rainbow Bridge, so that she might greet Odur if his steps turned toward
+Asgard.
+
+In all the palaces of the City of the Gods little Hnossa was made
+welcome: in Fensalir, the Halls of Mists, where Frigga, the wife of Odin
+All-Father, sat spinning with golden threads; in Breidablik, where
+Baldur, the Well Beloved, lived with his fair wife, the young Nanna; in
+Bilskirnir, the Winding House, where Thor and Sif lived; and in Odin's
+own palace Valaskjalf, that was all roofed over with silver shields.
+
+The greatest of all the palaces was Gladsheim, that was built by the
+golden-leaved wood, Glasir. Here the banquets of the Gods were held.
+Often little Hnossa looked within and saw Odin All-Father seated at the
+banquet table, with a mantle of blue over him and a shining helmet
+shaped like an eagle upon his head. Odin would sit there, not eating at
+all, but drinking the wine of the Gods, and taking the food off the
+table and giving it to Geri and Freki, the two wolves that crouched
+beside his seat.
+
+She loved to go outside the great gate and stay beside Heimdall, the
+Warder of the Rainbow Bridge. There, when there was no one crossing that
+she might watch, she would sit beside Heimdall and listen to the wonders
+that he spoke of.
+
+Heimdall held in his hands the horn that was called the Gialarhorn. He
+would sound it to let the Dwellers in Asgard know that one was crossing
+the Rainbow Bridge. And Heimdall told little Hnossa how he had trained
+himself to hear the grasses grow, and how he could see all around him
+for a hundred miles. He could see in the night as well as the day. He
+never slept. He had nine mothers, he told Hnossa, and he fed on the
+strength of the earth and the cold sea.
+
+As she sat beside him day after day, Heimdall would tell little Hnossa
+how all things began. He had lived from the beginning of time and he
+knew all things. "Before Asgard was built," he said, "and before Odin
+lived, earth and sea and sky were all mixed together: what was then was
+the Chasm of Chasms. In the North there was Niflheim, the Place of
+Deadly Cold. In the South there was Muspelheim, the Land of Fire. In
+Niflheim there was a cauldron called Hveigelmer that poured out twelve
+rivers that flowed into the Chasm of Chasms.
+
+"Ginnungagap, the Chasm of Chasms, filled up with ice, for the waters of
+the rivers froze as they poured into it. From Muspelheim came clouds of
+fire that turned the ice into thick mists. The mists fell down again in
+drops of dew, and from these drops were formed Ymir, the Ancient Giant.
+
+"Ymir, the Ancient Giant, traveled along by the twelve rivers until he
+came to where another living form was standing in the mists. This was a
+Giant Cow. Audhumla was the name of that cow. Ymir lay down beside her
+and drank her milk, and on the milk she gave him he lived. Other beings
+were formed out of the dew that fell to the ground. They were the
+Daughters of the Frost, and Ymir, the Ancient Giant, married one, and
+their children were the Giants.
+
+"One day Ymir saw Audhumla breathe upon a cliff of ice and lick with her
+tongue the place she breathed on. As her tongue went over and over the
+place he saw that a figure was being formed. It was not like a Giant's
+form; it was more shapely and more beautiful. A head appeared in the
+cliff and golden hair fell over the ice. As Ymir looked upon the being
+that was being formed he hated him for his beauty.
+
+"Audhumla, the Giant Cow, went on licking the place where she had
+breathed. At last a man completely formed stepped from the cliff. Ymir,
+the Ancient Giant, hated him so much that he would have slain him then
+and there. But he knew that if he did this, Audhumla would feed him no
+more with her milk.
+
+"Bur was the name of the man who was formed in the ice cliff, Bur, the
+first of the heroes. He, too, lived on the milk of Audhumla. He married
+a daughter of the Ancient Giant and he had a son. But Ymir and Ymir's
+sons hated Bur, and the time came at last when they were able to kill
+him.
+
+"And now there was war between Ymir and Ymir's sons and the son and
+son's sons of Bur. Odin was the son of Bur's son. Odin brought all his
+brothers together, and they were able to destroy Ymir and all his
+brood--all except one. So huge was Ymir that when he was slain his blood
+poured out in such a mighty flood that his sons were all drowned in it,
+all except Bergelmir, who was in a boat with his wife when the flood
+came, and who floated away on the flood to the place that we now call
+Jötunheim, the Realm of the Giants.
+
+"Now Odin and his sons took the body of Ymir--the vastest body that ever
+was--and they flung it into the Chasm of Chasms, filling up all the
+hollow places with it. They dug the bones out of the body and they piled
+them up as the mountains. They took the teeth out and they made them
+into the rocks. They took the hair of Ymir and they made it into the
+forests of trees. They took his eyebrows and formed them into the place
+where Men now dwell, Midgard. And out of Ymir's hollow skull they made
+the sky.
+
+"And Odin and his sons and brothers did more than this. They took the
+sparks and the clouds of flame that blew from Muspelheim, and they made
+them into the sun and the moon and all the stars that are in the sky.
+Odin found a dusky Giantess named Night whose son was called Day, and he
+gave both of them horses to drive across the sky. Night drove a horse
+that is named Hrimfaxe, Frosty Mane, and Day drove a horse that is named
+Skinfaxe, Shining Mane. From Hrimfaxe's bit fall the drops that make the
+dew upon the earth.
+
+"Then Odin and his sons made a race of men and women and gave them
+Midgard to live in. Ugly Dwarfs had grown up and had spread themselves
+over the earth. These Odin made go live in the hollow places beneath the
+earth. The Elves he let stay on the earth, but he gave them the tasks of
+tending the streams and the grasses and the flowers. And with the Vanir
+he made peace after a war had been waged, taking Niörd from them for a
+hostage.
+
+"Bergelmir, the Giant who escaped drowning in Ymir's blood, had sons and
+daughters in Jötunheim. They hated Odin and his sons and strove against
+them. When Odin lighted up the world with the sun and the moon they were
+very wroth, and they found two of the fiercest of the mighty wolves of
+Jötunheim and set them to follow them. And still the sun and the moon,
+Sol and Mani, are followed by the wolves of Jötunheim."
+
+Such wonders did Heimdall with the Golden Teeth tell Hnossa, the
+youngest of the Dwellers in Asgard. Often the child stayed with him by
+the Rainbow Bridge, and saw the Gods pass to and from Midgard: Thor,
+with his crown of stars, with the great hammer Miölnir in his hands,
+with the gloves of iron that he used when he grasped Miölnir; Thor in
+his chariot drawn by two goats and wearing the belt that doubled his
+strength; Frigga, with her dress of falcon feathers, flying swiftly as a
+bird; Odin All-Father himself, riding upon Sleipner, his eight-legged
+steed, clad all in golden armor, with his golden helmet, shaped like an
+eagle, upon his head, and with his spear Gungnir in his hand.
+
+Heimdall kept his horn in the branch of a great tree. This tree was
+called Ygdrassil, he told little Hnossa, and it was a wonder to Gods and
+Men. "No one knows of a time when Ygdrassil was not growing, and all are
+afraid to speak of the time when it will be destroyed.
+
+"Ygdrassil has three roots. One goes deep under Midgard, another goes
+deep under Jötunheim, and the third grows above Asgard. Over Odin's hall
+a branch of Ygdrassil grows, and it is called the Peace Bough.
+
+"You see Ygdrassil, little Hnossa, but you do not know all the wonders
+of it. Far up in its branches four stags graze; they shake from their
+horns the water that falls as rain upon the earth. On the topmost branch
+of Ygdrassil, the branch that is so high that the Gods themselves can
+hardly see it, there is an eagle that knows all things. Upon the beak of
+this eagle a hawk is perched, a hawk that sees what the eyes of the
+eagle may not see.
+
+"The root of Ygdrassil that is in Midgard goes deep down to the place
+of the dead. Here there is an evil dragon named Nidhögg that gnaws
+constantly at the root, striving to destroy Ygdrassil, the Tree of
+trees. And Ratatösk, the Squirrel of Mischief--behold him now!--runs up
+and down Ygdrassil, making trouble between the eagle above and the
+dragon below. He goes to tell the dragon how the eagle is bent upon
+tearing him to pieces and he goes back to tell the eagle how the dragon
+plans to devour him. The stories that he brings to Nidhögg make that
+evil dragon more fierce to destroy Ygdrassil, the Tree of trees, so that
+he may come upon the eagle and devour him.
+
+"There are two wells by the roots of Ygdrassil, and one is above and one
+is below. One is beside the root that grows in Jötunheim. This is a Well
+of Knowledge, and it is guarded by old Mimir the Wise. Whoever drinks
+out of this well knows of all the things that will come to be. The other
+well is by the root that grows above Asgard. No one may drink out of
+this well. The three sisters that are the holy Norns guard it, and they
+take the white water from it to water Ygdrassil, that the Tree of Life
+may keep green and strong. This well, little Hnossa, is called Urda's
+Well."
+
+And little Hnossa heard that by Urda's Well there were two beautiful
+white swans. They made a music that the Dwellers in Asgard often heard.
+But Hnossa was too young to hear the music that was made by the swans of
+Urda's Well.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE ALL-FATHER'S FOREBODINGS: HOW HE LEAVES ASGARD
+
+
+Two ravens had Odin All-Father; Hugin and Munin were their names; they
+flew through all the worlds every day, and coming back to Asgard they
+would light on Odin's shoulders and tell him of all the things they had
+seen and heard. And once a day passed without the ravens coming back.
+Then Odin, standing on the Watch-Tower Hlidskjalf, said to himself:
+
+     I fear me for Hugin,
+     Lest he come not back,
+     But I watch more for Munin.
+
+A day passed and the ravens flew back. They sat, one on each of his
+shoulders. Then did the All-Father go into the Council Hall that was
+beside Glasir, the wood that had leaves of gold, and harken to what
+Hugin and Munin had to tell him.
+
+They told him only of shadows and forebodings. Odin All-Father did not
+speak to the Dwellers in Asgard of the things they told him. But Frigga,
+his Queen, saw in his eyes the shadows and forebodings of things to
+come. And when he spoke to her about these things she said, "Do not
+strive against what must take place. Let us go to the holy Norns who sit
+by Urda's Well and see if the shadows and the forebodings will remain
+when you have looked into their eyes."
+
+And so it came that Odin and the Gods left Asgard and came to Urda's
+Well, where, under the great root of Ygdrassil, the three Norns sat,
+with the two fair swans below them. Odin went, and Tyr, the great
+swordsman, and Baldur, the most beautiful and the Best-Beloved of the
+Gods, and Thor, with his Hammer.
+
+A Rainbow Bridge went from Asgard, the City of the Gods, to Midgard, the
+World of Men. But another Rainbow Bridge, more beautiful and more
+tremulous still, went from Asgard to that root of Ygdrassil under which
+was Urda's Well. This Rainbow Bridge was seldom seen by men. And where
+the ends of the two rainbows came together Heimdall stood, Heimdall with
+the Golden Teeth, the Watcher for the Gods, and the Keeper of the Way to
+Urda's Well.
+
+"Open the gate, Heimdall," said the All-Father, "open the gate, for
+today the Gods would visit the holy Norns."
+
+Without a word Heimdall opened wide the gate that led to that bridge
+more colored and more tremulous than any rainbow seen from earth. Then
+did Odin and Tyr and Baldur step out on the bridge. Thor followed, but
+before his foot was placed on the bridge, Heimdall laid his hand upon
+him.
+
+"The others may go, but you may not go that way, Thor," said Heimdall.
+
+"What? Would you, Heimdall, hold me back?" said Thor.
+
+"Yes, for I am Keeper of the Way to the Norns," said Heimdall. "You with
+the mighty hammer you carry are too weighty for this way. The bridge I
+guard would break under you, Thor with the hammer."
+
+"Nevertheless I will go visit the Norns with Odin and my comrades," said
+Thor.
+
+"But not this way, Thor," said Heimdall. "I will not let the bridge be
+broken under the weight of you and your hammer. Leave your hammer here
+with me if you would go this way."
+
+"No, no," said Thor. "I will not leave in any one's charge the hammer
+that defends Asgard. And I may not be turned back from going with Odin
+and my comrades."
+
+"There is another way to Urda's Well," said Heimdall. "Behold these two
+great Cloud Rivers, Körmt and Ermt. Canst thou wade through them? They
+are cold and suffocating, but they will bring thee to Urda's Well, where
+sit the three holy Norns."
+
+Thor looked out on the two great rolling rivers of cloud. It was a bad
+way for one to go, cold and suffocating. Yet if he went that way he
+could keep on his shoulder the hammer which he would not leave in
+another's charge. He stept out into the Cloud River that flowed by the
+Rainbow Bridge, and with his hammer upon his shoulder he went struggling
+on to the other river.
+
+Odin, Tyr, and Baldur were beside Urda's Well when Thor came struggling
+out of the Cloud River, wet and choking, but with his hammer still upon
+his shoulder. There stood Tyr, upright and handsome, leaning on his
+sword that was inscribed all over with magic runes; there stood Baldur,
+smiling, with his head bent as he listened to the murmur of the two fair
+swans; and there stood Odin All-Father, clad in his blue cloak fringed
+with golden stars, without the eagle-helmet upon his head, and with no
+spear in his hands.
+
+The three Norns, Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda, sat beside the well that
+was in the hollow of the great root of Ygdrassil. Urda was ancient and
+with white hair, and Verdandi was beautiful, while Skulda could hardly
+be seen, for she sat far back, and her hair fell over her face and eyes.
+Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda; they knew the whole of the Past, the whole
+of the Present, and the whole of the Future. Odin, looking on them, saw
+into the eyes of Skulda even. Long, long he stood looking on the Norns
+with the eyes of a God, while the others listened to the murmur of the
+swans and the falling of the leaves of Ygdrassil into Urda's Well.
+
+Looking into their eyes, Odin saw the shadows and forebodings that Hugin
+and Munin told him of take shape and substance. And now others came
+across the Rainbow Bridge. They were Frigga and Sif and Nanna, the
+wives of Odin and Thor and Baldur. Frigga looked upon the Norns. As she
+did, she turned a glance of love and sadness upon Baldur, her son, and
+then she drew back and placed her hand upon Nanna's head.
+
+Odin turned from gazing on the Norns, and looked upon Frigga, his
+queenly wife. "I would leave Asgard for a while, wife of Odin," he said.
+
+"Yea," said Frigga. "Much has to be done in Midgard, the World of Men."
+
+"I would change what knowledge I have into wisdom," said Odin, "so that
+the things that are to happen will be changed into the best that may
+be."
+
+"You would go to Mimir's Well," said Frigga.
+
+"I would go to Mimir's Well," said Odin.
+
+"My husband, go," said Frigga.
+
+Then they went back over that Rainbow Bridge that is more beautiful and
+more tremulous than the one that men see from the earth; they went back
+over the Rainbow Bridge, the Æsir and the Asyniur, Odin and Frigga,
+Baldur and Nanna, Tyr, with his sword, and Sif beside Tyr. As for Thor,
+he went struggling through the Cloud Rivers Körmt and Ermt, his hammer
+Miölnir upon his shoulder.
+
+Little Hnossa, the youngest of the Dwellers in Asgard, was there,
+standing beside Heimdall, the Watcher for the Gods and the Keeper of the
+Bridge to Urda's Well, when Odin All-Father and Frigga, his Queen, went
+through the great gate with heads bent. "Tomorrow," Hnossa heard Odin
+say, "tomorrow I shall be Vegtam the Wanderer upon the ways of Midgard
+and Jötunheim."
+
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+ODIN THE WANDERER
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ODIN GOES TO MIMIR'S WELL: HIS SACRIFICE FOR WISDOM
+
+
+And so Odin, no longer riding on Sleipner, his eight-legged steed; no
+longer wearing his golden armor and his eagle-helmet, and without even
+his spear in his hand, traveled through Midgard, the World of Men, and
+made his way toward Jötunheim, the Realm of the Giants.
+
+No longer was he called Odin All-Father, but Vegtam the Wanderer. He
+wore a cloak of dark blue and he carried a traveler's staff in his
+hands. And now, as he went toward Mimir's Well, which was near to
+Jötunheim, he came upon a Giant riding on a great Stag.
+
+Odin seemed a man to men and a giant to giants. He went beside the
+Giant on the great Stag and the two talked together. "Who art thou, O
+brother?" Odin asked the Giant.
+
+"I am Vafthrudner, the wisest of the Giants," said the one who was
+riding on the Stag. Odin knew him then. Vafthrudner was indeed the
+wisest of the Giants, and many went to strive to gain wisdom from him.
+But those who went to him had to answer the riddles Vafthrudner asked,
+and if they failed to answer the Giant took their heads off.
+
+"I am Vegtam the Wanderer," Odin said, "and I know who thou art, O
+Vafthrudner. I would strive to learn something from thee."
+
+The Giant laughed, showing his teeth. "Ho, ho," he said, "I am ready for
+a game with thee. Dost thou know the stakes? My head to thee if I cannot
+answer any question thou wilt ask. And if thou canst not answer any
+question that I may ask, then thy head goes to me. Ho, ho, ho. And now
+let us begin."
+
+"I am ready," Odin said.
+
+"Then tell me," said Vafthrudner, "tell me the name of the river that
+divides Asgard from Jötunheim?"
+
+"Ifling is the name of that river," said Odin. "Ifling that is dead
+cold, yet never frozen."
+
+"Thou hast answered rightly, O Wanderer," said the Giant. "But thou hast
+still to answer other questions. What are the names of the horses that
+Day and Night drive across the sky?"
+
+"Skinfaxe and Hrimfaxe," Odin answered. Vafthrudner was startled to
+hear one say the names that were known only to the Gods and to the
+wisest of the Giants. There was only one question now that he might ask
+before it came to the stranger's turn to ask him questions.
+
+"Tell me," said Vafthrudner, "what is the name of the plain on which the
+last battle will be fought?"
+
+"The Plain of Vigard," said Odin, "the plain that is a hundred miles
+long and a hundred miles across."
+
+It was now Odin's turn to ask Vafthrudner questions. "What will be the
+last words that Odin will whisper into the ear of Baldur, his dear son?"
+he asked.
+
+Very startled was the Giant Vafthrudner at that question. He sprang to
+the ground and looked at the stranger keenly.
+
+"Only Odin knows what his last words to Baldur will be," he said, "and
+only Odin would have asked that question. Thou art Odin, O Wanderer, and
+thy question I cannot answer."
+
+"Then," said Odin, "if thou wouldst keep thy head, answer me this: what
+price will Mimir ask for a draught from the Well of Wisdom that he
+guards?"
+
+"He will ask thy right eye as a price, O Odin," said Vafthrudner.
+
+"Will he ask no less a price than that?" said Odin.
+
+"He will ask no less a price. Many have come to him for a draught from
+the Well of Wisdom, but no one yet has given the price Mimir asks. I
+have answered thy question, O Odin. Now give up thy claim to my head and
+let me go on my way."
+
+"I give up my claim to thy head," said Odin. Then Vafthrudner, the
+wisest of the Giants, went on his way, riding on his great Stag.
+
+It was a terrible price that Mimir would ask for a draught from the Well
+of Wisdom, and very troubled was Odin All-Father when it was revealed to
+him. His right eye! For all time to be without the sight of his right
+eye! Almost he would have turned back to Asgard, giving up his quest for
+wisdom.
+
+He went on, turning neither to Asgard nor to Mimir's Well. And when he
+went toward the South he saw Muspelheim, where stood Surtur with the
+Flaming Sword, a terrible figure, who would one day join the Giants in
+their war against the Gods. And when he turned North he heard the
+roaring of the cauldron Hvergelmer as it poured itself out of Niflheim,
+the place of darkness and dread. And Odin knew that the world must not
+be left between Surtur, who would destroy it with fire, and Niflheim,
+that would gather it back to Darkness and Nothingness. He, the eldest of
+the Gods, would have to win the wisdom that would help to save the
+world.
+
+And so, with his face stern in front of his loss and pain, Odin
+All-Father turned and went toward Mimir's Well. It was under the great
+root of Ygdrassil--the root that grew out of Jötunheim. And there sat
+Mimir, the Guardian of the Well of Wisdom, with his deep eyes bent upon
+the deep water. And Mimir, who had drunk every day from the Well of
+Wisdom, knew who it was that stood before him.
+
+"Hail, Odin, Eldest of the Gods," he said.
+
+Then Odin made reverence to Mimir, the wisest of the world's beings. "I
+would drink from your well, Mimir," he said.
+
+"There is a price to be paid. All who have come here to drink have
+shrunk from paying that price. Will you, Eldest of the Gods, pay it?"
+
+"I will not shrink from the price that has to be paid, Mimir," said Odin
+All-Father.
+
+"Then drink," said Mimir. He filled up a great horn with water from the
+well and gave it to Odin.
+
+Odin took the horn in both his hands and drank and drank. And as he
+drank all the future became clear to him. He saw all the sorrows and
+troubles that would fall upon Men and Gods. But he saw, too, why the
+sorrows and troubles had to fall, and he saw how they might be borne so
+that Gods and Men, by being noble in the days of sorrow and trouble,
+would leave in the world a force that one day, a day that was far off
+indeed, would destroy the evil that brought terror and sorrow and
+despair into the world.
+
+Then when he had drunk out of the great horn that Mimir had given him,
+he put his hand to his face and he plucked out his right eye. Terrible
+was the pain that Odin All-Father endured. But he made no groan nor
+moan. He bowed his head and put his cloak before his face, as Mimir took
+the eye and let it sink deep, deep into the water of the Well of Wisdom.
+And there the Eye of Odin stayed, shining up through the water, a sign
+to all who came to that place of the price that the Father of the Gods
+had paid for his wisdom.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ODIN FACES AN EVIL MAN
+
+
+Once, when his wisdom was less great, Odin had lived in the world of
+men. Frigga, his Queen, was with him then; they had lived on a bleak
+island, and they were known as Grimner the Fisherman and his wife.
+
+Always Odin and Frigga were watching over the sons of men, watching to
+know which ones they would foster and train so that they might have the
+strength and spirit to save the world from the power of the Giants. And
+while they were staying on the bleak island, Odin and Frigga saw the
+sons of King Hrauding, and both thought that in them the spirit of
+heroes could be fostered. Odin and Frigga made plans to bring the
+children to them, so that they might be under their care and training.
+One day the boys went fishing. A storm came and drove their boat on the
+rocks of the island where Odin and Frigga lived.
+
+They brought them to their hut, Odin and Frigga, and they told them they
+would care for them and train them through the winter and that in the
+spring they would build a boat that would carry them back to their
+father's country. "We shall see," said Odin to Frigga that night, "we
+shall see which of the two can be formed into the noblest hero."
+
+He said that because Frigga favored one of the boys and he favored the
+other. Frigga thought well of the elder boy, Agnar, who had a gentle
+voice and quiet and kindly ways. But Odin thought more of the younger
+boy. Geirrod, his name was, and he was strong and passionate, with a
+high and a loud voice.
+
+Odin took Geirrod into his charge, and he showed him how to fish and
+hunt. He made the boy even bolder than he was by making him leap from
+rock to rock, and by letting him climb the highest cliffs and jump
+across the widest chasms. He would bring him to the den of the bear and
+make him fight for his life with the spear he had made for him. Agnar
+went to the chase, too, and showed his skill and boldness. But Geirrod
+overcame him in nearly every trial. "What a hero Geirrod will be," Odin
+would often say.
+
+Agnar stayed often with Frigga. He would stay beside her while she spun,
+listening to the tales she told, and asking such questions as brought
+him more and more wisdom. And Agnar heard of Asgard and of the Dwellers
+in Asgard and of how they protected Midgard, the World of Men, from the
+Giants of Jötunheim. Agnar, though he did not speak out, said in his own
+mind that he would give all his life and all his strength and all his
+thought to helping the work of the Gods.
+
+Spring came and Odin built a boat for Geirrod and Agnar. They could go
+back now to their own country. And before they set out Odin told Geirrod
+that one day he would come to visit him. "And do not be too proud to
+receive a Fisherman in your hall, Geirrod," said Odin. "A King should
+give welcome to the poorest who comes to his hall."
+
+"I will be a hero, no doubt of that," Geirrod answered. "And I would be
+a King, too, only Agnar Little-good was born before me."
+
+Agnar bade goodby to Frigga and to Odin, thanking them for the care they
+had taken of Geirrod and himself. He looked into Frigga's eyes, and he
+told her that he would strive to learn how he might fight the battle for
+the Gods.
+
+The two went into the boat and they rowed away. They came near to King
+Hrauding's realm. They saw the castle overlooking the sea. Then Geirrod
+did a terrible thing. He turned the boat back toward the sea, and he
+cast the oars away. Then, for he was well fit to swim the roughest sea
+and climb the highest cliffs, he plunged into the water and struck out
+toward the shore. And Agnar, left without oars, went drifting out to
+sea.
+
+Geirrod climbed the high cliffs and came to his father's castle.
+
+King Hrauding, who had given up both of his sons for lost, was rejoiced
+to see him. Geirrod told of Agnar that he had fallen out of the boat on
+their way back and that he had been drowned. King Hrauding, who had
+thought both of his sons were gone from him, was glad enough that one
+had come safe. He put Geirrod beside him on the throne, and when he died
+Geirrod was made King over the people.
+
+And now Odin, having drunk from Mimir's Well, went through the kingdoms
+of men, judging Kings and simple people according to the wisdom he had
+gained. He came at last to the kingdom that Geirrod ruled over. Odin
+thought that of all the Kings he had judged to be noble, Geirrod would
+assuredly be the noblest.
+
+He went to the King's house as a Wanderer, blind of one eye, wearing a
+cloak of dark blue and with a wanderer's staff in his hands. As he drew
+near the King's house men on dark horses came riding behind him. The
+first of the men did not turn his horse as he came near the Wanderer,
+but rode on, nearly trampling him to the ground.
+
+As they came before the King's house the men on the dark horses shouted
+for servants. Only one servant was in the stable. He came out and took
+the horse of the first man. Then the others called upon the Wanderer to
+tend their horses. He had to hold the stirrups for some of them to
+dismount.
+
+Odin knew who the first man was. He was Geirrod the King. And he knew
+who the man who served in the stable was. He was Agnar, Geirrod's
+brother. By the wisdom he had gained he knew that Agnar had come back to
+his father's kingdom in the guise of a servant, and he knew that
+Geirrod did not know who this servant was.
+
+They went into the stable together. Agnar took bread and broke it and
+gave some to the Wanderer. He gave him, too, straw to seat himself on.
+But in a while Odin said, "I would seat myself at the fire in the King's
+hall and eat my supper of meat."
+
+"Nay, stay here," Agnar said. "I will give you more bread and a wrap to
+cover yourself with. Do not go to the door of the King's house, for the
+King is angry today and he might repulse you."
+
+"How?" said Odin. "A King turn away a Wanderer who comes to his door! It
+cannot be that he would do it!"
+
+"Today he is angry," Agnar said. Again he begged him not to go to the
+door of the King's house. But Odin rose up from the straw on which he
+was seated and went to the door.
+
+A porter, hunchbacked and with long arms, stood at the door. "I am a
+Wanderer, and I would have rest and food in the King's hall," Odin said.
+
+"Not in this King's hall," said the hunchbacked porter. He would have
+barred the door to Odin, but the voice of the King called him away. Odin
+then strode into the hall and saw the King at table with his friends,
+all dark-bearded, and cruel-looking men. And when Odin looked on them he
+knew that the boy whom he had trained in nobility had become a King over
+robbers.
+
+"Since you have come into the hall where we eat, sing to us, Wanderer,"
+shouted one of the dark men. "Aye, I will sing to you," said Odin. Then
+he stood between two of the stone pillars in the hall and he sang a song
+reproaching the King for having fallen into an evil way of life, and
+denouncing all for following the cruel ways of robbers.
+
+"Seize him," said the King, when Odin's song was finished. The dark men
+threw themselves upon Odin and put chains around him and bound him
+between the stone pillars of the hall. "He came into this hall for
+warmth, and warmth he shall have," said Geirrod. He called upon his
+servants to heap up wood around him. They did this. Then the King, with
+his own hand, put a blazing torch to the wood and the fagots blazed up
+around the Wanderer.
+
+The fagots burned round and round him. But the fire did not burn the
+flesh of Odin All-Father. The King and the King's friends stood round,
+watching with delight the fires blaze round a living man. The fagots all
+burned away, and Odin was left standing there with his terrible gaze
+fixed upon the men who were so hard and cruel.
+
+They went to sleep, leaving him chained to the pillars of the hall. Odin
+could have broken the chains and pulled down the pillars, but he wanted
+to see what else would happen in this King's house. The servants were
+ordered not to bring food or drink to him, but at dawn, when there was
+no one near, Agnar came to him with a horn of ale and gave it to him to
+drink.
+
+The next evening when the King came back from his robberies, and when he
+and his friends, sitting down at the tables, had eaten like wolves, he
+ordered the fagots to be placed around Odin. And again they stood
+around, watching in delight the fire playing around a living man. And
+as before Odin stood there, unhurt by the fire, and his steady and
+terrible gaze made the King hate him more and more. And all day he was
+kept in chains, and the servants were forbidden to bring him food or
+drink. None knew that a horn of ale was brought to him at dawn.
+
+And night after night, for eight nights, this went on. Then, on the
+ninth night, when the fires around him had been lighted, Odin lifted up
+his voice and began to sing a song.
+
+His song became louder and louder, and the King and the King's friends
+and the servants of the thing's house had to stand still and harken to
+it. Odin sang about Geirrod, the King; how the Gods had protected him,
+giving him strength and skill, and how instead of making a noble use of
+that strength and skill he had made himself like one of the wild beasts.
+Then he sang of how the vengeance of the Gods was about to fall on this
+ignoble King.
+
+The flames died down and Geirrod and his friends saw before them, not a
+friendless Wanderer, but one who looked more kingly than any King of the
+earth. The chains fell down from his body and he advanced toward the
+evil company. Then Geirrod rushed upon him with his sword in hand to
+kill him. The sword struck him, but Odin remained unhurt.
+
+     Thy life runs out,
+     The Gods they are wroth with thee;
+     Draw near if thou canst;
+     Odin thou shalt see.
+
+So Odin sang, and, in fear of his terrible gaze, Geirrod and his company
+shrank away. And as they shrank away they were changed into beasts, into
+the wolves that range the forests.
+
+And Agnar came forward, and him Odin declared to be King. All the folk
+were glad when Agnar came to rule over them, for they had been oppressed
+by Geirrod in his cruel reign. And Agnar was not only kind, but he was
+strong and victorious in his rule.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ODIN WINS FOR MEN THE MAGIC MEAD
+
+
+It was the Dwarfs who brewed the Magic Mead, and it was the Giants who
+hid it away. But it was Odin who brought it from the place where it was
+hidden and gave it to the sons of men. Those who drank of the Magic Mead
+became very wise, and not only that but they could put their wisdom into
+such beautiful words that every one who heard would love and remember
+it.
+
+The Dwarfs brewed the Magic Mead through cruelty and villainy. They made
+it out of the blood of a man. The man was Kvasir the Poet. He had
+wisdom, and he had such beautiful words with it, that what he said was
+loved and remembered by all. The Dwarfs brought Kvasir down into their
+caverns and they killed him there. "Now," they said, "we have Kvasir's
+blood and Kvasir's wisdom. No one else will have his wisdom but us."
+They poured the blood into three jars and they mixed it with honey, and
+from it they brewed the Magic Mead.
+
+Having killed a man the Dwarfs became more and more bold. They came out
+of their caverns and went up and down through Midgard, the World of Men.
+They went into Jötunheim, and began to play their evil tricks on the
+most harmless of the Giants.
+
+They came upon one Giant who was very simple. Gilling was his name. They
+persuaded Gilling to row them out to sea in a boat. Then the two most
+cunning of the Dwarfs, Galar and Fialar, steered the boat on to a rock.
+The boat split. Gilling, who could not swim, was drowned. The Dwarfs
+clambered up on pieces of the boat and came safely ashore. They were so
+delighted with their evil tricks that they wanted to play some more of
+them.
+
+Galar and Fialar then thought of a new piece of mischief they might do.
+They led their band of Dwarfs to Gilling's house and screamed out to his
+wife that Gilling was dead. The Giant's wife began to weep and lament.
+At last she rushed out of the house weeping and clapping her hands. Now
+Galar and Fialar had clambered up on the lintel of the house, and as she
+came running out they cast a millstone on her head. It struck her and
+Gilling's wife fell down dead. More and more the Dwarfs were delighted
+at the destruction they were making.
+
+They were so insolent now that they made up songs and sang them, songs
+that were all a boast of how they had killed Kvasir the Poet, and
+Gilling the Giant, and Gilling's wife. They stayed around Jötunheim,
+tormenting all whom they were able to torment, and flattering themselves
+that they were great and strong. They stayed too long, however. Suttung,
+Gilling's brother, tracked them down and captured them.
+
+Suttung was not harmless and simple like Gilling, his brother. He was
+cunning and he was covetous. Once they were in his hands the Dwarfs had
+no chance of making an escape. He took them and left them on a rock in
+the sea, a rock that the tide would cover.
+
+The Giant stood up in the water taller than the rock, and the tide as it
+came in did not rise above his knees. He stood there watching the Dwarfs
+as the water rose up round them and they became more and more terrified.
+
+"Oh, take us off the rock, good Suttung," they cried out to him. "Take
+us off the rock and we will give you gold and jewels. Take us off the
+rock and we will give you a necklace as beautiful as Brisingamen." So
+they cried out to him, but the Giant Suttung only laughed at them. He
+had no need of gold or jewels.
+
+Then Fialar and Galar cried out: "Take us off the rock and we will give
+you the jars of the Magic Mead we have brewed."
+
+"The Magic Mead," said Suttung. "This is something that no one else has.
+It would be well to get it, for it might help us in the battle against
+the Gods. Yes, I will get the Magic Mead from them."
+
+He took the band of Dwarfs off the rock, but he held Galar and Fialar,
+their chiefs, while the others went into their caverns and brought up
+the jars of the Magic Mead. Suttung took the Mead and brought it to a
+cavern in a mountain near his dwelling. And thus it happened that the
+Magic Mead, brewed by the Dwarfs through cruelty and villainy, came into
+the hands of the Giants. And the story now tells how Odin, the Eldest of
+the Gods, at that time in the world as Vegtam the Wanderer, took the
+Magic Mead out of Suttung's possession and brought it into the world of
+men.
+
+Now, Suttung had a daughter named Gunnlöd, and she by her goodness and
+her beauty was like Gerda and Skadi, the Giant maids whom the Dwellers
+in Asgard favored. Suttung, that he might have a guardian for the Magic
+Mead, enchanted Gunnlöd, turning her from a beautiful Giant maiden into
+a witch with long teeth and sharp nails. He shut her into the cavern
+where the jars of the Magic Mead were hidden.
+
+Odin heard of the death of Kvasir whom he honored above all men. The
+Dwarfs who slew him he had closed up in their caverns so that they were
+never again able to come out into the World of Men. And then he set out
+to get the Magic Mead that he might give it to men, so that, tasting it,
+they would have wisdom, and words would be at their command that would
+make wisdom loved and remembered.
+
+How Odin won the Magic Mead out of the rock-covered cavern where Suttung
+had hidden it, and how he broke the enchantment that lay upon Gunnlöd,
+Suttung's daughter, is a story often told around the hearths of men.
+
+Nine strong thralls were mowing in a field as a Wanderer went by clad in
+a dark blue cloak and carrying a wanderer's staff in his hand. One of
+the thralls spoke to the Wanderer: "Tell them in the house of Baugi up
+yonder that I can mow no more until a whetstone to sharpen my scythe is
+sent to me." "Here is a whetstone," said the Wanderer, and he took one
+from his belt. The thrall who had spoken whetted his scythe with it and
+began to mow. The grass went down before his scythe as if the wind had
+cut it. "Give us the whetstone, give us the whetstone," cried the other
+thralls. The Wanderer threw the whetstone amongst them, leaving them
+quarreling over it, and went on his way.
+
+The Wanderer came to the house of Baugi, the brother of Suttung. He
+rested in Baugi's house, and at supper time he was given food at the
+great table. And while he was eating with the Giant a Messenger from the
+field came in.
+
+"Baugi," said the Messenger, "your nine thralls are all dead. They
+killed each other with their scythes, fighting in the field about a
+whetstone. There are no thralls now to do your work."
+
+"What shall I do, what shall I do?" said Baugi the Giant. "My fields
+will not be mown now, and I shall have no hay to feed my cattle and my
+horses in the winter."
+
+"I might work for you," said the Wanderer.
+
+"One man's work is no use to me," said the Giant, "I must have the work
+of nine men."
+
+"I shall do the work of nine men," said the Wanderer, "give me a trial,
+and see."
+
+The next day Vegtam the Wanderer went into Baugi's field. He did as much
+work as the nine thralls had done in a day.
+
+"Stay with me for the season," said Baugi, "and I shall give you a full
+reward."
+
+So Vegtam stayed at the Giant's house and worked in the Giant's fields,
+and when all the work of the season was done Baugi said to him:
+
+"Speak now and tell me what reward I am to give you."
+
+"The only reward I shall ask of you," said Vegtam, "is a draught of the
+Magic Mead."
+
+"The Magic Mead?" said Baugi. "I do not know where it is nor how to get
+it."
+
+"Your brother Suttung has it. Go to him and claim a draught of the Magic
+Mead for me."
+
+Baugi went to Suttung. But when he heard what he had come for, the Giant
+Suttung turned on his brother in a rage.
+
+"A draught of the Magic Mead?" he said. "To no one will I give a draught
+of the Magic Mead. Have I not enchanted my daughter Gunnlöd, so that she
+may watch over it? And you tell me that a Wanderer who has done the work
+of nine men for you asks a draught of the Magic Mead for his fee! O
+Giant as foolish as Gilling! O oaf of a Giant! Who could have done such
+work for you, and who would demand such a fee from you, but one of our
+enemies, the Æsir? Go from me now and never come to me again with talk
+of the Magic Mead."
+
+Baugi went back to his house and told the Wanderer that Suttung would
+yield none of the Magic Mead. "I hold you to your bargain," said Vegtam
+the Wanderer, "and you will have to get me the fee I asked. Come with me
+now and help me to get it."
+
+He made Baugi bring him to the place where the Magic Mead was hidden.
+The place was a cavern in the mountain. In front of that cavern was a
+great mass of stone.
+
+"We cannot move that stone nor get through it," said Baugi. "I cannot
+help you to your fee."
+
+The Wanderer drew an auger from his belt. "This will bore through the
+rock if there is strength behind it. You have the strength, Giant. Begin
+now and bore."
+
+Baugi took the auger in his hands and bored with all his strength, and
+the Wanderer stood by leaning on his staff, calm and majestic in his
+cloak of blue.
+
+"I have made a deep, deep hole. It goes through the rock," Baugi said,
+at last.
+
+The Wanderer went to the hole and blew into it. The dust of the rock
+flew back into their faces.
+
+"So that is your boasted strength, Giant," he said. "You have not bored
+half-way through the rock. Work again."
+
+Then Baugi took the auger again and he bored deeper and deeper into the
+rock. And he blew into it, and lo! His breath went through. Then he
+looked at the Wanderer to see what he would do; his eyes had become
+fierce and he held the auger in his hand as if it were a stabbing
+knife.
+
+"Look up to the head of the rock," said the Wanderer. As Baugi looked up
+the Wanderer changed himself into a snake and glided into the hole in
+the rock. And Baugi struck at him with the auger, hoping to kill him,
+but the snake slipped through.
+
+Behind the mighty rock there was a hollow place all lighted up by the
+shining crystals in the rock. And within the hollow place there was an
+ill-looking witch, with long teeth and sharp nails. But she sat there
+rocking herself and letting tears fall from her eyes. "O youth and
+beauty," she sang, "O sight of men and women, sad, sad for me it is that
+you are shut away, and that I have only this closed-in cavern and this
+horrible form."
+
+A snake glided across the floor. "Oh, that you were deadly and that you
+might slay me," cried the witch. The snake glided past her. Then she
+heard a voice speak softly: "Gunnlöd, Gunnlöd!" She looked round, and
+there standing behind her was a majestic man, clad in a cloak of dark
+blue, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods.
+
+"You have come to take the Magic Mead that my father has set me here to
+guard," she cried. "You shall not have it. Rather shall I spill it out
+on the thirsty earth of the cavern."
+
+"Gunnlöd," he said, and he came to her. She looked at him and she felt
+the red blood of youth come back into her cheeks. She put her hands with
+their sharp nails over her breast, and she felt the nails drive into her
+flesh. "Save me from all this ugliness," she cried.
+
+"I will save you," Odin said. He went to her. He took her hands and
+held them. He kissed her on the mouth. All the marks of ill favor went
+from her. She was no longer bent, but tall and shapely. Her eyes became
+wide and deep blue. Her mouth became red and her hands soft and
+beautiful. She became as fair as Gerda, the Giant maid whom Frey had
+wed.
+
+They stayed looking at each other, then they sat down side by side and
+talked softly to each other, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, and Gunnlöd,
+the beautiful Giant maiden.
+
+She gave him the three jars of the Magic Mead and she told him she would
+go out of the cavern with him. Three days passed and still they were
+together. Then Odin by his wisdom found hidden paths and passages that
+led out of the cavern and he brought Gunnlöd out into the light of the
+day.
+
+And he brought with him the jars of the Magic Mead, the Mead whose taste
+gives wisdom, and wisdom in such beautiful words that all love and
+remember it. And Gunnlöd, who had tasted a little of the Magic Mead,
+wandered through the world singing of the beauty and the might of Odin,
+and of her love for him.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ODIN TELLS TO VIDAR, HIS SILENT SON, THE SECRET OF HIS DOINGS
+
+
+It was not only to Giants and Men that Odin showed himself in the days
+when he went through Jötunheim and Midgard as Vegtam the Wanderer. He
+met and he spoke with the Gods also, with one who lived far away from
+Asgard and with others who came to Midgard and to Jötunheim.
+
+The one who lived far away from Asgard was Vidar, Odin's silent son. Far
+within a wilderness, with branches and tall grass growing around him,
+Vidar sat. And near by him a horse grazed with a saddle upon it, a horse
+that was ever ready for the speedy journey.
+
+And Odin, now Vegtam the Wanderer, came into that silent place and spoke
+to Vidar, the Silent God.
+
+"O Vidar," he said, "strangest of all my sons; God who will live when
+all of us have passed away; God who will bring the memory of the
+Dwellers of Asgard into a world that will know not their power; O Vidar,
+well do I know why there grazes near by thee the horse ever ready for
+the speedy journey: it is that thou mayst spring upon it and ride
+unchecked, a son speeding to avenge his father.
+
+"To you only, O Vidar the Silent One, will I speak of the secrets of my
+doings. Who but you can know why I, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, hung
+on the tree Ygdrassil nine days and nine nights, mine own spear
+transfixing me? I hung upon that windy tree that I might learn the
+wisdom that would give me power in the nine worlds. On the ninth night
+the Runes of Wisdom appeared before mine eyes, and slipping down from
+the tree I took them to myself.
+
+"And I shall tell why my ravens fly to thee, carrying in their beaks
+scraps of leather. It is that thou mayst make for thyself a sandal; with
+that sandal on thou mayst put thy foot on the lower jaw of a mighty wolf
+and rend him. All the shoemakers of the earth throw on the ground scraps
+of the leather they use so that thou mayst be able to make the sandal
+for thy wolf-rending foot.
+
+"And I have counseled the dwellers on earth to cut off the fingernails
+and the toenails of their dead, lest from those fingernails and toenails
+the Giants make for themselves the ship Naglfar in which they will sail
+from the North on the day of Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+"More, Vidar, I will tell to thee. I, living amongst men, have wed the
+daughter of a hero. My son shall live as a mortal amongst mortals. Sigi
+his name shall be. From him shall spring heroes who will fill Valhalla,
+my own hall in Asgard, with heroes against the day of our strife with
+the Giants and with Surtur of the Flaming Sword."
+
+For long Odin stayed in that silent place communing with his silent son,
+with Vidar, who with his brother would live beyond the lives of the
+Dwellers of Asgard and who would bring into another day and another
+world the memory of the Æsir and the Vanir. For long Odin spoke with
+him, and then he went across the wilderness where the grass and the
+bushes grew and where that horse grazed in readiness for the sudden
+journey. He went toward the seashore where the Æsir and the Vanir were
+now gathered for the feast that old Ægir, the Giant King of the Sea, had
+offered them.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration:]
+
+THOR AND LOKI IN THE GIANTS' CITY
+
+
+All but a few of the Dwellers of Asgard had come to the feast offered by
+Ægir the Old, the Giant King of the Sea. Frigga, the queenly wife of
+Odin, was there, and Frey and Freya; Iduna, who guarded the Apples of
+Youth, and Bragi, her husband; Tyr, the great swordsman, and Niörd, the
+God of the Sea, Skadi, who wedded Niörd and whose hatred for Loki was
+fierce, and Sif, whose golden hair was once shorn off by Loki the
+mischievous. Thor and Loki were there. The Dwellers of Asgard, gathered
+together in the hall of Ægir, waited for Odin.
+
+Before Odin came Loki made the company merry by the tales that he told
+in mockery of Thor. Loki long since had his lips unloosed from the thong
+that the Dwarf Brock had sewn them with. And Thor had forgotten the
+wrong that he had done to Sif. Loki had been with Thor in his
+wanderings through Jötunheim, and about these wanderings he now told
+mocking tales.
+
+He told how he had seen Thor in his chariot of brass drawn by two goats
+go across Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge. None of the Æsir or the Vanir
+knew on what adventure Thor was bent. But Loki followed him and Thor
+kept him in his company.
+
+As they traveled on in the brass chariot drawn by the two goats, Thor
+told Loki of the adventure on which he was bent. He would go into
+Jötunheim, even into Utgard, the Giants' City, and he would try his
+strength against the Giants. He was not afraid of aught that might
+happen, for he carried Miölnir, his hammer, with him.
+
+Their way was through Midgard, the World of Men. Once, as they were
+traveling on, night came upon them as they were hungry and in need of
+shelter. They saw a peasant's hut and they drove the chariot toward it.
+Unyoking the goats and leaving them standing in a hollow beside the
+chariot, the two, looking not like Dwellers in Asgard, but like men
+traveling through the country, knocked at the door of the hut and asked
+for food and shelter.
+
+They could have shelter, the peasant and his wife told them, but they
+could not have food. There was little in that place, and what little
+there had been they had eaten for supper. The peasant showed them the
+inside of the hut: it was poor and bare, and there was nothing there to
+give anyone. In the morning, the peasant said, he would go down to the
+river and catch some fish for a meal.
+
+"We can't wait until morning, we must eat now," said Thor, "and I think
+I can provide a good meal for us all." He went over to where his goats
+stood in the hollow beside the chariot of brass, and, striking them with
+his hammer, he left them lifeless on the ground. He skinned the goats
+then, and taking up the bones very carefully, he left them down on the
+skins. Skins and bones he lifted up and bringing them into the house he
+left them in a hole above the peasant's fireplace. "No one," said he in
+a commanding voice, "must touch the bones that I leave here."
+
+Then he brought the meat into the house. Soon it was cooked and laid
+smoking on the table. The peasant and his wife and his son sat round the
+board with Thor and Loki. They had not eaten plentifully for many days,
+and now the man and the woman fed themselves well.
+
+Thialfi was the name of the peasant's son. He was a growing lad and had
+an appetite that had not been satisfied for long. While the meat was on
+the table his father and mother had kept him going here and there,
+carrying water, putting fagots on the fire, and holding a blazing stick
+so that those at the table might see to eat. There was not much left for
+him when he was able to sit down, for Thor and Loki had great appetites,
+and the lad's father and mother had eaten to make up for days of want.
+So Thialfi got little out of that plentiful feast.
+
+When the meal was finished they lay down on the benches. Thor, because
+he had made a long journey that day, slept very soundly. Thialfi lay
+down on a bench, too, but his thoughts were still upon the food. When
+all were asleep, he thought, he would take one of the bones that were
+in the skins above him, and break and gnaw it.
+
+So in the dead of the night the lad stood up on the bench and took down
+the goatskins that Thor had left so carefully there. He took out a bone,
+broke it, and gnawed it for the marrow. Loki was awake and saw him do
+this, but he, relishing mischief as much as ever, did nothing to stay
+the lad.
+
+He put the bone he had broken back in the skins and he left the skins
+back in the hole above the fireplace. Then he went to sleep on the
+bench.
+
+In the morning, as soon as they were up, the first thing Thor did was to
+take the skins out of the hole. He carried them carefully out to the
+hollow where he had left the goats standing. He put each goatskin down
+with the bones in it. He struck each with his hammer, and the goats
+sprang up alive, horns and hoofs and all.
+
+But one was not as he had been before. He limped badly. Thor examined
+the leg and found out that one bone was broken. In terrible anger he
+turned on the peasant, his wife, and his son. "A bone of this goat has
+been broken under your roof," he shouted. "For that I shall destroy your
+house and leave you all dead under it." Thialfi wept. Then he came
+forward and touched the knees of Thor. "I did not know what harm I did,"
+he said. "I broke the bone."
+
+Thor had his hammer lifted up to crush him into the earth. But he could
+not bring it down on the weeping boy. He let his hammer rest on the
+ground again. "You will have to do much service for me for having lamed
+my goat," he said. "Come with me."
+
+And so the lad Thialfi went off with Thor and Loki. Thor took in his
+powerful hands the shafts of the chariot of brass and he dragged it into
+a lonely mountain hollow where neither men nor Giants came. And they
+left the goats in a great, empty forest to stay resting there until Thor
+called to them again.
+
+Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi went across from Midgard into
+Jötunheim. Because of Miölnir, the great hammer that he carried, Thor
+felt safe in the Realm of the Giants. And Loki, who trusted in his own
+cunning, felt safe, too. The lad Thialfi trusted in Thor so much that he
+had no fear. They were long in making the journey, and while they were
+traveling Thor and Loki trained Thialfi to be a quick and a strong lad.
+
+One day they came out on a moor. All day they crossed it, and at night
+it still stretched far before them. A great wind was blowing, night was
+falling, and they saw no shelter near. In the dusk they saw a shape that
+looked to be a mountain and they went toward it, hoping to find some
+shelter in a cave.
+
+Then Loki saw a lower shape that looked as if it might be a shelter.
+They walked around it, Loki and Thor and the lad Thialfi. It was a
+house, but a house most oddly shaped. The entrance was a long, wide hall
+that had no doorway. When they entered this hall they found five long
+and narrow chambers running off it. "It is an odd place, but it is the
+best shelter we can get," Loki said. "You and I, Thor, will take the
+two longest rooms, and the lad Thialfi can take one of the little
+rooms."
+
+They entered their chambers and they lay down to sleep. But from the
+mountain outside there came a noise that was like moaning forests and
+falling cataracts. The chamber where each one slept was shaken by the
+noise. Neither Thor nor Loki nor the lad Thialfi slept that night.
+
+In the morning they left the five-chambered house and turned their faces
+toward the mountain. It was not a mountain at all, but a Giant. He was
+lying on the ground when they saw him, but just then he rolled over and
+sat up. "Little men, little men," he shouted to them, "have you passed
+by a glove of mine on your way?" He stood up and looked all around him.
+"Ho, I see my glove now," he said. Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi
+stood still as the Giant came toward them. He leaned over and picked up
+the five-roomed shelter they had slept in. He put it on his hand. It was
+really his glove!
+
+Thor gripped his hammer, and Loki and the lad Thialfi stood behind him.
+But the Giant seemed good-humored enough. "Where might ye be bound for,
+little men?" said he.
+
+"To Utgard in Jötunheim," Thor replied boldly.
+
+"Oh, to that place," said the Giant. "Come, then, I shall be with ye so
+far. You can call me Skyrmir."
+
+"Can you give us breakfast?" said Thor. He spoke crossly, for he did not
+want it to appear that there was any reason to be afraid of the Giant.
+
+"I can give you breakfast," said Skyrmir, "but I don't want to stop to
+eat now. We'll sit down as soon as I have an appetite. Come along now.
+Here is my wallet to carry. It has my provisions in it."
+
+He gave Thor his wallet. Thor put it on his back and put Thialfi sitting
+upon it. On and on the Giant strode and Thor and Loki were barely able
+to keep up with him. It was midday before he showed any signs of halting
+to take breakfast.
+
+They came to an enormous tree. Under it Skyrmir sat down. "I'll sleep
+before I eat," he said, "but you can open my wallet, my little men, and
+make your meal out of it." Saying this, he stretched himself out, and in
+a few minutes Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi heard the same sounds as
+kept them awake the night before, sounds that were like forests moaning
+and cataracts falling. It was Skyrmir's snoring.
+
+Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi were too hungry now to be disturbed by
+these tremendous noises. Thor tried to open the wallet, but he found it
+was not easy to undo the knots. Then Loki tried to open it. In spite of
+all Loki's cunning he could not undo the knots. Then Thor took the
+wallet from him and tried to break the knots by main strength. Not even
+Thor's strength could break them. He threw the wallet down in his rage.
+
+The snoring of Skyrmir became louder and louder. Thor stood up in his
+rage. He grasped Miölnir and flung it at the head of the sleeping Giant.
+
+The hammer struck him on the head. But Skyrmir only stirred in his
+sleep. "Did a leaf fall on my head?" he said.
+
+He turned round on the other side and went to sleep again. The hammer
+came back to Thor's hand. As soon as Skyrmir snored he flung it again,
+aiming at the Giant's forehead. It struck there. The Giant opened his
+eyes. "Has an acorn fallen on my forehead?" he said.
+
+Again he went to sleep. But now Thor, terribly roused, stood over his
+head with the hammer held in his hands. He struck him on the forehead.
+It was the greatest blow that Thor had ever dealt.
+
+"A bird is pecking at my forehead--there is no chance to sleep here,"
+said Skyrmir, sitting up. "And you, little men, did you have breakfast
+yet? Toss over my wallet to me and I shall give you some provision." The
+lad Thialfi brought him the wallet. Skyrmir opened it, took out his
+provisions, and gave a share to Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi. Thor
+would not take provision from him, but Loki and the lad Thialfi took it
+and ate. When the meal was finished Skyrmir rose up and said, "Time for
+us to be going toward Utgard."
+
+As they went on their way Skyrmir talked to Loki. "I always feel very
+small when I go into Utgard," he said. "You see, I'm such a small and a
+weak fellow and the folk who live there are so big and powerful. But you
+and your friends will be welcomed in Utgard. They will be sure to make
+little pets of you."
+
+And then he left them and they went into Utgard, the City of the Giants.
+Giants were going up and down in the streets. They were not so huge as
+Skyrmir would have them believe, Loki noticed.
+
+Utgard was the Asgard of the Giants. But in its buildings there was not
+a line of the beauty that there was in the palaces of the Gods,
+Gladsheim and Breidablik or Fensalir. Huge but shapeless the buildings
+arose, like mountains or icebergs. O beautiful Asgard with the dome
+above it of the deepest blue! Asgard with the clouds around it heaped up
+like mountains of diamonds! Asgard with its Rainbow Bridge and its
+glittering gates! O beautiful Asgard, could it be indeed that these
+Giants would one day overthrow you?
+
+Thor and Loki with the lad Thialfi went to the palace of the King. The
+hammer that Thor gripped would, they knew, make them safe even there.
+They passed between rows of Giant guards and came to the King's seat.
+"We know you, Thor and Loki," said the Giant King, "and we know that
+Thor has come to Utgard to try his strength against the Giants. We shall
+have a contest tomorrow. Today there are sports for our boys. If your
+young servant should like to try his swiftness against our youths, let
+him enter the race today."
+
+Now Thialfi was the best runner in Midgard and all the time he had been
+with them Loki and Thor had trained him in quickness. And so Thialfi was
+not fearful of racing against the Giants' youths.
+
+The King called on one named Hugi and placed him against Thialfi. The
+pair started together. Thialfi sped off. Loki and Thor watched the race
+anxiously, for they thought it would be well for them if they had a
+triumph over the dwellers in Utgard in the first contest. But they saw
+Hugi leave Thialfi behind. They saw the Giant youth reach the winning
+post, circle round it, and come back to the starting place before
+Thialfi had reached the end of the course.
+
+Thialfi, who did not know how it was that he had been beaten, asked that
+he be let run the race with Hugi again. The pair started off once more,
+and this time it did not seem to Thor and Loki that Hugi had left the
+starting place at all--he was back there almost as soon as the race had
+started.
+
+They came back from the racing ground to the palace. The Giant King and
+his friends with Thor and Loki sat down to the supper table. "Tomorrow,"
+said the King, "we shall have our great contest when Asa Thor will show
+us his power. Have you of Asgard ever heard of one who would enter a
+contest in eating? We might have a contest in eating at this supper
+board if we could get one who would match himself with Logi here. He can
+eat more than anyone in Jötunheim."
+
+"And I," said Loki, "can eat more than any two in Jötunheim. I will
+match myself against your Logi."
+
+"Good!" said the Giant King. And all the Giants present said, "Good!
+This will be a sight worth seeing."
+
+Then they put scores of plates along one side of the table, each plate
+filled with meat. Loki began at one end and Logi began at the other.
+They started to eat, moving toward each other as each cleared a plate.
+Plate after plate was emptied, and Thor standing by with the Giants was
+amazed to see how much Loki ate. But Logi on the other side was leaving
+plate after plate emptied. At last the two stood together with scores of
+plates on each side of them. "He has not defeated me," cried Loki. "I
+have cleared as many plates as your champion, O King of the Giants."
+
+"But you have not cleared them so well," said the King.
+
+"Loki has eaten all the meat that was upon them," said Thor.
+
+"But Logi has eaten the bones with the meat," said the Giant King. "Look
+and see if it be not so."
+
+Thor went to the plates. Where Loki had eaten, the bones were left on
+the plates. Where Logi had eaten, nothing was left: bones as well as
+meat were consumed, and all the plates were left bare.
+
+"We are beaten," said Thor to Loki.
+
+"Tomorrow, Thor," said Loki, "you must show all your strength or the
+Giants will cease to dread the might of the Dwellers in Asgard."
+
+"Be not afraid," said Thor. "No one in Jötunheim will triumph over me."
+
+The next day Thor and Loki came into the great hall of Utgard. The Giant
+King was there with a throng of his friends. Thor marched into the hall
+with Miölnir, his great hammer, in his hands. "Our young men have been
+drinking out of this horn," said the King, "and they want to know if
+you, Asa Thor, would drink out of it a morning draught. But I must tell
+you that they think that no one of the Æsir could empty the horn at one
+draught."
+
+"Give it to me," said Thor. "There is no horn you can hand me that I
+cannot empty at a draught."
+
+A great horn, brimmed and flowing, was brought over to him. Handing
+Miölnir to Loki and bidding him stand so that he might keep the hammer
+in sight, Thor raised the horn to his mouth. He drank and drank. He felt
+sure there was not a drop left in the horn as he laid it on the ground.
+"There," he gasped, "your Giant horn is drained."
+
+The Giants looked within the horn and laughed. "Drained, Asa Thor!" said
+the Giant King. "Look into the horn again. You have hardly drunk below
+the brim."
+
+And Thor looked into it and saw that the horn was not half emptied. In a
+mighty rage he lifted it to his lips again. He drank and drank and
+drank. Then, satisfied that he had emptied it to the bottom, he left the
+horn on the ground and walked over to the other side of the hall.
+
+"Thor thinks he has drained the horn," said one of the Giants, lifting
+it up. "But see, friends, what remains in it."
+
+Thor strode back and looked again into the horn. It was still half
+filled. He turned round to see that all the Giants were laughing at him.
+
+"Asa Thor, Asa Thor," said the Giant King, "we know not how you are
+going to deal with us in the next feat, but you certainly are not able
+to drink against the Giants."
+
+Said Thor: "I can lift up and set down any being in your hall."
+
+As he said this a great iron-colored cat bounded into the hall and stood
+before Thor, her back arched and her fur bristling.
+
+"Then lift the cat off the ground," said the Giant King.
+
+Thor strode to the cat, determined to lift her up and fling her amongst
+the mocking Giants. He put his hands to the cat, but he could not raise
+her. Up, up went Thor's arms, up, up, as high as they could go. The
+cat's arched back went up to the roof, but her feet were never taken off
+the ground. And as he heaved and heaved with all his might he heard the
+laughter of the Giants all round him.
+
+He turned away, his eyes flaming with anger. "I am not wont to try to
+lift cats," he said. "Bring me one to wrestle with, and I swear you
+shall see me overthrow him."
+
+"Here is one for you to wrestle with, Asa Thor," said the King. Thor
+looked round and saw an old woman hobbling toward him. She was
+blear-eyed and toothless. "This is Ellie, my ancient nurse," said the
+Giant King. "She is the one we would have you wrestle with."
+
+"Thor does not wrestle with old women. I will lay my hands on your
+tallest Giants instead."
+
+"Ellie has come where you are," said the Giant King. "Now it is she who
+will lay hands upon you."
+
+The old woman hobbled toward Thor, her eyes gleaming under her falling
+fringes of gray hair. Thor stood, unable to move as the hag came toward
+him. She laid her hands upon his arms. Her feet began to trip at his. He
+tried to cast her from him. Then he found that her feet and her hands
+were as strong against his as bands and stakes of iron.
+
+Then began a wrestling match in earnest between Thor and the ancient
+crone Ellie. Round and round the hall they wrestled, and Thor was not
+able to bend the old woman backward nor sideways. Instead he became
+less and less able under her terrible grasp. She forced him down, down,
+and at last he could only save himself from being left prone on the
+ground by throwing himself down on one knee and holding the hag by the
+shoulders. She tried to force him down on the ground, but she could not
+do that. Then she broke from him, hobbled to the door and went out of
+the hall.
+
+Thor rose up and took the hammer from Loki's hands. Without a word he
+went out of the hall and along the ways and toward the gate of the
+Giants' City. He spoke no word to Loki nor to the lad Thialfi who went
+with him for the seven weeks that they journeyed through Jötunheim.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HOW THOR AND LOKI BEFOOLED THRYM THE GIANT
+
+
+Loki told another tale about Thor--about Thor and Thrym, a stupid Giant
+who had cunning streaks in him. Loki and Thor had been in this Giant's
+house. He had made a feast for them and Thor had been unwatchful.
+
+Then when they were far from Jötunheim Thor missed Miölnir, missed the
+hammer that was the defence of Asgard and the help of the Gods. He could
+not remember how or where he had mislaid it. Loki's thoughts went toward
+Thrym, that stupid Giant who yet had cunning streaks in him. Thor, who
+had lost the hammer that he had sworn never to let out of his sight, did
+not know what to do.
+
+But Loki thought it would be worth while to see if Thrym knew anything
+about it. He went first to Asgard. He hurried across the Rainbow Bridge
+and passed Heimdall without speaking to him. To none of the Dwellers in
+Asgard whom he met did he dare relate the tidings of Thor's loss. He
+spoke to none until he came to Frigga's palace.
+
+To Frigga he said, "You must lend me your falcon dress until I fly to
+Thrym's dwelling and find out if he knows where Miölnir is."
+
+"If every feather was silver I would give it to you to go on such an
+errand," Frigga said.
+
+So Loki put on the falcon dress and flew to Jötunheim and came near
+Thrym's dwelling. He found the Giant upon a hillside putting golden and
+silver collars upon the necks of his hounds. Loki in the plumage of a
+falcon perched on the rock above him, watching the Giant with falcon
+eyes.
+
+And while he was there he heard the Giant speak boastful words. "I put
+collars of silver and gold on you now, my hounds," said he, "but soon we
+Giants will have the gold of Asgard to deck our hounds and our steeds,
+yea, even the necklace of Freya to put upon you, the best of my hounds.
+For Miölnir, the defence of Asgard, is in Thrym's holding."
+
+Then Loki spoke to him. "Yea, we know that Miölnir is in thy possession,
+O Thrym," said he, "but know thou that the eyes of the watchful Gods are
+upon thee."
+
+"Ha, Loki, Shape-changer," said Thrym, "you are there! But all your
+watching will not help you to find Miölnir. I have buried Thor's hammer
+eight miles deep in the earth. Find it if you can. It is below the caves
+of the Dwarfs."
+
+"It is useless for us to search for Thor's hammer," said Loki; "eh
+Thrym?"
+
+"It is useless for you to search for it," said the Giant sulkily.
+
+"But what a recompense you would gain if you restored Thor's hammer to
+the Dwellers in Asgard," Loki said.
+
+"No, cunning Loki, I will never restore it, not for any recompense,"
+said Thrym.
+
+"Yet bethink thee, Thrym," said Loki. "Is there nought in Asgard you
+would like to own? No treasure, no possession? Odin's ring or Frey's
+ship, Skidbladnir?"
+
+"No, no," said Thrym. "Only one thing could the Dwellers in Asgard offer
+me that I would take in exchange for Miölnir, Thor's hammer."
+
+"And what would that be, Thrym?" said Loki, flying toward him.
+
+"She whom many Giants have striven to gain--Freya, for my wife," said
+Thrym.
+
+Loki watched Thrym for long with his falcon eyes. He saw that the Giant
+would not alter his demand. "I will tell the Dwellers in Asgard of your
+demand," he said at last, and he flew away.
+
+Loki knew that the Dwellers in Asgard would never let Freya be taken
+from them to become the wife of Thrym, the stupidest of the Giants. He
+flew back.
+
+By this time all the Dwellers in Asgard had heard of the loss of
+Miölnir, the help of the Gods. Heimdall shouted to him as he crossed the
+Rainbow Bridge to ask what tidings he brought back. But Loki did not
+stop to speak to the Warden of the Bridge but went straight to the hall
+where the Gods sat in Council.
+
+To the Æsir and the Vanir he told Thrym's demand. None would agree to
+let the beautiful Freya go live in Jötunheim as a wife to the stupidest
+of the Giants. All in the Council were cast down. The Gods would never
+again be able to help mortal men, for now that Miölnir was in the
+Giants' hands all their strength would have to be used in the defence of
+Asgard.
+
+So they sat in the Council with looks downcast. But cunning Loki said,
+"I have thought of a trick that may win back the hammer from stupid
+Thrym. Let us pretend to send Freya to Jötunheim as a bride for him. But
+let one of the Gods go in Freya's veil and dress."
+
+"Which of the Gods would bring himself to do so shameful a thing?" said
+those in the Council.
+
+"Oh, he who lost the hammer, Thor, should be prepared to do as much to
+win it back," said Loki.
+
+"Thor, Thor! Let Thor win back the hammer from Thrym by Loki's trick,"
+said the Æsir and the Vanir. They left it to Loki to arrange how Thor
+should go to Jötunheim as a bride for Thrym.
+
+Loki left the Council of the Gods and came to where he had left Thor.
+"There is but one way to win the hammer back, Thor," he said, "and the
+Gods in Council have decreed that you shall take it."
+
+"What is the way?" said Thor. "But no matter what it is, tell me of it
+and I shall do as thou dost say."
+
+"Then," said laughing Loki, "I am to take you to Jötunheim as a bride
+for Thrym. Thou art to go in bridal dress and veil, in Freya's veil and
+bridal dress."
+
+"What! I dress in woman's garb?" shouted Thor.
+
+"Yea, Thor, and wear a veil over your head and a garland of flowers upon
+it."
+
+"I--I wear a garland of flowers?"
+
+"And rings upon thy fingers. And a bunch of housekeeper's keys in thy
+girdle."
+
+"Cease thy mockery, Loki," said Thor roughly, "or I shall shake thee."
+
+"It is no mockery. Thou wilt have to do this to win Miölnir back for the
+defence of Asgard. Thrym will take no other recompense than Freya. I
+would mock him by bringing thee to him in Freya's veil and dress. When
+thou art in his hall and he asks thee to join hands with him, say thou
+wilt not until he puts Miölnir into thy hands. Then when thy mighty
+hammer is in thy holding thou canst deal with him and with all in his
+hall. And I shall be with thee as thy bridesmaid! O sweet, sweet maiden
+Thor!"
+
+"Loki," said Thor, "thou didst devise all this to mock me. I in a bridal
+dress! I with a bride's veil upon me! The Dwellers in Asgard will never
+cease to laugh at me."
+
+"Yea," said Loki, "but there will never be laughter again in Asgard
+unless thou art able to bring back the hammer that thine unwatchfulness
+lost."
+
+"True," said Thor unhappily, "and is this, thinkst thou, Loki, the only
+way to win back Miölnir from Thrym?"
+
+"It is the only way, O Thor," said the cunning Loki.
+
+So Thor and Loki set out for Jötunheim and the dwelling of Thrym. A
+messenger had gone before them to tell Thrym that Freya was coming with
+her bridesmaid; that the wedding-feast was to be prepared and the guests
+gathered and that Miölnir was to be at hand so that it might be given
+over to the Dwellers in Asgard. Thrym and his Giant mother hastened to
+have everything in readiness.
+
+Thor and Loki came to the Giant's house in the dress of a bride and a
+bridesmaid. A veil was over Thor's head hiding his beard and his fierce
+eyes. A red-embroidered robe he wore and at his side hung a girdle of
+housekeeper's keys. Loki was veiled, too. The hall of Thrym's great
+house was swept and garnished and great tables were laid for the feast.
+And Thrym's mother was going from one guest to another, vaunting that
+her son was getting one of the beauteous Dwellers in Asgard for his
+bride, Freya, whom so many of the Giants had tried to win.
+
+When Thor and Loki stepped across the threshold Thrym went to welcome
+them. He wanted to raise the veil of his bride and give her a kiss. Loki
+quickly laid his hand on the Giant's shoulder.
+
+"Forbear," he whispered. "Do not raise her veil. We Dwellers in Asgard
+are reserved and bashful. Freya would be much offended to be kissed
+before this company."
+
+"Aye, aye," said Thrym's old mother. "Do not raise thy bride's veil,
+son. These Dwellers in Asgard are more refined in their ways than we,
+the Giants." Then the old woman took Thor by the hand and led him to the
+table.
+
+The size and the girth of the bride did not surprise the huge Giants who
+were in the wedding company. They stared at Thor and Loki, but they
+could see nothing of their faces and little of their forms because of
+their veils.
+
+Thor sat at the table with Thrym on one side of him and Loki on the
+other. Then the feast began. Thor, not noticing that what he did was
+unbecoming to a refined maiden, ate eight salmon right away. Loki nudged
+him and pressed his foot, but he did not heed Loki. After the salmon he
+ate a whole ox.
+
+"These maids of Asgard," said the Giants to each other, "they may be
+refined, as Thrym's mother says, but their appetites are lusty enough."
+
+"No wonder she eats, poor thing," said Loki to Thrym. "It is eight days
+since we left Asgard. And Freya never ate upon the way, so anxious was
+she to see Thrym and to come to his house."
+
+"Poor darling, poor darling," said the Giant. "What she has eaten is
+little after all."
+
+Thor nodded his head toward the mead vat. Thrym ordered his servants to
+bring a measure to his bride. The servants were kept coming with
+measures to Thor. While the Giants watched, and while Loki nudged and
+nodded, he drank three barrels of mead.
+
+"Oh," said the Giants to Thrym's mother, "we are not so sorry that we
+failed to win a bride from Asgard."
+
+And now a piece of the veil slipped aside and Thor's eyes were seen for
+an instant. "Oh, how does it come that Freya has such glaring eyes?"
+said Thrym.
+
+"Poor thing, poor thing," said Loki, "no wonder her eyes are glaring and
+staring. She has not slept for eight nights, so anxious was she to come
+to you and to your house, Thrym. But now the time has come for you to
+join hands with your bride. First, put into her hands the hammer Miölnir
+that she may know the great recompense that the Giants have given for
+her coming."
+
+Then Thrym, the stupidest of the Giants, rose up and brought Miölnir,
+the defence of Asgard, into the feasting hall. Thor could hardly
+restrain himself from springing up and seizing it from the Giant. But
+Loki was able to keep him still. Thrym brought over the hammer and put
+the handle into the hands of her whom he thought was his bride. Thor's
+hands closed on his hammer. Instantly he stood up. The veil fell off
+him. His countenance and his blazing eyes were seen by all. He struck
+one blow on the wall of the house. Down it crashed. Then Thor went
+striding out of the ruin with Loki beside him, while within the Giants
+bellowed as the roof and walls fell down on them. And so was Miölnir,
+the defence of Asgard, lost and won back.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ÆGIR'S FEAST: HOW THOR TRIUMPHED
+
+
+The time between midday and evening wore on while the Æsir and the Vanir
+gathered for the feast in old Ægir's hall listened to the stories that
+Loki told in mockery of Thor. The night came, but no banquet was made
+ready for the Dwellers in Asgard. They called to Ægir's two
+underservants, Fimaffenger and Elder, and they bade them bring them a
+supper. Slight was what they got, but they went to bed saying, "Great
+must be the preparations that old Ægir is making to feast us tomorrow."
+
+The morrow came and the midday of the morrow, and still the Dwellers in
+Asgard saw no preparations being made for the banquet. Then Frey rose up
+and went to seek old Ægir, the Giant King of the Sea. He found him
+sitting with bowed head in his inner hall. "Ho, Ægir," he said, "what of
+the banquet that you have offered to the Dwellers in Asgard?"
+
+Old Ægir mumbled and pulled at his beard. At last he looked his guest in
+the face and told why the banquet was not being made ready. The mead for
+the feast was not yet brewed. And there was little chance of being able
+to brew mead that would do for all, for Ægir's hall was lacking a mead
+kettle that would contain enough.
+
+When the Æsir and the Vanir heard this they were sorely disappointed.
+Who now, outside of Asgard, would give them a feast? Ægir was the only
+one of the Giants who was friendly to them, and Ægir could not give them
+full entertainment.
+
+Then a Giant youth who was there spoke up and said, "My kinsman, the
+Giant Hrymer, has a mead kettle that is a mile wide. If we could bring
+Hrymer's kettle here, what a feast we might have!"
+
+"One of us can go for that kettle," Frey said.
+
+"Ah, but Hrymer's dwelling is beyond the deepest forest and behind the
+highest mountain," the Giant youth said, "and Hrymer himself is a rough
+and a churlish one to call on."
+
+"Still, one of us should go," Frey said.
+
+"I will go to Hrymer's dwelling," said Thor, standing up. "I will go to
+Hrymer's dwelling and get the mile-wide kettle from him by force or
+cunning." He had been sitting subdued under the mocking tales that Loki
+told of him and he was pleased with this chance to make his prowess
+plain to the Æsir and the Vanir. He buckled on the belt that doubled his
+strength. He drew on the iron gloves that enabled him to grasp Miölnir.
+He took his hammer in his hands, and he signed to the Giant youth to
+come with him and be his guide.
+
+The Æsir and the Vanir applauded Thor as he stepped out of old Ægir's
+hall. But Loki, mischievous Loki, threw a gibe after him. "Do not let
+the hammer out of your hands this time, bride of Thrym," he shouted.
+
+Thor, with the Giant youth to guide him, went through the deepest forest
+and over the highest mountain. He came at last to the Giant's dwelling.
+On a hillock before Hrymer's house was a dreadful warden; a Giant crone
+she was, with heads a-many growing out of her shoulders. She was
+squatting down on her ankles, and her heads, growing in bunches, were
+looking in different directions. As Thor and the Giant youth came near
+screams and yelps came from all her heads. Thor grasped his hammer and
+would have flung it at her if a Giant woman, making a sign of peace, had
+not come to the door of the dwelling. The youthful Giant who was with
+Thor greeted her as his mother.
+
+"Son, come within," said she, "and you may bring your fellow farer with
+you."
+
+The Giant crone--she was Hrymer's grandmother--kept up her screaming and
+yelping. But Thor went past her and into the Giant's dwelling.
+
+When she saw that it was one of the Dwellers in Asgard who had come with
+her son the Giant woman grew fearful for them both. "Hrymer," she said,
+"will be in a rage to find one of the Æsir under his roof. He will
+strive to slay you."
+
+"It is not likely he will succeed," Thor said, grasping Miölnir, the
+hammer that all the Giant race knew of and dreaded.
+
+"Hide from him," said the Giant woman. "He may injure my son in his rage
+to find you here."
+
+"I am not wont to hide from the Giants," Thor said.
+
+"Hide only for a little while! Hide until Hrymer has eaten," the Giant
+woman pleaded. "He comes back from the chase in a stormy temper. After
+he has eaten he is easier to deal with. Hide until he has finished
+supper."
+
+Thor at last agreed to do this. He and the Giant youth hid behind a
+pillar in the hall. They were barely hidden when they heard the clatter
+of the Giant's steps as he came through the courtyard. He came to the
+door. His beard was like a frozen forest around his mouth. And he
+dragged along with him a wild bull that he had captured in the chase. So
+proud was he of his capture that he dragged it into the hall.
+
+"I have taken alive," he shouted, "the bull with the mightiest head and
+horns. 'Heaven-breaking' this bull is called. No Giant but me could
+capture it." He tied the bull to the post of the door and then his eyes
+went toward the pillar behind which Thor and the Giant youth were
+hiding. The pillar split up its whole length at that look from Hrymer's
+eyes. He came nearer. The pillar of stone broke across. It fell with the
+crossbeam it supported and all the kettles and cauldrons that were
+hanging on the beam came down with a terrible rattle.
+
+Then Thor stepped out and faced the wrathful Giant. "It is I who am
+here, friend Hrymer," he said, his hands resting on his hammer.
+
+Then Hrymer, who knew Thor and knew the force of Thor's hammer, drew
+back. "Now that you are in my house, Asa Thor," he said, "I will not
+quarrel with you. Make supper ready for Asa Thor and your son and
+myself," said he to the Giant woman.
+
+A plentiful supper was spread and Hrymer and Thor and the Giant youth
+sat down to three whole roast oxen. Thor ate the whole of one ox.
+Hrymer, who had eaten nearly two himself, leaving only small cuts for
+his wife and his youthful kinsman, grumbled at Thor's appetite. "You'll
+clear my fields, Asa Thor," he said, "if you stay long with me."
+
+"Do not grumble, Hrymer," Thor said. "Tomorrow I'll go fishing and I'll
+bring you back the weight of what I ate."
+
+"Then instead of hunting I'll go fishing with you tomorrow, Asa Thor,"
+said Hrymer. "And don't be frightened if I take you out on a rough sea."
+
+Hrymer was first out of bed the next morning. He came with the pole and
+the ropes in his hand to where Thor was sleeping. "Time to start earning
+your meal, Asa Thor," said he.
+
+Thor got out of bed, and when they were both in the courtyard the Giant
+said, "You'll have to provide a bait for yourself. Mind that you take a
+bait large enough. It is not where the little fishes are, the place
+where I'm going to take you. If you never saw monsters before you'll see
+them now. I'm glad, Asa Thor, that you spoke of going fishing."
+
+"Will this bait be big enough?" said Thor, laying his hands on the horns
+of the bull that Hrymer had captured and brought home, the bull with the
+mighty head of horns that was called "Heaven-breaking." "Will this bait
+be big enough, do you think?"
+
+"Yes, if you're big enough to handle it," said the Giant.
+
+Thor said nothing, but he struck the bull full in the middle of the
+forehead with his fist. The great creature fell down dead. Thor then
+twisted the bull's head off. "I have my bait and I'm ready to go with
+you, Hrymer," he said.
+
+Hrymer had turned away to hide the rage he was in at seeing Thor do such
+a feat. He walked down to the boat without speaking. "You may row for
+the first few strokes," said Hrymer, when they were in the boat, "but
+when we come to where the ocean is rough, why I'll take the oars from
+you."
+
+Without saying a word Thor made a few strokes that took the boat out
+into the middle of the ocean. Hrymer was in a rage to think that he
+could not show himself greater than Thor. He let out his line and began
+to fish. Soon he felt something huge on his hook. The boat rocked and
+rocked till Thor steadied it. Then Hrymer drew into the boat the largest
+whale that was in these seas.
+
+"Good fishing," said Thor, as he put his own bait on the line.
+
+"It's something for you to tell the Æsir," said Hrymer.
+
+"I thought as you were here I'd show you something bigger than
+salmon-fishing."
+
+"I'll try my luck now," said Thor.
+
+He threw out a line that had at the end of it the mighty-horned head of
+the great bull. Down, down the head went. It passed where the whales
+swim, and the whales were afraid to gulp at the mighty horns. Down, down
+it went till it came near where the monster serpent that coils itself
+round the world abides. It reared its head up from its serpent coils as
+Thor's bait came down through the depths of the ocean. It gulped at the
+head and drew it into its gullet. There the great hook stuck. Terribly
+surprised was the serpent monster. It lashed the ocean into a fury. But
+still the hook stayed. Then it strove to draw down to the depths of the
+ocean the boat of those who had hooked it. Thor put his legs across the
+boat and stretched them till they touched the bottom bed of the ocean.
+On the bottom bed of the ocean Thor stood and he pulled and he pulled on
+his line. The serpent monster lashed the ocean into fiercer and fiercer
+storms and all the world's ships were hurled against each other and
+wrecked and tossed. But it had to loosen coil after coil of the coils it
+makes around the world. Thor pulled and pulled. Then the terrible head
+of the serpent monster appeared above the waters. It reared over the
+boat that Hrymer sat in and that Thor straddled across. Thor dropped the
+line and took up Miölnir, his mighty hammer. He raised it to strike the
+head of the serpent monster whose coils go round the world. But Hrymer
+would not have that happen. Rather than have Thor pass him by such a
+feat he cut the line, and the head of the serpent monster sank back into
+the sea. Thor's hammer was raised. He hurled it, hurled that hammer that
+always came back to his hand. It followed the sinking head through
+fathom after fathom of the ocean depth. It struck the serpent monster a
+blow, but not such a deadly blow as would have been struck if the water
+had not come between. A bellow of pain came up from the depths of the
+ocean, such a bellow of pain that all in Jötunheim were affrighted.
+
+"This surely is something to tell the Æsir of," said Thor, "something to
+make them forget Loki's mockeries."
+
+Without speaking Hrymer turned the boat and rowed toward the shore,
+dragging the whale in the wake. He was in such a rage to think that one
+of the Æsir had done a feat surpassing his that he would not speak. At
+supper, too, he remained silent, but Thor talked for two, boasting
+loudly of his triumph over the monster serpent.
+
+"No doubt you think yourself very powerful, Asa Thor," Hrymer said at
+last. "Well, do you think you are powerful enough to break the cup that
+is before you?"
+
+Thor took up the cup and with a laugh he hurled it against the stone
+pillar of the house. The cup fell down on the floor without a crack or a
+dint in it. But the pillar was shattered with the blow.
+
+The Giant laughed. "So feeble are the folk of Asgard!" he said.
+
+Thor took up the cup again and flung it with greater force against the
+stone pillar. And again the cup fell to the ground without a crack or a
+dint.
+
+Then he heard the woman who was the mother of the Giant youth sing
+softly, as she plied her wheel behind him:
+
+     Not at the pillar of the stead,
+     But at Hrymer's massy head:
+     When you next the goblet throw,
+     Let his head receive the blow.
+
+Thor took the cup up again. He flung it, not at the pillar this time,
+but at Hrymer's head. It struck the Giant full on the forehead and fell
+down on the floor in pieces. And Hrymer's head was left without a dint
+or a crack.
+
+"Ha, so you can break a cup, but can you lift up my mile-wide kettle?"
+cried the Giant.
+
+"Show me where your mile-wide kettle is and I shall try to lift it,"
+cried Thor.
+
+The Giant took up the flooring and showed him the mile-wide kettle down
+in the cellar. Thor stooped down and took the kettle by the brim. He
+lifted it slowly as if with a mighty effort.
+
+"You can lift, but can you carry it?" said the Giant.
+
+"I will try to do that," said Thor. He lifted the kettle up and placed
+it on his head. He strode to the door and out of the house before the
+Giant could lay hands on him. Then when he was outside he started to
+run. He was across the mountain before he looked behind him. He heard a
+yelping and a screaming and he saw the Giant crone with the bunch of
+heads running, running after him. Up hill and down dale Thor raced, the
+mile-wide kettle on his head and the Giant crone in chase of him.
+Through the deep forest he ran and over the high mountain, but still
+Bunch-of-Heads kept him in chase. But at last, jumping over a lake, she
+fell in and Thor was free of his pursuer.
+
+And so back to the Æsir and the Vanir Thor came in triumph, carrying on
+his head the mile-wide kettle. And those of the Æsir and the Vanir who
+had laughed most at Loki's mockeries rose up and cheered for him as he
+came in. The mead was brewed, the feast was spread, and the greatest
+banquet that ever the Kings of the Giants gave to the Dwellers in Asgard
+was eaten in gladness.
+
+A strange and silent figure sat at the banquet. It was the figure of a
+Giant and no one knew who he was nor where he had come from. But when
+the banquet was ended Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, turned toward this
+figure and said, "O Skyrmir, Giant King of Utgard, rise up now and tell
+Thor of all you practiced upon him when he and Loki came to your City."
+
+Then the stranger at the banquet stood up, and Thor and Loki saw he was
+the Giant King in whose halls they had had the contests. Skyrmir turned
+toward them and said:
+
+"O Thor and O Loki, I will reveal to you now the deceits I practiced on
+you both. It was I whom ye met on the moorland on the day before ye came
+into Utgard. I gave you my name as Skyrmir and I did all I might do to
+prevent your entering our City, for the Giants dreaded a contest of
+strength with Asa Thor. Now hear me, O Thor. The wallet I gave for you
+to take provisions out of was tied with magic knots. No one could undo
+them by strength or cleverness. And while you were striving to undo them
+I placed a mountain of rock between myself and you. The hammer blows,
+which as you thought struck me, struck the mountain and made great
+clefts and gaps in it. When I knew the strength of your tremendous blows
+I was more and more in dread of your coming into our City.
+
+"I saw you would have to be deceived by magic. Your lad Thialfi was the
+one whom I first deceived. For it was not a Giant youth who raced
+against him, but Thought itself. And even you, O Loki, I deceived. For
+when you tried to make yourself out the greatest of eaters I pitted
+against you, not a Giant, but Fire that devours everything.
+
+"You, Thor, were deceived in all the contests. After you had taken the
+drinking horn in your hands we were all affrighted to see how much you
+were able to gulp down. For the end of that horn was in the sea, and
+Ægir, who is here, can tell you that after you had drunk from it, the
+level of the sea went down.
+
+"The cat whom you strove to lift was Nidhögg, the dragon that gnaws at
+the roots of Ygdrassil, the Tree of Trees. Truly we were terrified when
+we saw that you made Nidhögg budge. When you made the back of the cat
+reach the roof of our palace we said to ourselves, 'Thor is the
+mightiest of all the beings we have known.'
+
+"Lastly you strove with the hag Ellie. Her strength seemed marvelous to
+you, and you thought yourself disgraced because you could not throw her.
+But know, Thor, that Ellie whom you wrestled with was Old Age herself.
+We were terrified again to see that she who can overthrow all was not
+able to force you prone upon the ground."
+
+So Skyrmir spoke and then left the hall. And once more the Æsir and the
+Vanir stood up and cheered for Thor, the strongest of all who guarded
+Asgard.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE DWARF'S HOARD, AND THE CURSE THAT IT BROUGHT
+
+
+Now old Ægir's feast was over and all the Æsir and the Vanir made ready
+for their return to Asgard. Two only went on another way--Odin, the
+Eldest of the Gods, and Loki the Mischievous.
+
+Loki and Odin laid aside all that they had kept of the divine power and
+the divine strength. They were going into the World of Men, and they
+would be as men merely. Together they went through Midgard, mingling
+with men of all sorts, kings and farmers, outlaws and true men, warriors
+and householders, thralls and councillors, courteous men and men who
+were ill-mannered. One day they came to the bank of a mighty river and
+there they rested, listening to the beat of iron upon iron in a place
+near by.
+
+Presently, on a rock in the middle of the river, they saw an otter
+come. The otter went into the water and came back to the rock with a
+catch of salmon. He devoured it there. Then Odin saw Loki do a senseless
+and an evil thing. Taking up a great stone he flung it at the otter. The
+stone struck the beast on the skull and knocked him over dead.
+
+"Loki, Loki, why hast thou done a thing so senseless and so evil?" Odin
+said. Loki only laughed. He swam across the water and came back with the
+creature of the river. "Why didst thou take the life of the beast?" Odin
+said.
+
+"The mischief in me made me do it," said Loki. He drew out his knife and
+ripping the otter up he began to flay him. When the skin was off the
+beast he folded it up and stuck it in his belt. Then Odin and he left
+that place by the river.
+
+They came to a house with two smithies beside it, and from the smithies
+came the sound of iron beating upon iron. They went within the house and
+they asked that they might eat there and rest themselves.
+
+An old man who was cooking fish over a fire pointed out a bench to them.
+"Rest there," said he, "and when the fish is cooked I will give you
+something good to eat. My son is a fine fisher and he brings me salmon
+of the best."
+
+Odin and Loki sat on the bench and the old man went on with his cooking.
+"My name is Hreidmar," he said, "and I have two sons who work in the
+smithies without. I have a third son also. It is he who does the fishing
+for us. And who may ye be, O wayfaring men?"
+
+Loki and Odin gave names to Hreidmar that were not the names by which
+they were known in Asgard or on Midgard. Hreidmar served fish to them
+and they ate. "And what adventures have ye met upon your travels?"
+Hreidmar asked. "Few folk come this way to tell me of happenings."
+
+"I killed an otter with a cast of a stone," Loki said with a laugh.
+
+"You killed an otter!" Hreidmar cried. "Where did you kill one?"
+
+"Where I killed him is of no import to you, old man," said Loki. "His
+skin is a good one, however. I have it at my belt."
+
+Hreidmar snatched the skin out of Loki's belt. As soon as he held the
+skin before his eyes he shrieked out, "Fafnir, Regin, my sons, come here
+and bring the thralls of your smithies. Come, come, come!"
+
+"Why dost thou make such an outcry, old man?" said Odin.
+
+"Ye have slain my son Otter," shrieked the old man. "This in my hands is
+the skin of my son."
+
+As Hreidmar said this two young men bearing the forehammers of the
+smithies came in followed by the thralls. "Strike these men dead with
+your forehammers, O Fafnir, O Regin," their father cried. "Otter, who
+used to stay in the river, and whom I changed by enchantment into a
+river beast that he might fish for me, has been slain by these men."
+
+"Peace," said Odin. "We have slain thy son, it would seem, but it was
+unwittingly that we did the deed. We will give a recompense for the
+death of thy son."
+
+"What recompense will ye give?" said Hreidmar, looking at Odin with eyes
+that were small and sharp.
+
+Then did Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, say a word that was unworthy of
+his wisdom and his power. He might have said, "I will bring thee a
+draught of Mimir's well water as a recompense for thy son's death." But
+instead of thinking of wisdom, Odin All-Father thought of gold. "Set a
+price on the life of thy son and we will pay that price in gold," he
+said.
+
+"Maybe ye are great kings traveling through the world," Hreidmar said.
+"If ye are ye will have to find gold that will cover every hair upon the
+skin of him whom ye have killed."
+
+Then did Odin, his mind being fixed upon the gold, think upon a certain
+treasure, a treasure that was guarded by a Dwarf. No other treasure in
+the nine worlds would be great enough to make the recompense that
+Hreidmar claimed. He thought upon this treasure and he thought on how it
+might be taken and yet he was ashamed of his thought.
+
+"Dost thou, Loki, know of Andvari's hoard?" he said.
+
+"I know of it," said Loki sharply, "and I know where it is hidden. Wilt
+thou, Odin, win leave for me to fetch Andvari's hoard?"
+
+Odin spoke to Hreidmar. "I will stay with thee as a hostage," he said,
+"if thou wilt let this one go to fetch a treasure that will cover the
+otter's skin hair by hair."
+
+"I will let this be done," said old Hreidmar with the sharp and cunning
+eyes. "Go now," said he to Loki. Then Loki went from the house.
+
+Andvari was a Dwarf who, in the early days, had gained for himself the
+greatest treasure in the nine worlds. So that he might guard this
+treasure unceasingly he changed himself into a fish--into a pike--and he
+swam in the water before the cave where the hoard was hidden.
+
+All in Asgard knew of the Dwarf and of the hoard he guarded. And there
+was a thought amongst all that this hoard was not to be meddled with and
+that some evil was joined to it. But now Odin had given the word that it
+was to be taken from the Dwarf. Loki set out for Andvari's cave
+rejoicingly. He came to the pool before the cave and he watched for a
+sight of Andvari. Soon he saw the pike swimming cautiously before the
+cave.
+
+He would have to catch the pike and hold him till the treasure was given
+for ransom. As he watched the pike became aware of him. Suddenly he
+flung himself forward in the water and went with speed down the stream.
+
+Not with his hands and not with any hook and line could Loki catch that
+pike. How, then, could he take him? Only with a net that was woven by
+magic. Then Loki thought of where he might get such a net.
+
+Ran, the wife of old Ægir, the Giant King of the Sea, had a net that was
+woven by magic. In it she took all that was wrecked on the sea. Loki
+thought of Ran's net and he turned and went back to Ægir's hall to ask
+for the Queen. But Ran was seldom in her husband's dwelling. She was now
+down by the rocks of the sea.
+
+He found Ran, the cold Queen, standing in the flow of the sea, drawing
+out of the depths with the net that she held in her hands every piece
+of treasure that was washed that way. She had made a heap of the things
+she had drawn out of the sea, corals and amber, and bits of gold and
+silver, but still she was plying her net greedily.
+
+"Thou knowst me, Ægir's wife," said Loki to her.
+
+"I know thee, Loki," said Queen Ran.
+
+"Lend me thy net," said Loki.
+
+"That I will not do," said Queen Ran.
+
+"Lend me thy net that I may catch Andvari the Dwarf who boasts that he
+has a greater treasure than ever thou wilt take out of the sea," said
+Loki.
+
+The cold Queen of the sea ceased plying her net. She looked at Loki
+steadily. Yes, if he were going to catch Andvari she would lend her net
+to him. She hated all the Dwarfs because this one and that one had told
+her they had greater treasures than ever she would be mistress of. But
+especially she hated Andvari, the Dwarf who had the greatest treasure in
+the nine worlds.
+
+"There is nothing more to gather here," she said, "and if thou wilt
+swear to bring me back my net by tomorrow I shall lend it to you."
+
+"I swear by the sparks of Muspelheim that I will bring thy net back to
+thee by tomorrow, O Queen of Ægir," Loki cried. Then Ran put into his
+hands the Magic Net. Back then he went to where the Dwarf, transformed,
+was guarding his wondrous hoard.
+
+Dark was the pool in which Andvari floated as a pike; dark it was, but
+to him it was all golden with the light of his wondrous treasure. For
+the sake of this hoard he had given up his companionship with the
+Dwarfs and his delight in making and shaping the things of their
+workmanship. For the sake of his hoard he had taken on himself the
+dumbness and deafness of a fish.
+
+Now as he swam about before the cave he was aware again of a shadow
+above him. He slipped toward the shadow of the bank. Then as he turned
+round he saw a net sweeping toward him. He sank down in the water. But
+the Magic Net had spread out and he sank into its meshes.
+
+Suddenly he was out of the water and was left gasping on the bank. He
+would have died had he not undone his transformation.
+
+Soon he appeared as a Dwarf. "Andvari, you are caught; it is one of the
+Æsir who has taken you," he heard his captor say.
+
+"Loki," he gasped.
+
+"Thou art caught and thou shalt be held," Loki said to him. "It is the
+will of the Æsir that thou give up thy hoard to me."
+
+"My hoard, my hoard!" the Dwarf shouted. "Never will I give up my
+hoard."
+
+"I hold thee till thou givest it to me," said Loki.
+
+"Unjust, unjust," shouted Andvari. "It is only thou, Loki, who art
+unjust. I will go to the throne of Odin and I will have Odin punish thee
+for striving to rob me of my treasure."
+
+"Odin has sent me to fetch thy hoard to him," said Loki.
+
+"Can it be that all the Æsir are unjust? Ah, yes. In the beginning of
+things they cheated the Giant who built the wall round their City. The
+Æsir are unjust."
+
+Loki had Andvari in his power. And after the Dwarf had raged against him
+and defied him, he tormented him; at last, trembling with rage and with
+his face covered with tears, Andvari took Loki into his cavern, and,
+turning a rock aside, showed him the mass of gold and gems that was his
+hoard.
+
+At once Loki began to gather into the Magic Net lumps and ingots and
+circlets of gold with gems that were rubies and sapphires and emeralds.
+He saw Andvari snatch at something on the heap, but he made no sign of
+marking it. At last all was gathered into the net, and Loki stood there
+ready to bear the Dwarf's hoard away.
+
+"There is one thing more to be given," said Loki, "the ring that you,
+Andvari, snatched from the heap."
+
+"I snatched nothing," said the Dwarf. But he shook with anger and his
+teeth gnashed together and froth came on his lips. "I snatched nothing
+from the heap."
+
+But Loki pulled up his arm and there fell to the ground the ring that
+Andvari had hidden under his armpit.
+
+It was the most precious thing in all the hoard. Had it been left with
+him Andvari would have thought that he still possessed a treasure, for
+this ring of itself could make gold. It was made out of gold that was
+refined of all impurities and it was engraven with a rune of power.
+
+Loki took up this most precious ring and put it on his finger. Then the
+Dwarf screamed at him, turning his thumbs toward him in a curse:
+
+     The ring with the rune
+     Of power upon it:
+     May it weigh down your fortune,
+     And load you with evil,
+     You, Loki, and all
+     Who lust to possess
+     The ring I have cherished.
+
+As Andvari uttered this curse Loki saw a figure rise up in the cave and
+move toward him. As this figure came near he knew who it was: Gulveig, a
+Giant woman who had once been in Asgard.
+
+Far back in the early days, when the Gods had come to their holy hill
+and before Asgard was built, three women of the Giants had come amongst
+the Æsir. After the Three had been with them for a time, the lives of
+the Æsir changed. Then did they begin to value and to hoard the gold
+that they had played with. Then did they think of war. Odin hurled his
+spear amongst the messengers that came from the Vanir, and war came into
+the world.
+
+The Three were driven out of Asgard. Peace was made with the Vanir. The
+Apples of Lasting Youth were grown in Asgard. The eagerness for gold was
+curbed. But never again were the Æsir as happy as they were before the
+women came to them from the Giants.
+
+Gulveig was one of the Three who had blighted the early happiness of the
+Gods. And, behold, she was in the cave where Andvari had hoarded his
+treasure and with a smile upon her face she was advancing toward Loki.
+
+"So, Loki," she said, "thou seest me again. And Odin who sent thee to
+this cave will see me again. Lo, Loki! I go to Odin to be thy messenger
+and to tell him that thou comest with Andvari's hoard."
+
+And speaking so, and smiling into his face, Gulveig went out of the cave
+with swift and light steps. Loki drew the ends of the Magic Net together
+and gathering all the treasures in its meshes he, too, went out.
+
+Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, stood leaning on his spear and looking at
+the skin of the otter that was spread out before him. One came into the
+dwelling swiftly. Odin looked and saw that she who had come in on such
+swift, glad feet was Gulveig who, once with her two companions, had
+troubled the happiness of the Gods. Odin raised his spear to cast it at
+her.
+
+"Lay thy spear down, Odin," she said. "I dwelt for long in the Dwarf's
+cave. But thy word unloosed me, and the curse said over Andvari's ring
+has sent me here. Lay thy spear down, and look on me, O Eldest of the
+Gods.
+
+"Thou didst cast me out of Asgard, but thy word has brought me to come
+back to thee. And if ye two, Odin and Loki, have bought yourselves free
+with gold and may enter Asgard, surely I, Gulveig, am free to enter
+Asgard also."
+
+Odin lowered his spear, sighing deeply. "Surely it is so, Gulveig," he
+said. "I may not forbid thee to enter Asgard. Would I had thought of
+giving the man Kvasir's Mead or Mimir's well water rather than this gold
+as a recompense."
+
+As they spoke Loki came into Hreidmar's dwelling. He laid on the floor
+the Magic Net. Old Hreidmar with his sharp eyes, and huge Fafnir, and
+lean and hungry-looking Regin came in to gaze on the gold and gems that
+shone through the meshes. They began to push each other away from gazing
+at the gold. Then Hreidmar cried out, "No one may be here but these two
+kings and I while we measure out the gold and gems and see whether the
+recompense be sufficient. Go without, go without, sons of mine."
+
+Then Fafnir and Regin were forced to go out of the dwelling. They went
+out slowly, and Gulveig went with them, whispering to both.
+
+With shaking hands old Hreidmar spread out the skin that once covered
+his son. He drew out the ears and the tail and the paws so that every
+single hair could be shown. For long he was on his hands and knees, his
+sharp eyes searching, searching over every line of the skin. And still
+on his knees he said, "Begin now, O kings, and cover with a gem or a
+piece of gold every hair on the skin that was my son's."
+
+Odin stood leaning on his spear, watching the gold and gems being paid
+out. Loki took the gold--the ingots, and the lumps and the circlets; he
+took the gems--the rubies, and the emeralds and the sapphires, and he
+began to place them over each hair. Soon the middle of the skin was all
+covered. Then he put the gems and the gold over the paws and the tail.
+Soon the otter-skin was so glittering that one would think it could
+light up the world. And still Loki went on finding a place where a gem
+or a piece of gold might be put.
+
+At last he stood up. Every gem and every piece of gold had been taken
+out of the net. And every hair on the otter's skin had been covered with
+a gem or a piece of gold.
+
+And still old Hreidmar on his hands and knees was peering over the skin,
+searching, searching for a hair that was not covered. At last he lifted
+himself up on his knees. His mouth was open, but he was speechless. He
+touched Odin on the knees, and when Odin bent down he showed him a hair
+upon the lip that was left uncovered.
+
+"What meanest thou?" Loki cried, turning upon the crouching man.
+
+"Your ransom is not paid yet--look, here is still a hair uncovered. You
+may not go until every hair is covered with gold or a gem."
+
+"Peace, old man," said Loki roughly. "All the Dwarf's hoard has been
+given thee."
+
+"Ye may not go until every hair has been covered," Hreidmar said again.
+
+"There is no more gold or gems," Loki answered.
+
+"Then ye may not go," cried Hreidmar, springing up.
+
+It was true. Odin and Loki might not leave that dwelling until the
+recompense they had agreed to was paid in full. Where now would the Æsir
+go for gold?
+
+And then Odin saw the gleam of gold on Loki's finger: it was the ring he
+had forced from Andvari. "Thy fingerring," said Odin. "Put thy
+fingerring over the hair on the otter's skin."
+
+Loki took off the ring that was engraved with the rune of power, and he
+put it on the lip-hair of the otter's skin. Then Hreidmar clapped his
+hands and screamed aloud. Huge Fafnir and lean and hungry-looking Regin
+came within, and Gulveig came behind them. They stood around the skin of
+the son and the brother that was all glittering with gold and gems. But
+they looked at each other more than they looked on the glittering mass,
+and very deadly were the looks that Fafnir and Regin cast upon their
+father and cast upon each other.
+
+Over Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge, went all of the Æsir and the Vanir
+that had been at old Ægir's feast--Frey and Freya, Frigga, Iduna, and
+Sif; Tyr with his sword and Thor in his chariot drawn by the goats. Loki
+came behind them, and behind them all came Odin, the Father of the Gods.
+He went slowly with his head bent, for he knew that an unwelcome one was
+following--Gulveig, who once had been cast out of Asgard and whose
+return now the Gods might not gainsay.
+
+
+
+
+PART III
+
+THE WITCH'S HEART
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOREBODING IN ASGARD
+
+
+What happened afterwards is to the shame of the Gods, and mortals may
+hardly speak of it. Gulveig the Witch came into Asgard, for Heimdall
+might not forbid her entrance. She came within and she had her seat
+amongst the Æsir and the Vanir. She walked through Asgard with a smile
+upon her face, and where she walked and where she smiled Care and dire
+Foreboding came.
+
+Those who felt the care and the foreboding most deeply were Bragi the
+Poet and his wife, the fair and simple Iduna, she who gathered the
+apples that kept age from the Dwellers in Asgard. Bragi ceased to tell
+his never-ending tale. Then one day, overcome by the fear and the
+foreboding that was creeping through Asgard, Iduna slipped down
+Ygdrassil, the World Tree, and no one was left to pluck the apples with
+which the Æsir and the Vanir stayed their youth.
+
+Then were all the Dwellers in Asgard in sore dismay. Strength and beauty
+began to fade from all. Thor found it hard to lift Miölnir, his great
+hammer, and the flesh under Freya's necklace lost its white radiance.
+And still Gulveig the Witch walked smiling through Asgard, although now
+she was hated by all.
+
+It was Odin and Frey who went in search of Iduna. She would have been
+found and brought back without delay if Frey had had with him the magic
+sword that he had bartered for Gerda. In his search he had to strive
+with one who guarded the lake wherein Iduna had hidden herself. Beli was
+the one he strove against. He overcame him in the end with a weapon made
+of stags' antlers. Ah, it was not then but later that Frey lamented the
+loss of his sword: it was when the Riders of Muspell came against
+Asgard, and the Vanir, who might have prevailed, prevailed not because
+of the loss of Frey's sword.
+
+They found Iduna and they brought her back. But still Care and
+Foreboding crept through Asgard. And it was known, too, that the witch
+Gulveig was changing the thoughts of the Gods.
+
+At last Odin had to judge Gulveig. He judged her and decreed her death.
+And only Gungnir, the spear of Odin, might slay Gulveig, who was not of
+mortal race.
+
+Odin hurled Gungnir. The spear went through Gulveig. But still she stood
+smiling at the Gods. A second time Odin hurled his spear. A second time
+Gungnir pierced the witch. She stood livid as one dead but fell not
+down. A third time Odin hurled his spear. And now, pierced for the third
+time, the witch gave a scream that made all Asgard shudder and she fell
+in death on the ground.
+
+"I have slain in these halls where slaying is forbidden," Odin said.
+"Take now the corpse of Gulveig and burn it on the ramparts, so that no
+trace of the witch who has troubled us will remain in Asgard."
+
+They brought the corpse of Gulveig the witch out on the ramparts and
+they lighted fires under the pile on which they laid her and they called
+upon Hræsvelgur to fan up the flame:
+
+     Hræsvelgur is the Giant,
+     Who on heaven's edge sits
+     In the guise of an eagle;
+     And the winds, it is said,
+     Rush down on the earth
+     From his outspreading pinions.
+
+Far away was Loki when all this was being done. Often now he went from
+Asgard, and his journeys were to look upon that wondrous treasure that
+had passed from the keeping of the Dwarf Andvari. It was Gulveig who had
+kept the imagination of that treasure within his mind. Now, when he came
+back and heard the whispers of what had been done, a rage flamed up
+within him. For Loki was one of those whose minds were being changed by
+the presence and the whispers of the witch Gulveig. His mind was being
+changed to hatred of the Gods. Now he went to the place of Gulveig's
+burning. All her body was in ashes, but her heart had not been devoured
+by the flames. And Loki in his rage took the heart of the witch and ate
+it. Oh, black and direful was it in Asgard, the day that Loki ate the
+heart that the flames would not devour!
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+LOKI THE BETRAYER
+
+
+He stole Frigga's dress of falcon feathers. Then as a falcon he flew out
+of Asgard. Jötunheim was the place that he flew toward.
+
+The anger and the fierceness of the hawk was within Loki as he flew
+through the Giants' Realm. The heights and the chasms of that dread land
+made his spirits mount up like fire. He saw the whirlpools and the
+smoking mountains and had joy of these sights. Higher and higher he
+soared until, looking toward the South, he saw the flaming land of
+Muspelheim. Higher and higher still he soared. With his falcon's eyes he
+saw the gleam of Surtur's flaming sword. All the fire of Muspelheim and
+all the gloom of Jötunheim would one day be brought against Asgard and
+against Midgard. But Loki was no longer dismayed to think of the ruin of
+Asgard's beauty and the ruin of Midgard's promise.
+
+He hovered around one of the dwellings in Jötunheim. Why had he come to
+it? Because he had seen two of the women of that dwelling, and his rage
+against the Asyniur and the Vanir was such that the ugliness and the
+evil of these women was pleasing to him.
+
+He hovered before the open door of the Giant's house and he looked upon
+those who were within. Gerriöd, the most savage of all the Giants, was
+there. And beside him, squatting on the ground, were his two evil and
+ugly daughters, Gialp and Greip.
+
+They were big and bulky, black and rugged, with horses' teeth and hair
+that was like horses' manes. Gialp was the uglier of the two, if one
+could be said to be uglier than the other, for her nose was a yard long
+and her eyes were crooked.
+
+What were they talking about as they sat there, one scratching the
+other? Of Asgard and the Dwellers in Asgard whom they hated. Thor was
+the one whom they hated most of all, and they were speaking of all they
+would like to do to him.
+
+"I would keep Thor bound in chains," said Gerriöd the Giant, "and I
+would beat him to death with my iron club."
+
+"I would grind his bones to powder," said Greip.
+
+"I would tear the flesh off his bones," said Gialp. "Father, can you not
+catch this Thor and bring him to us alive?"
+
+"Not so long as he has his hammer Miölnir, and the gloves with which he
+grasps his hammer, and the belt that doubles his strength."
+
+"Oh, if we could catch him without his hammer and his belt and his
+gloves," cried Gialp and Greip together.
+
+At that moment they saw the falcon hovering before the door. They were
+eager now for something to hold and torment and so the hearts of the
+three became set upon catching the falcon. They did not stir from the
+place where they were sitting, but they called the child Glapp, who was
+swinging from the roof-tree, and they bade him go out and try to catch
+the falcon.
+
+All concealed by the great leaves the child Glapp climbed up the ivy
+that was around the door. The falcon came hovering near. Then Glapp
+caught it by the wings and fell down through the ivy, screaming and
+struggling as he was being beaten, and clawed, and torn by the wings and
+the talons and the beak of the falcon.
+
+Gerriöd and Greip and Gialp rushed out and kept hold of the falcon. As
+the Giant held him in his hands and looked him over he knew that this
+was no bird-creature. The eyes showed him to be of Alfheim or Asgard.
+The Giant took him and shut him in a box till he would speak.
+
+Soon he tapped at the closed box and when Gerriöd opened it Loki spoke
+to him. So glad was the savage Giant to have one of the Dwellers in
+Asgard in his power that he and his daughters did nothing but laugh and
+chuckle to each other for days. And all this time they left Loki in the
+closed box to waste with hunger.
+
+When they opened the box again Loki spoke to them. He told them he
+would do any injury to the Dwellers in Asgard that would please them if
+they would let him go.
+
+"Will you bring Thor to us?" said Greip.
+
+"Will you bring Thor to us without his hammer, and without the gloves
+with which he grasps his hammer, and without his belt?" said Gialp.
+
+"I will bring him to you if you will let me go," Loki said. "Thor is
+easily deceived and I can bring him to you without his hammer and his
+belt and his gloves."
+
+"We will let you go, Loki," said the Giant, "if you will swear by the
+gloom of Jötunheim that you will bring Thor to us as you say."
+
+Loki swore that he would do so by the gloom of Jötunheim--"Yea, and by
+the fires of Muspelheim," he added. The Giant and his daughters let him
+go, and he flew back to Asgard.
+
+He restored to Frigga her falcon dress. All blamed him for having stolen
+it, but when he told how he had been shut up without food in Gerriöd's
+dwelling those who judged him thought he had been punished enough for
+the theft. He spoke as before to the Dwellers in Asgard, and the rage
+and hatred he had against them since he had eaten Gulveig's heart he
+kept from bursting forth.
+
+He talked to Thor of the adventures they had together in Jötunheim. Thor
+would now roar with laughter when he talked of the time when he went as
+a bride to Thrym the Giant.
+
+Loki was able to persuade him to make another journey to Jötunheim. "And
+I want to speak to you of what I saw in Gerriöd's dwelling," he said.
+"I saw there the hair of Sif, your wife."
+
+"The hair of Sif, my wife," said Thor in surprise.
+
+"Yes, the hair I once cut off from Sif's head," said Loki. "Gerriöd was
+the one who found it when I cast it away. They light their hall with
+Sif's hair. Oh, yes, they don't need torches where Sif's hair is."
+
+"I should like to see it," said Thor.
+
+"Then pay Gerriöd a visit," Loki replied. "But if you go to his house
+you will have to go without your hammer Miölnir, and without your gloves
+and your belt."
+
+"Where will I leave Miölnir, and my gloves and my belt?" Thor asked.
+
+"Leave them in Valaskjalf, Odin's own dwelling," said cunning Loki.
+"Leave them there and come to Gerriöd's dwelling. Surely you will be
+well treated there."
+
+"Yes, I will leave them in Valaskjalf and go with you to Gerriöd's
+dwelling," Thor said.
+
+Thor left his hammer, his gloves, and his belt in Valaskjalf. Then he
+and Loki went toward Jötunheim. When they were near the end of their
+journey, they came to a wide river, and with a young Giant whom they met
+on the bank they began to ford it.
+
+Suddenly the river began to rise. Loki and the young Giant would have
+been swept away only Thor gripped both of them. Higher and higher the
+river rose, and rougher and rougher it became. Thor had to plant his
+feet firmly on the bottom or he and the two he held would have been
+swept down by the flood. He struggled across, holding Loki and the
+young Giant. A mountain ash grew out of the bank, and, while the two
+held to him, he grasped it with his hands. The river rose still higher,
+but Thor was able to draw Loki and the young Giant to the bank, and then
+he himself scrambled up on it.
+
+Now looking up the river he saw a sight that filled him with rage. A
+Giantess was pouring a flood into it. This it was that was making the
+river rise and seethe. Thor pulled a rock out of the bank and hurled it
+at her. It struck her and flung her into the flood. Then she struggled
+out of the water and went yelping away. This Giantess was Gialp,
+Gerriöd's ugly and evil daughter.
+
+Nothing would do the young Giant whom Thor had helped across but that
+the pair would go and visit Grid, his mother, who lived in a cave in the
+hillside. Loki would not go and was angered to hear that Thor thought of
+going. But Thor, seeing that the Giant youth was friendly, was willing
+enough to go to Grid's dwelling.
+
+"Go then, but get soon to Gerriöd's dwelling yonder. I will wait for you
+there," said Loki. He watched Thor go up the hillside to Grid's cave. He
+waited until he saw Thor come back down the hillside and go toward
+Gerriöd's dwelling. He watched Thor go into the house where, as he
+thought, death awaited him. Then in a madness for what he had done,
+Loki, with his head drawn down on his shoulders, started running like a
+bird along the ground.
+
+Grid, the old Giantess, was seated on the floor of the cave grinding
+corn between two stones. "Who is it?" she said, as her son led Thor
+within. "One of the Æsir! What Giant do you go to injure now, Asa Thor?"
+
+"I go to injure no Giant, old Grid," Thor replied. "Look upon me! Cannot
+you see that I have not Miölnir, my mighty hammer, with me, nor my belt,
+nor my gloves of iron?"
+
+"But where in Jötunheim do you go?"
+
+"To the house of a friendly Giant, old Grid--to the house of Gerriöd."
+
+"Gerriöd a friendly Giant! You are out of your wits, Asa Thor. Is he not
+out of his wits, my son--this one who saved you from the flood, as you
+say?"
+
+"Tell him of Gerriöd, old mother," said the Giant youth.
+
+"Do not go to his house, Asa Thor. Do not go to his house."
+
+"My word has been given, and I should be a craven if I stayed away now,
+just because an old crone sitting at a quernstone tells me I am going
+into a trap."
+
+"I will give you something that will help you, Asa Thor. Lucky for you I
+am mistress of magical things. Take this staff in your hands. It is a
+staff of power and will stand you instead of Miölnir."
+
+"I will take it since you offer it in kindness, old dame, this
+worm-eaten staff."
+
+"And take these mittens, too. They will serve you for your gauntlets of
+iron."
+
+"I will take them since you offer them in kindness, old dame, these worn
+old mittens."
+
+"And take this length of string. It will serve you for your belt of
+prowess."
+
+"I will take it since you offer it in kindness, old dame, this ragged
+length of string."
+
+"'Tis well indeed for you, Asa Thor, that I am mistress of magical
+things."
+
+Thor put the worn length of string around his waist, and as he did he
+knew that Grid, the old Giantess, was indeed the mistress of magical
+things. For immediately he felt his strength augmented as when he put on
+his own belt of strength. He then drew on the mittens and took the staff
+that she gave him in his hands.
+
+He left the cave of Grid, the old Giantess, and went to Gerriöd's
+dwelling. Loki was not there. It was then that Thor began to think that
+perhaps old Grid was right and that a trap was being laid for him.
+
+No one was in the hall. He came out of the hall and into a great stone
+chamber and he saw no one there either. But in the center of the stone
+chamber there was a stone seat, and Thor went to it and seated himself
+upon it.
+
+No sooner was he seated than the chair flew upwards. Thor would have
+been crushed against the stone roof only that he held his staff up. So
+great was the power in the staff, so great was the strength that the
+string around him gave, that the chair was thrust downward. The stone
+chair crashed down upon the stone floor.
+
+There were horrible screams from under it. Thor lifted up the seat and
+saw two ugly, broken bodies there. The Giant's daughters, Gialp and
+Greip, had hidden themselves under the chair to watch his death. But
+the stone that was to have crushed him against the ceiling had crushed
+them against the floor.
+
+Thor strode out of that chamber with his teeth set hard. A great fire
+was blazing in the hall, and standing beside that fire he saw Gerriöd,
+the long-armed Giant.
+
+He held a tongs into the fire. As Thor came toward him he lifted up the
+tongs and flung from it a blazing wedge of iron. It whizzed straight
+toward Thor's forehead. Thor put up his hands and caught the blazing
+wedge of iron between the mittens that old Grid had given him. Quickly
+he hurled it back at Gerriöd. It struck the Giant on the forehead and
+went blazing through him.
+
+Gerriöd crashed down into the fire, and the burning iron made a blaze
+all around him. And when Thor reached Grid's cave (he went there to
+restore to the old Giantess the string, the mittens, and the staff of
+power she had given him) he saw the Giant's dwelling in such a blaze
+that one would think the fires of Muspelheim were all around it.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+LOKI AGAINST THE ÆSIR
+
+
+The Æsir were the guests of the Vanir: in Frey's palace the Dwellers in
+Asgard met and feasted in friendship. Odin and Tyr were there, Vidar and
+Vali, Niörd, Frey, Heimdall, and Bragi. The Asyniur and the Vana were
+also--Frigga, Freya, Iduna, Gerda, Skadi, Sif, and Nanna. Thor and Loki
+were not at the feast, for they had left Asgard together.
+
+In Frey's palace the vessels were of shining gold; they made light for
+the table and they moved of their own accord to serve those who were
+feasting. All was peace and friendship there until Loki entered the
+feast hall.
+
+Frey, smiling a welcome, showed a bench to Loki. It was beside Bragi's
+and next to Freya's. Loki did not take the place; instead he shouted
+out, "Not beside Bragi will I sit; not beside Bragi, the most craven of
+all the Dwellers in Asgard."
+
+Bragi sprang up at that affront, but his wife, the mild Iduna, quieted
+his anger. Freya turned to Loki and reproved him for speaking injurious
+words at a feast.
+
+"Freya," said Loki, "why were you not so mild when Odur was with you?
+Would it not have been well to have been wifely with your husband
+instead of breaking faith with him for the sake of a necklace that you
+craved of the Giant women?"
+
+Amazement fell on all at the bitterness that was in Loki's words and
+looks. Tyr and Niörd stood up from their seats. But then the voice of
+Odin was heard and all was still for the words of the All-Father.
+
+"Take the place beside Vidar, my silent son, O Loki," said Odin, "and
+let thy tongue which drips bitterness be silent."
+
+"All the Æsir and the Vanir listen to thy words, O Odin, as if thou wert
+always wise and just," Loki said. "But must we forget that thou didst
+bring war into the world when thou didst fling thy spear at the envoys
+of the Vanir? And didst thou not permit me to work craftily on the one
+who built the wall around Asgard for a price? Thou dost speak, O Odin,
+and all the Æsir and the Vanir listen to thee! But was it not thou who,
+thinking not of wisdom but of gold when a ransom had to be made, brought
+the witch Gulveig out of the cave where she stayed with the Dwarf's
+treasure? Thou wert not always wise nor always just, O Odin, and we at
+the table here need not listen to thee as if always thou wert."
+
+Then Skadi, the wife of Niörd, flung words at Loki. She spoke with all
+the fierceness of her Giant blood. "Why should we not rise up and chase
+from the hall this chattering crow?" she said.
+
+"Skadi," said Loki, "remember that the ransom for thy father's death has
+not yet been paid. Thou wert glad to snatch a husband instead of it.
+Remember who it was that killed thy Giant father. It was I, Loki. And no
+ransom have I paid thee for it, although thou hast come amongst us in
+Asgard."
+
+Then Loki fixed his eyes on Frey, the giver of the feast, and all knew
+that with bitter words he was about to assail him. But Tyr, the brave
+swordsman, rose up and said, "Not against Frey mayst thou speak, O Loki.
+Frey is generous; he is the one amongst us who spares the vanquished and
+frees the captive."
+
+"Cease speaking, Tyr," said Loki. "Thou mayst not always have a hand to
+hold that sword of thine. Remember this saying of mine in days to come.
+
+"Frey," said he, "because thou art the giver of the feast they think I
+will not speak the truth about thee. But I am not to be bribed by a
+feast. Didst thou not send Skirnir to Gymer's dwelling to befool Gymer's
+flighty daughter? Didst thou not bribe him into frightening her into a
+marriage with thee, who, men say, wert the slayer of her brother? Yea,
+Frey. Thou didst part with a charge, with the magic sword that thou
+shouldst have kept for the battle. Thou hadst cause to grieve when thou
+didst meet Beli by the lake."
+
+When he said this all who were there of the Vanir rose up, their faces
+threatening Loki.
+
+"Sit still, ye Vanir," Loki railed. "If the Æsir are to bear the brunt
+of Jötunheim's and Muspelheim's war upon Asgard it was your part to be
+the first or the last on Vigard's plain. But already ye have lost the
+battle for Asgard, for the weapon that was put into Frey's hands he
+bartered for Gerda the Giantess. Ha! Surtur shall triumph over you
+because of Frey's bewitchment."
+
+In horror they looked at the one who could let his hatred speak of
+Surtur's triumph. All would have laid hands on Loki only Odin's voice
+rang out. Then another appeared at the entrance of the feasting hall. It
+was Thor. With his hammer upon his shoulder, his gloves of iron on his
+hands, and his belt of prowess around him, he stood marking Loki with
+wrathful eyes.
+
+"Ha, Loki, betrayer," he shouted. "Thou didst plan to leave me dead in
+Gerriöd's house, but now thou wilt meet death by the stroke of this
+hammer."
+
+His hands were raised to hurl Miölnir. But the words that Odin spoke
+were heard. "Not in this hall may slaying be done, son Thor. Keep thy
+hands upon thy hammer."
+
+Then shrinking from the wrath in the eyes of Thor, Loki passed out of
+the feast hall. He went beyond the walls of Asgard and crossed Bifröst,
+the Rainbow Bridge. And he cursed Bifröst, and longed to see the day
+when the armies of Muspelheim would break it down in their rush against
+Asgard.
+
+East of Midgard there was a place more evil than any region in
+Jötunheim. It was Jarnvid, the Iron Wood. There dwelt witches who were
+the most foul of all witches. And they had a queen over them, a hag,
+mother of many sons who took upon themselves the shapes of wolves. Two
+of her sons were Skoll and Hati, who pursued Sol, the Sun, and Mani, the
+Moon. She had a third son, who was Managarm, the wolf who was to be
+filled with the life-blood of men, who was to swallow up the Moon, and
+stain the heavens and earth with blood. To Jarnvid, the Iron Wood, Loki
+made his way. And he wed one of the witches there, Angerboda, and they
+had children that took on dread shapes. Loki's offspring were the most
+terrible of the foes that were to come against the Æsir and the Vanir in
+the time that was called the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE VALKYRIE
+
+
+Against the time when the riders of Muspelheim, with the Giants and the
+evil powers of the Underworld, would bring on battle, Odin All-Father
+was preparing a host of defenders for Asgard. They were not of the Æsir
+nor of the Vanir; they were of the race of mortal men, heroes chosen
+from amongst the slain on fields of battle in Midgard.
+
+To choose the heroes, and to give victory to those whom he willed to
+have victory, Odin had battle-maidens that went to the fields of war.
+Beautiful were those battle-maidens and fearless; wise were they also,
+for to them Odin showed the Runes of Wisdom. Valkyries, Choosers of the
+Slain, they were named.
+
+Those who were chosen on the fields of the slain were called in Asgard
+the Einherjar. For them Odin made ready a great Hall. Valhalla, the Hall
+of the Slain, it was called. Five hundred and forty doors had Valhalla,
+and out of each door eight hundred Champions might pass. Every day the
+Champions put on their armor and took their weapons down from the walls,
+and went forth and battled with each other. All who were wounded were
+made whole again, and in peace and goodly fellowship they sat down to
+the feast that Odin prepared for them. Odin himself sat with his
+Champions, drinking wine but eating no meat.
+
+For meat the Champions ate the flesh of the boar Sæhrimnir; every day
+the boar was killed and cooked, and every morning it was whole again.
+For drink they had the mead that was made from the milk of the goat
+Heidrun, the goat that browsed on the leaves of the tree Læradir. And
+the Valkyries, the wise and fearless battle-maidens, went amongst them,
+filling up the drinking-horns with the heady mead.
+
+Youngest of all the battle-maidens was Brynhild. Nevertheless, to her
+Odin All-Father had shown more of the Runes of Wisdom than he had shown
+to any of her sisters. And when the time came for Brynhild to journey
+down into Midgard he gave her a swan-feather dress such as he had given
+before to the three Valkyrie sisters--Alvit, Olrun, and Hladgrun.
+
+In the dazzling plumage of a swan the young battle-maiden flew down from
+Asgard. Not yet had she to go to the battlefields. Waters drew her, and
+as she waited on the will of the All-Father she sought out a lake that
+had golden sands for its shore, and as a maiden bathed in it.
+
+Now there dwelt near this lake a young hero whose name was Agnar. And
+one day as Agnar lay by the lake he saw a swan with dazzling plumage fly
+down to it. And while she was in the reeds the swan-feather dress
+slipped off her, and Agnar beheld the swan change to a maiden.
+
+So bright was her hair, so strong and swift were all her movements, that
+he knew her for one of Odin's battle-maidens; for one of those who give
+victory and choose the slain. Very daring was Agnar, and he set his mind
+upon capturing this battle-maiden even though he should bring on himself
+the wrath of Odin by doing it.
+
+He hid the swan-feather dress that she had left in the reeds. When she
+came out of the water she might not fly away. Agnar gave back to her the
+swan-feather dress, but she had to promise that she would be his
+battle-maiden.
+
+And as they talked together the young Valkyrie saw in him a hero that
+one from Asgard might help. Very brave and very noble was Agnar.
+Brynhild went with him as his battle-maiden, and she told him much from
+the Runes of Wisdom that she knew, and she showed him that the
+All-Father's last hope was in the bravery of the heroes of the earth;
+with the Chosen from the Slain for his Champions he would make battle in
+defence of Asgard.
+
+Always Brynhild was with Agnar's battalions; above the battles she
+hovered, her bright hair and flashing battle-dress outshining the spears
+and swords and shields of the warriors.
+
+But the gray-beard King Helmgunnar made war on the young Agnar. Odin
+favored the gray-beard King, and to him he promised the victory.
+Brynhild knew the will of the All-Father. But to Agnar, not to
+Helmgunnar, she gave the victory.
+
+Doomed was Brynhild on the instant she went against Odin's will. Never
+again might she come into Asgard. A mortal woman she was now, and the
+Norns began to spin the thread of her mortal destiny.
+
+Sorrowful was Odin All-Father that the wisest of his battle-maidens
+might never appear in Asgard nor walk by the benches at the feasts of
+his Champions in Valhalla. He rode down on Sleipner to where Brynhild
+was. And when he came before her it was his, and not her head that was
+bowed down.
+
+For she knew now that the World of Men was paying a bitter price for the
+strength that Asgard would have in the last battle. The bravest and
+noblest were being taken from Midgard to fill up the ranks of Odin's
+Champions. And Brynhild's heart was full of anger against the rulers of
+Asgard, and she cared no more to be of them.
+
+Odin looked on his unflinching battle-maiden, and he said, "Is there
+aught thou wouldst have me bestow on thee in thy mortal life, Brynhild?"
+
+"Naught save this," Brynhild answered, "that in my mortal life no one
+but a man without fear, the bravest hero in the world, may claim me for
+wife."
+
+All-Father bowed his head in thought. "It shall be as thou hast asked,"
+he said. "Only he who is without fear shall come near thee."
+
+Then on the top of the mountain that is called Hindfell he had a Hall
+built that faced the south. Ten Dwarfs built it of black stone. And when
+the Hall was built he put round it a wall of mounting and circling fire.
+
+More did Odin All-Father: he took a thorn of the Tree of Sleep and he
+put it into the flesh of the battle-maiden. Then, with her helmet on her
+head and the breast-mail of the Valkyrie upon her, he lifted Brynhild in
+his arms and carried her through the wall of mounting and circling fire.
+He laid her upon the couch that was within the Hall. There she would lie
+in slumber until the hero who was without fear should ride through the
+flame and waken her to the life of a mortal woman.
+
+He took farewell of her and he rode back to Asgard on Sleipner. He might
+not foresee what fate would be hers as a mortal woman. But the fire he
+had left went mounting and circling around the Hall that the Dwarfs had
+built. For ages that fire would be a fence around where Brynhild, once a
+Valkyrie, lay in sleep.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE CHILDREN OF LOKI
+
+
+The children of Loki and the witch Angerboda were not as the children of
+men: they were formless as water, or air, or fire is formless, but it
+was given to each of them to take on the form that was most like to
+their own greed.
+
+Now the Dwellers in Asgard knew that these powers of evil had been born
+into the world and they thought it well that they should take on forms
+and appear before them in Asgard. So they sent one to Jarnvid, the Iron
+Wood, bidding Loki bring before the Gods the powers born of him and the
+witch Angerboda. So Loki came into Asgard once more. And his offspring
+took on forms and showed themselves to the Gods. The first, whose greed
+was destruction, showed himself as a fearful Wolf. Fenrir he was named.
+And the second, whose greed was slow destruction, showed itself as a
+Serpent. Jörmungand it was called. The third, whose greed was for
+withering of all life, took on a form also. When the Gods saw it they
+were affrighted. For this had the form of a woman, and one side of her
+was that of a living woman and the other side of her was that of a
+corpse. Fear ran through Asgard as this form was revealed and as the
+name that went with it, Hela, was uttered.
+
+Far out of sight of the Gods Hela was thrust. Odin took her and hurled
+her down to the deeps that are below the world. He cast her down to
+Niflheim, where she took to herself power over the nine regions. There,
+in the place that is lowest of all, Hela reigns. Her hall is Elvidnir;
+it is set round with high walls and it has barred gates; Precipice is
+the threshold of that hall; Hunger is the table within it; Care is the
+bed, and Burning Anguish is the hanging of the chamber.
+
+Thor laid hold upon Jörmungand. He flung the serpent into the ocean that
+engirdles the world. But in the depths of the ocean Jörmungand
+flourished. It grew and grew until it encircled the whole world. And men
+knew it as the Midgard Serpent.
+
+Fenrir the Wolf might not be seized upon by any of the Æsir. Fearfully
+he ranged through Asgard and they were only able to bring him to the
+outer courts by promising to give him all the food he was able to eat.
+
+The Æsir shrank from feeding Fenrir. But Tyr, the brave swordsman, was
+willing to bring food to the Wolf's lair. Every day he brought him huge
+provision and fed him with the point of his sword. The Wolf grew and
+grew until he became monstrous and a terror in the minds of the Dwellers
+in Asgard.
+
+At last the Gods in council considered it and decided that Fenrir must
+be bound. The chain that they would bind him with was called Laeding. In
+their own smithy the Gods made it and its weight was greater than Thor's
+hammer.
+
+Not by force could the Gods get the fetter upon Fenrir, so they sent
+Skirnir, the servant of Frey, to beguile the Wolf into letting it go
+upon him. Skirnir came to his lair and stood near him, and he was
+dwarfed by the Wolf's monstrous size.
+
+"How great may thy strength be, Mighty One?" Skirnir asked. "Couldst
+thou break this chain easily? The Gods would try thee."
+
+In scorn Fenrir looked down on the fetter Skirnir dragged. In scorn he
+stood still allowing Laeding to be placed upon him. Then, with an effort
+that was the least part of his strength, he stretched himself and broke
+the chain in two.
+
+The Gods were dismayed. But they took more iron, and with greater fires
+and mightier hammer blows they forged another fetter. Dromi, this one
+was called, and it was half again as strong as Laeding was. Skirnir the
+Venturesome brought it to the Wolf's lair, and in scorn Fenrir let the
+mightier chain be placed upon him.
+
+He shook himself and the chain held. Then his eyes became fiery and he
+stretched himself with a growl and a snarl. Dromi broke across, and
+Fenrir stood looking balefully at Skirnir.
+
+The Gods saw that no chain they could forge would bind Fenrir and they
+fell more and more into fear of him. They took council again and they
+bethought them of the wonder-work the Dwarfs had made for them, the
+spear Gungnir, the ship Skidbladnir, the hammer Miölnir. Could the
+Dwarfs be got to make the fetter to bind Fenrir? If they would do it the
+Gods would add to their domain.
+
+Skirnir went down to Svartheim with the message from Asgard. The Dwarf
+Chief swelled with pride to think that it was left to them to make the
+fetter that would bind Fenrir.
+
+"We Dwarfs can make a fetter that will bind the Wolf," he said. "Out of
+six things we will make it."
+
+"What are these six things?" Skirnir asked.
+
+"The roots of stones, the breath of a fish, the beards of women, the
+noise made by the footfalls of cats, the sinews of bears, the spittle of
+a bird."
+
+"I have never heard the noise made by a cat's footfall, nor have I seen
+the roots of stones nor the beards of women. But use what things you
+will, O Helper of the Gods."
+
+The Chief brought his six things together and the Dwarfs in their smithy
+worked for days and nights. They forged a fetter that was named
+Gleipnir. Smooth and soft as a silken string it was. Skirnir brought it
+to Asgard and put it into the hands of the Gods.
+
+Then a day came when the Gods said that once again they should try to
+put a fetter upon Fenrir. But if he was to be bound they would bind him
+far from Asgard. Lyngvi was an island that they often went to to make
+sport, and they spoke of going there. Fenrir growled that he would go
+with them. He came and he sported in his own terrible way. And then as
+if it were to make more sport, one of the Æsir shook out the smooth cord
+and showed it to Fenrir.
+
+"It is stronger than you might think, Mighty One," they said. "Will you
+not let it go upon you that we may see you break it?"
+
+Fenrir out of his fiery eyes looked scorn upon them. "What fame would
+there be for me," he said, "in breaking such a binding?"
+
+They showed him that none in their company could break it, slender as it
+was. "Thou only art able to break it, Mighty One," they said.
+
+"The cord is slender, but there may be an enchantment in it," Fenrir
+said.
+
+"Thou canst not break it, Fenrir, and we need not dread thee any more,"
+the Gods said.
+
+Then was the Wolf ravenous wroth, for he lived on the fear that he made
+in the minds of the Gods. "I am loth to have this binding upon me," he
+said, "but if one of the Æsir will put his hand in my mouth as a pledge
+that I shall be freed of it, I will let ye put it on me."
+
+The Gods looked wistfully on one another. It would be health to them all
+to have Fenrir bound, but who would lose his hand to have it done? One
+and then another of the Æsir stepped backward. But not Tyr, the brave
+swordsman. He stepped to Fenrir and laid his left hand before those
+tremendous jaws.
+
+"Not thy left hand--thy swordhand, O Tyr," growled Fenrir, and Tyr put
+his swordhand into that terrible mouth.
+
+Then the cord Gleipnir was put upon Fenrir. With fiery eyes he watched
+the Gods bind him. When the binding was on him he stretched himself as
+before. He stretched himself to a monstrous size but the binding did not
+break off him. Then with fury he snapped his jaws upon the hand, and
+Tyr's hand, the swordsman's hand, was torn off.
+
+But Fenrir was bound. They fixed a mighty chain to the fetter, and they
+passed the chain through a hole they bored through a great rock. The
+monstrous Wolf made terrible efforts to break loose, but the rock and
+the chain and the fetter held. Then seeing him secured, and to avenge
+the loss of Tyr's hand, the Gods took Tyr's sword and drove it to the
+hilt through his underjaw. Horribly the Wolf howled. Mightily the foam
+flowed down from his jaws. That foam flowing made a river that is called
+Von--a river of fury that flowed on until Ragnarök came, the Twilight of
+the Gods.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BALDUR'S DOOM
+
+
+In Asgard there were two places that meant strength and joy to the Æsir
+and the Vanir: one was the garden where grew the apples that Iduna
+gathered, and the other was the Peace Stead, where, in a palace called
+Breidablik, Baldur the Well-Beloved dwelt.
+
+In the Peace Stead no crime had ever been committed, no blood had ever
+been shed, no falseness had ever been spoken. Contentment came into the
+minds of all in Asgard when they thought upon this place. Ah! Were it
+not that the Peace Stead was there, happy with Baldur's presence, the
+minds of the Æsir and the Vanir might have become gloomy and stern from
+thinking on the direful things that were arrayed against them.
+
+Baldur was beautiful. So beautiful was he that all the white blossoms on
+the earth were called by his name. Baldur was happy. So happy was he
+that all the birds on the earth sang his name. So just and so wise was
+Baldur that the judgment he pronounced might never be altered. Nothing
+foul or unclean had ever come near where he had his dwelling:
+
+     'Tis Breidablik called,
+     Where Baldur the Fair
+     Hath built him a bower,
+     In the land where I know
+     Least loathliness lies.
+
+Healing things were done in Baldur's Stead. Tyr's wrist was healed of
+the wounds that Fenrir's fangs had made. And there Frey's mind became
+less troubled with the foreboding that Loki had filled it with when he
+railed at him about the bartering of his sword.
+
+Now after Fenrir had been bound to the rock in the faraway island the
+Æsir and the Vanir knew a while of contentment. They passed bright days
+in Baldur's Stead, listening to the birds that made music there. And it
+was there that Bragi the Poet wove into his never-ending story the tale
+of Thor's adventures amongst the Giants.
+
+But even into Baldur's Stead foreboding came. One day little Hnossa, the
+child of Freya and the lost Odur, was brought there in such sorrow that
+no one outside could comfort her. Nanna, Baldur's gentle wife, took the
+child upon her lap and found ways of soothing her. Then Hnossa told of
+a dream that had filled her with fright.
+
+She had dreamt of Hela, the Queen that is half living woman and half
+corpse. In her dream Hela had come into Asgard saying, "A lord of the
+Æsir I must have to dwell with me in my realm beneath the earth." Hnossa
+had such fear from this dream that she had fallen into a deep sorrow.
+
+A silence fell upon all when the dream of Hnossa was told. Nanna looked
+wistfully at Odin All-Father. And Odin, looking at Frigga, saw that a
+fear had entered her breast.
+
+He left the Peace Stead and went to his watchtower Hlidskjalf. He waited
+there till Hugin and Munin should come to him. Every day his two ravens
+flew through the world, and coming back to him told him of all that was
+happening. And now they might tell him of happenings that would let him
+guess if Hela had indeed turned her thoughts toward Asgard, or if she
+had the power to draw one down to her dismal abode.
+
+The ravens flew to him, and lighting one on each of his shoulders, told
+him of things that were being said up and down Ygdrassil, the World
+Tree. Ratatösk the Squirrel was saying them. And Ratatösk had heard them
+from the brood of serpents that with Nidhögg, the great dragon, gnawed
+ever at the root of Ygdrassil. He told it to the Eagle that sat ever on
+the topmost bough, that in Hela's habitation a bed was spread and a
+chair was left empty for some lordly comer.
+
+And hearing this, Odin thought that it were better that Fenrir the Wolf
+should range ravenously through Asgard than that Hela should win one
+from amongst them to fill that chair and lie in that bed.
+
+He mounted Sleipner, his eight-legged steed, and rode down toward the
+abodes of the Dead. For three days and three nights of silence and
+darkness he journeyed on. Once one of the hounds of Helheim broke loose
+and bayed upon Sleipner's tracks. For a day and a night Garm, the hound,
+pursued them, and Odin smelled the blood that dripped from his monstrous
+jaws.
+
+At last he came to where, wrapped in their shrouds, a field of the Dead
+lay. He dismounted from Sleipner and called upon one to rise and speak
+with him. It was on Volva, a dead prophetess, he called. And when he
+pronounced her name he uttered a rune that had the power to break the
+sleep of the Dead.
+
+There was a groaning in the middle of where the shrouded ones lay. Then
+Odin cried, out, "Arise, Volva, prophetess." There was a stir in the
+middle of where the shrouded ones lay, and a head and shoulders were
+thrust up from amongst the Dead.
+
+"Who calls on Volva the Prophetess? The rains have drenched my flesh and
+the storms have shaken my bones for more seasons than the living know.
+No living voice has a right to call me from my sleep with the Dead."
+
+"It is Vegtam the Wanderer who calls. For whom is the bed prepared and
+the seat left empty in Hela's habitation?"
+
+"For Baldur, Odin's son, is the bed prepared and the seat left empty.
+Now let me go back to my sleep with the Dead."
+
+But now Odin saw beyond Volva's prophecy. "Who is it," he cried out,
+"that stands with unbowed head and that will not lament for Baldur?
+Answer, Volva, prophetess!"
+
+"Thou seest far, but thou canst not see clearly. Thou art Odin. I can
+see clearly but I cannot see far. Now let me go back to my sleep with
+the Dead."
+
+"Volva, prophetess!" Odin cried out again.
+
+But the voice from amongst the shrouded ones said, "Thou canst not wake
+me any more until the fires of Muspelheim blaze above my head."
+
+Then there was silence in the field of the Dead, and Odin turned
+Sleipner, his steed, and for four days, through the gloom and silence,
+he journeyed back to Asgard.
+
+Frigga had felt the fear that Odin had felt. She looked toward Baldur,
+and the shade of Hela came between her and her son. But then she heard
+the birds sing in the Peace Stead and she knew that none of all the
+things in the world would injure Baldur.
+
+And to make it sure she went to all the things that could hurt him and
+from each of them she took an oath that it would not injure Baldur, the
+Well-Beloved. She took an oath from fire and from water, from iron and
+from all metals, from earths and stones and great trees, from birds and
+beasts and creeping things, from poisons and diseases. Very readily they
+all gave the oath that they would work no injury on Baldur.
+
+Then when Frigga went back and told what she had accomplished the gloom
+that had lain on Asgard lifted. Baldur would be spared to them. Hela
+might have a place prepared in her dark habitation, but neither fire
+nor water, nor iron nor any metals, nor earths nor stones nor great
+woods, nor birds nor beasts nor creeping things, nor poisons nor
+diseases, would help her to bring him down. "Hela has no arms to draw
+you to her," the Æsir and the Vanir cried to Baldur.
+
+Hope was renewed for them and they made games to honor Baldur. They had
+him stand in the Peace Stead and they brought against him all the things
+that had sworn to leave him hurtless. And neither the battle-axe flung
+full at him, nor the stone out of the sling, nor the burning brand, nor
+the deluge of water would injure the beloved of Asgard. The Æsir and the
+Vanir laughed joyously to see these things fall harmlessly from him
+while a throng came to join them in the games; Dwarfs and friendly
+Giants.
+
+But Loki the Hater came in with that throng. He watched the games from
+afar. He saw the missiles and the weapons being flung and he saw Baldur
+stand smiling and happy under the strokes of metal and stones and great
+woods. He wondered at the sight, but he knew that he might not ask the
+meaning of it from the ones who knew him.
+
+He changed his shape into that of an old woman and he went amongst those
+who were making sport for Baldur. He spoke to Dwarfs and friendly
+Giants. "Go to Frigga and ask. Go to Frigga and ask," was all the answer
+Loki got from any of them.
+
+Then to Fensalir, Frigga's mansion, Loki went. He told those in the
+mansion that he was Groa, the old Enchantress who was drawing out of
+Thor's head the fragments of a grindstone that a Giant's throw had
+embedded in it. Frigga knew about Groa and she praised the Enchantress
+for what she had done.
+
+"Many fragments of the great grindstone have I taken out of Thor's head
+by the charms I know," said the pretended Groa. "Thor was so grateful
+that he brought back to me the husband that he once had carried off to
+the end of the earth. So overjoyed was I to find my husband restored
+that I forgot the rest of the charms. And I left some fragments of the
+stone in Thor's head."
+
+So Loki said, repeating a story that was true. "Now I remember the rest
+of the charm," he said, "and I can draw out the fragments of the stone
+that are left. But will you not tell me, O Queen, what is the meaning of
+the extraordinary things I saw the Æsir and the Vanir doing?"
+
+"I will tell you," said Frigga, looking kindly and happily at the
+pretended old woman. "They are hurling all manner of heavy and dangerous
+things at Baldur, my beloved son. And all Asgard cheers to see that
+neither metal nor stone nor great wood will hurt him."
+
+"But why will they not hurt him?" said the pretended Enchantress.
+
+"Because I have drawn an oath from all dangerous and threatening things
+to leave Baldur hurtless," said Frigga.
+
+"From all things, lady? Is there no thing in all the world that has not
+taken an oath to leave Baldur hurtless?"
+
+"Well, indeed, there is one thing that has not taken the oath. But that
+thing is so small and weak that I passed it by without taking thought of
+it."
+
+"What can it be, lady?"
+
+"The Mistletoe that is without root or strength. It grows on the eastern
+side of Valhalla. I passed it by without drawing an oath from it."
+
+"Surely you were not wrong to pass it by. What could the Mistletoe--the
+rootless Mistletoe--do against Baldur?"
+
+Saying this the pretended Enchantress hobbled off.
+
+But not far did the pretender go hobbling. He changed his gait and
+hurried to the eastern side of Valhalla. There a great oak tree
+flourished and out of a branch of it a little bush of Mistletoe grew.
+Loki broke off a spray and with it in his hand he went to where the Æsir
+and the Vanir were still playing games to honor Baldur.
+
+All were laughing as Loki drew near, for the Giants and the Dwarfs, the
+Asyniur and the Vana, were all casting missiles. The Giants threw too
+far and the Dwarfs could not throw far enough, while the Asyniur and the
+Vana threw far and wide of the mark. In the midst of all that glee and
+gamesomeness it was strange to see one standing joyless. But one stood
+so, and he was of the Æsir--Hödur, Baldur's blind brother.
+
+"Why do you not enter the game?" said Loki to him in his changed voice.
+
+"I have no missile to throw at Baldur," Hödur said.
+
+"Take this and throw it," said Loki. "It is a twig of the Mistletoe."
+
+"I cannot see to throw it," said Hödur.
+
+"I will guide your hand," said Loki. He put the twig of Mistletoe in
+Hödur's hand and he guided the hand for the throw. The twig flew toward
+Baldur. It struck him on the breast and it pierced him. Then Baldur fell
+down with a deep groan.
+
+The Æsir and the Vanir, the Dwarfs and the friendly Giants, stood still
+in doubt and fear and amazement. Loki slipped away. And blind Hödur,
+from whose hand the twig of Mistletoe had gone, stood quiet, not knowing
+that his throw had bereft Baldur of life.
+
+Then a wailing rose around the Peace Stead. It was from the Asyniur and
+the Vana. Baldur was dead, and they began to lament him. And while they
+were lamenting him, the beloved of Asgard, Odin came amongst them.
+
+"Hela has won our Baldur from us," Odin said to Frigga as they both bent
+over the body of their beloved son.
+
+"Nay, I will not say it," Frigga said.
+
+When the Æsir and the Vanir had won their senses back the mother of
+Baldur went amongst them. "Who amongst you would win my love and
+goodwill?" she said. "Whoever would let him ride down to Hela's dark
+realm and ask the Queen to take ransom for Baldur. It may be she will
+take it and let Baldur come back to us. Who amongst you will go? Odin's
+steed is ready for the journey."
+
+Then forth stepped Hermod the Nimble, the brother of Baldur. He mounted
+Sleipner and turned the eight-legged steed down toward Hela's dark
+realm.
+
+For nine days and nine nights Hermod rode on. His way was through rugged
+glens, one deeper and darker than the other. He came to the river that
+is called Giöll and to the bridge across it that is all glittering with
+gold. The pale maid who guards the bridge spoke to him.
+
+"The hue of life is still on thee," said Modgudur, the pale maid. "Why
+dost thou journey down to Hela's deathly realm?"
+
+"I am Hermod," he said, "and I go to see if Hela will take ransom for
+Baldur."
+
+"Fearful is Hela's habitation for one to come to," said Modgudur, the
+pale maid. "All round it is a steep wall that even thy steed might
+hardly leap. Its threshold is Precipice. The bed therein is Care, the
+table is Hunger, the hanging of the chamber is Burning Anguish."
+
+"It may be that Hela will take ransom for Baldur."
+
+"If all things in the world still lament for Baldur, Hela will have to
+take ransom and let him go from her," said Modgudur, the pale maid that
+guards the glittering bridge.
+
+"It is well, then, for all things lament Baldur. I will go to her and
+make her take ransom."
+
+"Thou mayst not pass until it is of a surety that all things still
+lament him. Go back to the world and make sure. If thou dost come to
+this glittering bridge and tell me that all things still lament Baldur,
+I will let thee pass and Hela will have to hearken to thee."
+
+"I will come back to thee, and thou, Modgudur, pale maid, wilt have to
+let me pass."
+
+"Then I will let thee pass," said Modgudur.
+
+Joyously Hermod turned Sleipner and rode back through the rugged glens,
+each one less gloomy than the other. He reached the upper world, and
+saw that all things were still lamenting for Baldur. Joyously Hermod
+rode onward. He met the Vanir in the middle of the world and he told
+them the happy tidings.
+
+Then Hermod and the Vanir went through the world seeking out each thing
+and finding that each thing still wept for Baldur. But one day Hermod
+came upon a crow that was sitting on the dead branch of a tree. The crow
+made no lament as he came near. She rose up and flew away and Hermod
+followed her to make sure that she lamented for Baldur.
+
+He lost sight of her near a cave. And then before the cave he saw a hag
+with blackened teeth who raised no voice of lament. "If thou art the
+crow that came flying here, make lament for Baldur," Hermod said.
+
+"I, Thaukt, will make no lament for Baldur," the hag said, "let Hela
+keep what she holds."
+
+"All things weep tears for Baldur," Hermod said.
+
+"I will weep dry tears for him," said the hag.
+
+She hobbled into her cave, and as Hermod followed a crow fluttered out.
+He knew that this was Thaukt, the evil hag, transformed. He followed
+her, and she went through the world croaking, "Let Hela keep what she
+holds. Let Hela keep what she holds."
+
+Then Hermod knew that he might not ride to Hela's habitation. All things
+knew that there was one thing in the world that would not lament for
+Baldur. The Vanir came back to him, and with head bowed over Sleipner's
+mane, Hermod rode into Asgard.
+
+Now the Æsir and the Vanir, knowing that no ransom would be taken for
+Baldur and that the joy and content of Asgard were gone indeed, made
+ready his body for the burning. First they covered Baldur's body with a
+rich robe, and each left beside it his most precious possession. Then
+they all took leave of him, kissing him upon the brow. But Nanna, his
+gentle wife, flung herself on his dead breast and her heart broke and
+she died of her grief. Then did the Æsir and the Vanir weep afresh. And
+they took the body of Nanna and they placed it side by side with
+Baldur's.
+
+On his own great ship, Ringhorn, would Baldur be placed with Nanna
+beside him. Then the ship would be launched on the water and all would
+be burned with fire.
+
+But it was found that none of the Æsir or the Vanir were able to launch
+Baldur's great ship. Hyrroken, a Giantess, was sent for. She came
+mounted on a great wolf with twisted serpents for a bridle. Four Giants
+held fast the wolf when she alighted. She came to the ship and with a
+single push she sent it into the sea. The rollers struck out fire as the
+ship dashed across them.
+
+Then when it rode the water fires mounted on the ship. And in the blaze
+of the fires one was seen bending over the body of Baldur and whispering
+into his ear. It was Odin All-Father. Then he went down off the ship and
+all the fires rose into a mighty burning. Speechlessly the Æsir and the
+Vanir watched with tears streaming down their faces while all things
+lamented, crying, "Baldur the Beautiful is dead, is dead."
+
+And what was it that Odin All-Father whispered to Baldur as he bent
+above him with the flames of the burning ship around? He whispered of a
+heaven above Asgard that Surtur's flames might not reach, and of a life
+that would come to beauty again after the World of Men and the World of
+the Gods had been searched through and through with fire.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+LOKI'S PUNISHMENT
+
+
+The crow went flying toward the North, croaking as she flew, "Let Hela
+keep what she holds. Let Hela keep what she holds." That crow was the
+hag Thaukt transformed, and the hag Thaukt was Loki.
+
+He flew to the North and came into the wastes of Jötunheim. As a crow he
+lived there, hiding himself from the wrath of the Gods. He told the
+Giants that the time had come for them to build the ship Naglfar, the
+ship that was to be built out of the nails of dead men, and that was to
+sail to Asgard on the day of Ragnarök with the Giant Hrymer steering it.
+And harkening to what he said the Giants then and there began to build
+Naglfar, the ship that Gods and men wished to remain unbuilt for long.
+
+Then Loki, tiring of the wastes of Jötunheim, flew to the burning South.
+As a lizard he lived amongst the rocks of Muspelheim, and he made the
+Fire Giants rejoice when he told them of the loss of Frey's sword and of
+Tyr's right hand.
+
+But still in Asgard there was one who wept for Loki--Siguna, his wife.
+Although he had left her and had shown his hatred for her, Siguna wept
+for her evil husband.
+
+He left Muspelheim as he had left Jötunheim and he came to live in the
+World of Men. He knew that he had now come into a place where the wrath
+of the Gods might find him, and so he made plans to be ever ready for
+escape. He had come to the River where, ages before, he had slain the
+otter that was the son of the Enchanter, and on the very rock where the
+otter had eaten the salmon on the day of his killing, Loki built his
+house. He made four doors to it so that he might see in every direction.
+And the power that he kept for himself was the power of transforming
+himself into a salmon.
+
+Often as a salmon he swam in the River. But even for the fishes that
+swam beside him Loki had hatred. Out of flax and yarn he wove a net that
+men might have the means of taking them out of the water.
+
+The wrath that the Gods had against Loki did not pass away. It was he
+who, as Thaukt, the Hag, had given Hela the power to keep Baldur
+unransomed. It was he who had put into Hödur's hand the sprig of
+Mistletoe that had bereft Baldur of life. Empty was Asgard now that
+Baldur lived no more in the Peace Stead, and stern and gloomy grew the
+minds of the Æsir and the Vanir with thinking on the direful things that
+were arrayed against them. Odin in his hall of Valhalla thought only of
+the ways by which he could bring heroes to him to be his help in
+defending Asgard.
+
+The Gods searched through the world and they found at last the place
+where Loki had made his dwelling. He was weaving the net to take fishes
+when he saw them coming from four directions. He threw the net into the
+fire so that it was burnt, and he sprang into the River and transformed
+himself into a salmon. When the Gods entered his dwelling they found
+only the burnt-out fire.
+
+But there was one amongst them who could understand all that he saw. In
+the ashes were the marks of the burnt net and he knew that these were
+the tracing of something to catch fishes. And from the marks left in the
+ashes he made a net that was the same as the one Loki had burnt.
+
+With it in their hands the Gods went down the River, dragging the net
+through the water. Loki was affrighted to find the thing of his own
+weaving brought against him. He lay between two stones at the bottom of
+the River, and the net passed over him.
+
+But the Gods knew that the net had touched something at the bottom. They
+fastened weights to it and they dragged the net through the River again.
+Loki knew that he might not escape it this time and he rose in the water
+and swam toward the sea. The Gods caught sight of him as he leaped over
+a waterfall. They followed him, dragging the net. Thor waded behind,
+ready to seize him should he turn back.
+
+Loki came out at the mouth of the River and behold! There was a great
+eagle hovering over the waves of the sea and ready to swoop down on
+fishes. He turned back in the River. He made a leap that took him over
+the net that the Gods were dragging. But Thor was behind the net and he
+caught the salmon in his powerful hands and he held him for all the
+struggle that Loki made. No fish had ever struggled so before. Loki got
+himself free all but his tail, but Thor held to the tail and brought him
+amongst the rocks and forced him to take on his proper form.
+
+He was in the hands of those whose wrath was strong against him. They
+brought him to a cavern and they bound him to three sharp-pointed rocks.
+With cords that were made of the sinews of wolves they bound him, and
+they transformed the cords into iron bands. There they would have left
+Loki bound and helpless. But Skadi, with her fierce Giant blood, was not
+content that he should be left untormented. She found a serpent that had
+deadly venom and she hung this serpent above Loki's head. The drops of
+venom fell upon him, bringing him anguish drop by drop, minute by
+minute. So Loki's torture went on.
+
+But Siguna with the pitying heart came to his relief. She exiled herself
+from Asgard, and endured the darkness and the cold of the cavern, that
+she might take some of the torment away from him who was her husband.
+Over Loki Siguna stood, holding in her hands a cup into which fell the
+serpent's venom, thus sparing him from the full measure of anguish. Now
+and then Siguna had to turn aside to spill out the flowing cup, and then
+the drops of venom fell upon Loki and he screamed in agony, twisting in
+his bonds. It was then that men felt the earth quake. There in his bonds
+Loki stayed until the coming of Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+
+
+
+PART IV
+
+THE SWORD OF THE VOLSUNGS AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
+
+[Illustration]
+
+SIGURD'S YOUTH
+
+
+In Midgard, in a northern Kingdom, a King reigned whose name was Alv; he
+was wise and good, and he had in his house a fosterson whose name was
+Sigurd.
+
+Sigurd was fearless and strong; so fearless and so strong was he that he
+once captured a bear of the forest and drove him to the King's Hall. His
+mother's name was Hiordis. Once, before Sigurd was born, Alv and his
+father who was King before him went on an expedition across the sea and
+came into another country. While they were yet afar off they heard the
+din of a great battle. They came to the battlefield, but they found no
+living warriors on it, only heaps of slain. One warrior they marked: he
+was white-bearded and old and yet he seemed the noblest-looking man Alv
+or his father had ever looked on. His arms showed that he was a King
+amongst one of the bands of warriors.
+
+They went through the forest searching for survivors of the battle. And,
+hidden in a dell in the forest, they came upon two women. One was tall
+with blue, unflinching eyes and ruddy hair, but wearing the garb of a
+serving-maid. The other wore the rich dress of a Queen, but she was of
+low stature and her manner was covert and shrinking.
+
+When Alv and his father drew near, the one who had on her the raiment of
+a Queen said, "Help us, lords, and protect us, and we will show you
+where a treasure is hidden. A great battle has been fought between the
+men of King Lygni and the men of King Sigmund, and the men of King Lygni
+have won the victory and have gone from the field. But King Sigmund is
+slain, and we who are of his household hid his treasure and we can show
+it to you."
+
+"The noble warrior, white-haired and white-bearded, who lies yonder--is
+he King Sigmund?"
+
+The woman answered, "Yes, lord, and I am his Queen."
+
+"We have heard of King Sigmund," said Alv's father. "His fame and the
+fame of his race, the Volsungs, is over the wide world."
+
+Alv said no word to either of the women, but his eyes stayed on the one
+who had on the garb of a serving-maid. She was on her knees, wrapping in
+a beast's skin two pieces of a broken sword.
+
+"You will surely protect us, good lords," said she who had on the
+queenly dress.
+
+"Yea, wife of King Sigmund, we will protect you and your serving-maid,"
+said Alv's father, the old King.
+
+Then the women took the warriors to a wild place on the seashore and
+they showed them where King Sigmund's treasure was hidden amongst the
+rocks: cups of gold and mighty armrings and jeweled collars. Prince Alv
+and his father put the treasure on the ship and brought the two women
+aboard. Then they sailed from the land.
+
+That was before Sigurd, the fosterson of King Alv, was born.
+
+Now the mother of Alv was wise and little of what she saw escaped her
+noting. She saw that of the two women that her son and her husband had
+brought into their kingdom, the one who wore the dress of the
+serving-maid had unflinching eyes and a high beauty, while the one who
+wore the queenly dress was shrinking and unstately. One night when all
+the women of the household were sitting round her, spinning wool by the
+light of torches in the hall, the Queen-mother said to the one who wore
+the queenly garb:
+
+"Thou art good at rising in the morning. How dost thou know in the dark
+hours when it wears to dawn?"
+
+The one clad in the queenly garb said, "When I was young I used to rise
+to milk the cows, and I waken ever since at the same hour."
+
+The Queen-mother said to herself, "It is a strange country in which the
+royal maids rise to milk the cows."
+
+Then she said to the one who wore the clothes of the serving-maid:
+
+"How dost thou know in the dark hours when the dawn is coming?"
+
+"My father," she said, "gave me the ring of gold that I wear, and always
+before it is time to rise I feel it grow cold on my finger."
+
+"It is a strange country, truly," said the Queen-mother to herself, "in
+which the serving-maids wear rings of gold."
+
+When all the others had left she spoke to the two women who had been
+brought into her country. To the one who wore the clothes of a
+serving-maid she said:
+
+"Thou art the Queen."
+
+Then the one who wore the queenly clothes said, "Thou art right, lady.
+She is the Queen, and I cannot any longer pretend to be other than I
+am."
+
+Then the other woman spoke. Said she: "I am the Queen as thou hast
+said--the Queen of King Sigmund who was slain. Because a King sought for
+me I changed clothes with my serving-maid, my wish being to baffle those
+who might be sent to carry me away.
+
+"Know that I am Hiordis, a King's daughter. Many men came to my father
+to ask for me in marriage, and of those that came there were two whom I
+heard much of: one was King Lygni and the other was King Sigmund of the
+race of the Volsungs. The King, my father, told me it was for me to
+choose between these two. Now King Sigmund was old, but he was the most
+famous warrior in the whole world, and I chose him rather than King
+Lygni.
+
+"We were wed. But King Lygni did not lose desire of me, and in a while
+he came against King Sigmund's kingdom with a great army of men. We hid
+our treasure by the seashore, and I and my maid watched the battle from
+the borders of the forest. With the help of Gram, his wondrous sword,
+and his own great warrior strength, Sigmund was able to harry the great
+force that came against him. But suddenly he was stricken down. Then was
+the battle lost. Only King Lygni's men survived it, and they scattered
+to search for me and the treasure of the King.
+
+"I came to where my lord lay on the field of battle, and he raised
+himself on his shield when I came, and he told me that death was very
+near him. A stranger had entered the battle at the time when it seemed
+that the men of King Lygni must draw away. With the spear that he held
+in his hand he struck at Sigmund's sword, and Gram, the wondrous sword,
+was broken in two pieces. Then did King Sigmund get his death-wound. 'It
+must be I shall die,' he said, 'for the spear against which my sword
+broke was Gungnir, Odin's spear. Only that spear could have shattered
+the sword that Odin gave my fathers. Now must I go to Valhalla, Odin's
+Hall of Heroes.'
+
+"'I weep,' I said, 'because I have no son who might call himself of the
+great race of the Volsungs.'
+
+"'For that you need not weep,' said Sigmund, 'a son will be born to you,
+my son and yours, and you shall name him Sigurd. Take now the broken
+pieces of my wondrous sword and give them to my son when he shall be of
+warrior age.'
+
+"Then did Sigmund turn his face to the ground and the death-struggle
+came on him. Odin's Valkyrie took his spirit from the battlefield. And I
+lifted up the broken pieces of the sword, and with my serving-maid I
+went and hid in a deep dell in the forest. Then your husband and your
+son found us and they brought us to your kingdom where we have been
+kindly treated, O Queen."
+
+Such was the history that Hiordis, the wife of King Sigmund, told to the
+mother of Prince Alv.
+
+Soon afterwards the child was born to her that was Sigmund's son. Sigurd
+she named him. And after Sigurd was born the old King died and Prince
+Alv became King in his stead. He married Hiordis, she of the ruddy hair,
+the unflinching ways, and the high beauty, and he brought up her son
+Sigurd in his house as his fosterson.
+
+Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, before he came to warrior's age, was known
+for his strength and his swiftness and for the fearlessness that shone
+round him like a glow. "Mighty was the race he sprang from, the Volsung
+race," men said, "but Sigurd will be as mighty as any that have gone
+before him." He built himself a hut in the forest that he might hunt
+wild beasts and live near to one who was to train him in many crafts.
+
+This one was Regin, a maker of swords and a cunning man besides. It was
+said of Regin that he was an Enchanter and that he had been in the world
+for longer than the generations of men. No one remembered, nor no one's
+father remembered, when Regin had come into that country. He taught
+Sigurd the art of working in metals and he taught him, too, the lore of
+other days. But ever as he taught him he looked at Sigurd strangely, not
+as a man looks at his fellow, but as a lynx looks at a stronger beast.
+
+One day Regin said to young Sigurd, "King Alv has thy father's treasure,
+men say, and yet he treats thee as if thou wert thrall-born."
+
+Now Sigurd knew that Regin said this that he might anger him and
+thereafter use him to his own ends. He said, "King Alv is a wise and a
+good King, and he would let me have riches if I had need of them."
+
+"Thou dost go about as a footboy, and not as a King's son."
+
+"Any day that it likes me I might have a horse to ride," Sigurd said.
+
+"So thou dost say," said Regin, and he turned from Sigurd and went to
+blow the fire of his smithy.
+
+Sigurd was made angry and he threw down the irons on which he was
+working and he ran to the horse-pastures by the great River. A herd of
+horses was there, gray and black and roan and chestnut, the best of the
+horses that King Alv possessed. As he came near to where the herd grazed
+he saw a stranger near, an ancient but robust man, wearing a strange
+cloak of blue and leaning on a staff to watch the horses. Sigurd, though
+young, had seen Kings in their halls, but this man had a bearing that
+was more lofty than any King's he had ever looked on.
+
+"Thou art going to choose a horse for thyself," said the stranger to
+Sigurd.
+
+"Yea, father," Sigurd said.
+
+"Drive the herd first into the River," the stranger said.
+
+Sigurd drove the horses into the wide River. Some were swept down by the
+current, others struggled back and clambered up the bank of the
+pastures. But one swam across the river, and throwing up his head
+neighed as for a victory. Sigurd marked him; a gray horse he was, young
+and proud, with a great flowing mane. He went through the water and
+caught this horse, mounted him, and brought him back across the River.
+
+"Thou hast done well," said the stranger. "Grani, whom thou hast got, is
+of the breed of Sleipner, the horse of Odin."
+
+"And I am of the race of the sons of Odin," cried Sigurd, his eyes wide
+and shining with the very light of the sun. "I am of the race of the
+sons of Odin, for my father was Sigmund, and his father was Volsung, and
+his father was Rerir, and his father was Sigi, who was the son of Odin."
+
+The stranger, leaning on his staff looked on the youth steadily. Only
+one of his eyes was to be seen, but that eye, Sigurd thought, might see
+through a stone. "All thou hast named," the stranger said, "were as
+swords of Odin to send men to Valhalla, Odin's Hall of Heroes. And of
+all that thou hast named there were none but were chosen by Odin's
+Valkyries for battles in Asgard."
+
+Cried Sigurd, "Too much of what is brave and noble in the world is taken
+by Odin for his battles in Asgard."
+
+The stranger leaned on his staff and his head was bowed. "What wouldst
+thou?" he said, and it did not seem to Sigurd that he spoke to him.
+"What wouldst thou? The leaves wither and fall off Ygdrassil, and the
+day of Ragnarök comes." Then he raised his head and spoke to Sigurd.
+"The time is near," he said, "when thou mayst possess thyself of the
+pieces of thy father's sword."
+
+Then the man in the strange cloak of blue went climbing up the hill and
+Sigurd watched him pass away from his sight. He had held back Grani, his
+proud horse, but now he turned him and let him gallop along the River in
+a race that was as swift as the wind.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE SWORD GRAM AND THE DRAGON FAFNIR
+
+
+Mounted upon Grani, his proud horse, Sigurd rode to the Hall and showed
+himself to Alv, the King, and to Hiordis, his mother. Before the Hall he
+shouted out the Volsung name, and King Alv felt as he watched him that
+this youth was a match for a score of men, and Hiordis, his mother, saw
+the blue flame of his eyes and thought to herself that his way through
+the world would be as the way of the eagle through the air.
+
+Having shown himself before the Hall, Sigurd dismounted from Grani, and
+stroked and caressed him with his hands and told him that now he might
+go back and take pasture with the herd. The proud horse breathed fondly
+over Sigurd and bounded away.
+
+Then Sigurd strode on until he came to the hut in the forest where he
+worked with the cunning smith Regin. No one was in the hut when he
+entered. But over the anvil, in the smoke of the smithy fire, there was
+a work of Regin's hands. Sigurd looked upon it, and a hatred for the
+thing that was shown rose up in him.
+
+The work of Regin's hands was a shield, a great shield of iron. Hammered
+out on that shield and colored with red and brown colors was the image
+of a Dragon, a Dragon lengthening himself out of a cave. Sigurd thought
+it was the image of the most hateful thing in the world, and the light
+of the smithy fire falling on it, and the smoke of the smithy fire
+rising round it, made it seem verily a Dragon living in his own element
+of fire and reek.
+
+While he was still gazing on the loathly image, Regin, the cunning
+smith, came into the smithy. He stood by the wall and he watched Sigurd.
+His back was bent; his hair fell over his eyes that were all fiery, and
+he looked like a beast that runs behind the hedges.
+
+"Aye, thou dost look on Fafnir the Dragon, son of the Volsungs," he said
+to Sigurd. "Mayhap it is thou who wilt slay him."
+
+"I would not strive with such a beast. He is all horrible to me," Sigurd
+said.
+
+"With a good sword thou mightst slay him and win for thyself more renown
+than ever thy fathers had," Regin whispered.
+
+"I shall win renown as my fathers won renown, in battle with men and in
+conquest of kingdoms," Sigurd said.
+
+"Thou art not a true Volsung or thou wouldst gladly go where most danger
+and dread is," said Regin. "Thou hast heard of Fafnir the Dragon, whose
+image I have wrought here. If thou dost ride to the crest of the hills
+thou mayst look across to the desolate land where Fafnir has his haunt.
+Know that once it was fair land where men had peace and prosperity, but
+Fafnir came and made his den in a cave near by, and his breathings as he
+went to and came from the River withered up the land and made it the
+barren waste that men called Gnita Heath. Now, if thou art a true
+Volsung, thou wilt slay the Dragon, and let that land become fair again,
+and bring the people back to it and so add to King Alv's domain."
+
+"I have nought to do with the slaying of Dragons," Sigurd said. "I have
+to make war on King Lygni, and avenge upon him the slaying of Sigmund,
+my father."
+
+"What is the slaying of Lygni and the conquest of his kingdom to the
+slaying of Fafnir the Dragon?" Regin cried. "I will tell thee what no
+one else knows of Fafnir the Dragon. He guards a hoard of gold and
+jewels the like of which was never seen in the world. All this hoard you
+can make yours by slaying him."
+
+"I do not covet riches," Sigurd said.
+
+"No riches is like to the riches that Fafnir guards. His hoard is the
+hoard that the Dwarf Andvari had from the world's early days. Once the
+Gods themselves paid it over as a ransom. And if thou wilt win this
+hoard thou wilt be as one of the Gods."
+
+"How dost thou know that of which thou speakst, Regin?" Sigurd said.
+
+"I know, and one day I may tell thee how I know."
+
+"And one day I may harken to thee. But speak to me no more of this
+Dragon. I would have thee make a sword, a sword that will be mightier
+and better shapen than any sword in the world. Thou canst do this,
+Regin, for thou art accounted the best swordsmith amongst men."
+
+Regin looked at Sigurd out of his small and cunning eyes and he thought
+it was best to make himself active. So he took the weightiest pieces of
+iron and put them into his furnace and he brought out the secret tools
+that he used when a masterwork was claimed from his hands.
+
+All day Sigurd worked beside him keeping the fire at its best glow and
+bringing water to cool the blade as it was fashioned and refashioned.
+And as he worked he thought only about the blade and about how he would
+make war upon King Lygni, and avenge the man who was slain before he
+himself was born.
+
+All day he thought only of war and of the beaten blade. But at night his
+dreams were not upon wars nor shapen blades but upon Fafnir the Dragon.
+He saw the heath that was left barren by his breath, and he saw the cave
+where he had his den, and he saw him crawling down from his cave, his
+scales glittering like rings of mail, and his length the length of a
+company of men on the march.
+
+The next day he worked with Regin to shape the great sword. When it was
+shapen with all the cunning Regin knew it looked indeed a mighty sword.
+Then Regin sharpened it and Sigurd polished it. And at last he held the
+great sword by its iron hilt.
+
+Then Sigurd took the shield that had the image of Fafnir the Dragon upon
+it and he put the shield over the anvil of the smithy. Raising the great
+sword in both his hands he struck full on the iron shield.
+
+The stroke of the sword sheared away some of the shield, but the blade
+broke in Sigurd's hands. Then in anger he turned on Regin, crying out,
+"Thou hast made a knave's sword for me. To work with thee again! Thou
+must make me a Volsung's sword."
+
+Then he went out and called to Grani, his horse, and mounted him and
+rode to the river bank like the sweep of the wind.
+
+Regin took more pieces of iron and began to forge a new sword, uttering
+as he worked runes that were about the hoard that Fafnir the Dragon
+guarded. And Sigurd that night dreamt of glittering treasure that he
+coveted not, masses of gold and heaps of glistening jewels.
+
+He was Regin's help the next day and they both worked to make a sword
+that would be mightier than the first. For three days they worked upon
+it, and then Regin put into Sigurd's hands a sword, sharpened and
+polished, that was mightier and more splendid looking than the one that
+had been forged before. And again Sigurd took the shield that had the
+image of the Dragon upon it and he put it upon the anvil. Then he
+raised his arms and struck his full blow. The sword cut through the
+shield, but when it struck the anvil it shivered in his hands.
+
+He left the smithy angrily and called to Grani, his proud horse. He
+mounted and rode on like the sweep of the wind.
+
+Later he came to his mother's bower and stood before Hiordis. "A greater
+sword must I have," said he, "than one that is made of metal dug out of
+the earth. The time has come, mother, when thou must put into my hands
+the broken pieces of Gram, the sword of Sigmund and the Volsungs."
+
+Hiordis measured him with the glance of her eyes, and she saw that her
+son was a mighty youth and one fit to use the sword of Sigmund and the
+Volsungs. She bade him go with her to the King's Hall. Out of the great
+stone chest that was in her chamber she took the beast's skin and the
+broken blade that was wrapped in it. She gave the pieces into the hands
+of her son. "Behold the halves of Gram," she said, "of Gram, the mighty
+sword that in the far-off days Odin left in the Branstock, in the tree
+of the house of Volsung. I would see Gram new-shapen in thy hands, my
+son."
+
+Then she embraced him as she had never embraced him before, and standing
+there with her ruddy hair about her she told him of the glory of Gram
+and of the deeds of his fathers in whose hands the sword had shone.
+
+Then Sigurd went to the smithy, and he wakened Regin out of his sleep,
+and he made him look on the shining halves of Sigmund's sword. He
+commanded him to make out of these halves a sword for his hand.
+
+Regin worked for days in his smithy and Sigurd never left his side. At
+last the blade was forged, and when Sigurd held it in his hand fire ran
+along the edge of it.
+
+Again he laid the shield that had the image of the Dragon upon it on the
+anvil of the smithy. Again, with his hands on its iron hilt, he raised
+the sword for a full stroke. He struck, and the sword cut through the
+shield and sheared through the anvil, cutting away its iron horn. Then
+did Sigurd know that he had in his hands the Volsungs' sword. He went
+without and called to Grani, and like the sweep of the wind rode down to
+the River's bank. Shreds of wool were floating down the water. Sigurd
+struck at them with his sword, and the fine wool was divided against the
+water's edge. Hardness and fineness, Gram could cut through both.
+
+That night Gram, the Volsungs' sword, was under his head when he slept,
+but still his dreams were filled with images that he had not regarded in
+the day time; the shine of a hoard that he coveted not, and the gleam of
+the scales of a Dragon that was too loathly for him to battle with.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE DRAGON'S BLOOD
+
+
+Sigurd went to war: with the men that King Alv gave him he marched into
+the country that was ruled over by the slayer of his father. The war
+that he waged was short and the battles that he won were not perilous.
+Old was King Lygni now, and feeble was his grasp upon his people. Sigurd
+slew him and took away his treasure and added his lands to the lands of
+King Alv.
+
+But Sigurd was not content with the victory he had gained. He had dreamt
+of stark battles and of renown that would be hardily won. What was the
+war he had waged to the wars that Sigmund his father, and Volsung his
+father's father, had waged in their days? Not content was Sigurd. He led
+his men back by the hills from the crests of which he could look upon
+the Dragon's haunts. And having come as far as those hills he bade his
+men return to King Alv's hall with the spoils he had won.
+
+They went, and Sigurd stayed upon the hills and looked across Gnita
+Heath to where Fafnir the Dragon had his lair. All blasted and wasted
+was the Heath with the fiery breath of the Dragon. And he saw the cave
+where Fafnir abode, and he saw the track that his comings and goings
+made. For every day the Dragon left his cave in the cliffs, crossing the
+Heath to come to the River at which he drank.
+
+For the length of a day Sigurd watched from the hills the haunt of the
+Dragon. In the evening he saw him lengthening himself out of the cave,
+and coming on his track across the Heath, in seeming like a ship that
+travels swiftly because of its many oars.
+
+Then to Regin in his smithy he came. To that cunning man Sigurd said:
+
+"Tell me all thou dost know of Fafnir the Dragon."
+
+Regin began to talk, but his speech was old and strange and filled with
+runes. When he had spoken it all Sigurd said, "All thou hast told me
+thou wilt have to say over again in a speech that is known to men of our
+day."
+
+Then said Regin: "Of a hoard I spoke. The Dwarf Andvari guarded it from
+the first days of the world. But one of the Æsir forced Andvari to give
+the hoard to him, masses of gold and heaps of jewels, and the Æsir gave
+it to Hreidmar, who was my father.
+
+"For the slaying of his son Otter the Æsir gave the hoard to Hreidmar,
+the greatest hoard that had ever been seen in the world. But not long
+was it left to Hreidmar to gloat over. For a son slew a father that he
+might possess that hoard. Fafnir, that son was Fafnir, my brother.
+
+"Then Fafnir, that no one might disturb his possession of the hoard,
+turned himself into a Dragon, a Dragon so fearful that none dare come
+nigh him. And I, Regin, was stricken with covetousness of the hoard. I
+did not change myself into another being, but, by the magic my father
+knew, I made my life longer than the generations of men, hoping that I
+would see Fafnir slain and then have the mighty hoard under my hands.
+
+"Now, son of the Volsungs, thou dost know all that has to do with Fafnir
+the Dragon, and the great hoard that he guards."
+
+"Little do I care about the hoard he guards," Sigurd said. "I care only
+that he has made the King's good lands into a waste and that he is an
+evil thing to men. I would have the renown of slaying Fafnir the
+Dragon."
+
+"With Gram, the sword thou hast, thou couldst slay Fafnir," Regin cried,
+his body shaken with his passion for the hoard. "Thou couldst slay him
+with the sword thou hast. Harken now and I will tell thee how thou
+mightst give him the deathly stroke through the coils of his mail.
+Harken, for I have thought of it all.
+
+"The track of the Dragon to the River is broad, for he takes ever the
+one track. Dig a pit in the middle of that track, and when Fafnir comes
+over it strike up into his coils of mail with Gram, thy great sword.
+Gram only may pierce that mail. Then will Fafnir be slain and the hoard
+will be left guardless."
+
+"What thou sayst is wise, Regin," Sigurd answered. "We will make this
+pit and I will strike Fafnir in the way thou sayst."
+
+Then Sigurd went and he rode upon Grani, his proud horse, and he showed
+himself to King Alv and to Hiordis, his mother. Afterwards he went with
+Regin to the Heath that was the haunt of the Dragon, and in his track
+they dug a pit for the slaying of Fafnir.
+
+And, lest his horse should scream aloud at the coming of the Dragon,
+Sigurd had Grani sent back to a cave in the hills. It was Regin that
+brought Grani away. "I am fearful and can do nothing to help thee, son
+of the Volsungs," he said. "I will go away and await the slaying of
+Fafnir."
+
+He went, and Sigurd lay down in the pit they had made and practiced
+thrusting upward with his sword. He lay with his face upward and with
+his two hands he thrust the mighty sword upward.
+
+But as he lay there he bethought of a dread thing that might happen;
+namely, that the blood and the venom of the Dragon might pour over him
+as he lay there, and waste him flesh and bone. When he thought of this
+Sigurd hastened out of the pit, and he dug other pits near by, and he
+made a passage for himself from one pit to the other that he might
+escape from the flow of the Dragon's envenomed blood.
+
+As he lay down again in the pit he heard the treading of the Dragon and
+he heard the Dragon's strange and mournful cry. Mightily the Dragon came
+on and he heard his breathing. His shape came over the pit. Then the
+Dragon held his head and looked down on Sigurd.
+
+It was the instant for him to make stroke with Gram. He did not let the
+instant pass. He struck mightily under the shoulder and toward the heart
+of the beast. The sword went through the hard and glittering scales that
+were the creature's mail. Sigurd pulled out the sword and drew himself
+through the passage and out into the second pit as Fafnir's envenomed
+blood drenched where he had been.
+
+Drawing himself up out of the second pit he saw the huge shape of Fafnir
+heaving and lashing. He came to him and thrust his sword right through
+the Dragon's neck. The Dragon reared up as though to fling himself down
+on Sigurd with all his crushing bulk and dread talons, with his fiery
+breath and his envenomed blood. But Sigurd leaped aside and ran far off.
+Then did Fafnir scream his death scream. After he had torn up rocks with
+his talons he lay prone on the ground, his head in the pit that was
+filled with his envenomed blood.
+
+Then did Regin, hearing the scream that let him know that Fafnir was
+slain, come down to where the battle had been fought. When he saw that
+Sigurd was alive and unharmed he uttered a cry of fury. For his plan had
+been to have Sigurd drowned and burnt in the pit with the stream of
+Fafnir's envenomed blood.
+
+But he mastered his fury and showed a pleased countenance to Sigurd.
+"Now thou wilt have renown," he cried. "Forever wilt thou be called
+Sigurd, Fafnir's Bane. More renown than ever any of thy fathers had wilt
+thou have, O Prince of the Volsungs."
+
+So he spoke, saying fair words to him, for now that he was left alive
+there was something he would have Sigurd do.
+
+"Fafnir is slain," Sigurd said, "and the triumph over him was not
+lightly won. Now may I show myself to King Alv and to my mother, and the
+gold from Fafnir's hoard will make me a great spoil."
+
+"Wait," said Regin cunningly. "Wait. Thou hast yet to do something for
+me. With the sword thou hast, cut through the Dragon and take out his
+heart for me. When thou hast taken it out, roast it that I may eat of it
+and become wiser than I am. Do this for me who showed thee how to slay
+Fafnir."
+
+Sigurd did what Regin would have him do. He cut out the heart of the
+Dragon and he hung it from stakes to roast. Regin drew away and left
+him. As Sigurd stood before the fire putting sticks upon it there was a
+great silence in the forest.
+
+He put his hand down to turn an ashen branch into the heart of the fire.
+As he did a drop from the roasting Dragon-heart fell upon his hand. The
+drop burnt into him. He put his hand to his mouth to ease the smart, and
+his tongue tasted the burning blood of the Dragon.
+
+He went to gather wood for the fire. In a clearing that he came to there
+were birds; he saw four on a branch together. They spoke to each other
+in birds' notes, and Sigurd heard and knew what they were saying.
+
+Said the first bird: "How simple is he who has come into this dell! He
+has no thought of an enemy, and yet he who was with him but a while ago
+has gone away that he may bring a spear to slay him."
+
+"For the sake of the gold that is in the Dragon's cave he would slay
+him," said the second bird.
+
+And the third bird said: "If he would eat the Dragon's heart himself he
+would know all wisdom."
+
+But the fourth bird said: "He has tasted a drop of the Dragon's blood
+and he knows what we are saying."
+
+The four birds did not fly away nor cease from speaking. Instead they
+began to tell of a marvelous abode that was known to them.
+
+Deep in the forest, the birds sang, there was a Hall that was called the
+House of Flame. Its ten walls were Uni, Iri, Barri, Ori, Varns,
+Vegdrasil, Derri, Uri, Dellinger, Atvarder, and each wall was built by
+the Dwarf whose name it bore. All round the Hall there was a circle of
+fire through which none might pass. And within the Hall a maiden slept,
+and she was the wisest and the bravest and the most beautiful maiden in
+the world.
+
+Sigurd stood like a man enchanted listening to what the birds sang.
+
+But suddenly they changed the flow of their discourse, and their notes
+became sharp and piercing.
+
+"Look, look!" cried one. "He is coming against the youth."
+
+"He is coming against the youth with a spear," cried another.
+
+"Now will the youth be slain unless he is swift," cried a third.
+
+Sigurd turned round and he saw Regin treading the way toward him, grim
+and silent, with a spear in his hands. The spear would have gone through
+Sigurd had he stayed one instant longer in the place where he had been
+listening to the speech of the birds. As he turned he had his sword in
+his hand, and he flung it, and Gram struck Regin on the breast.
+
+Then Regin cried out: "I die--I die without having laid my hands on the
+hoard that Fafnir guarded. Ah, a curse was upon the hoard, for Hreidmar
+and Fafnir and I have perished because of it. May the curse of the gold
+now fall on the one who is my slayer."
+
+Then did Regin breathe out his life. Sigurd took the body and cast it
+into the pit that was alongside the dead Fafnir. Then, that he might eat
+the Dragon's heart and become the wisest of men, he went to where he had
+left it roasting. And he thought that when he had eaten the heart he
+would go into the Dragon's cave and carry away the treasure that was
+there, and bring it as spoil of his battle to King Alv and to his
+mother. Then he would go through the forest and find the House of Flame
+where slept the maiden who was the wisest and bravest and most beautiful
+in the world.
+
+But Sigurd did not eat the Dragon's heart. When he came to where he had
+left it roasting he found that the fire had burnt it utterly.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE STORY OF SIGMUND AND SIGNY
+
+
+He called to Grani, his proud horse; he stood up on a mound in the Heath
+and he sent forth a great shout. And Grani heard in the cave where Regin
+had left him and he came galloping to Sigurd with flowing mane and eyes
+flashing fire.
+
+He mounted Grani and he rode to Fafnir's cave. When he went into the
+place where the Dragon was wont to lie he saw a door of iron before him.
+With Gram, his mighty sword, he hewed through the iron, and with his
+strong hands he pulled the door back. Then, before him he saw the
+treasure the Dragon guarded, masses of gold and heaps of shining jewels.
+
+But as he looked on the hoard Sigurd felt some shadow of the evil that
+lay over it all. This was the hoard that in the far-off days the
+River-Maidens watched over as it lay deep under the flowing water. Then
+Andvari the Dwarf forced the River-Maidens to give it to him. And Loki
+had taken it from Andvari, letting loose as he did Gulveig the Witch who
+had such evil power over the Gods. For the sake of the hoard Fafnir had
+slain Hreidmar, his father, and Regin had plotted death against Fafnir,
+his brother.
+
+Not all this history did Sigurd know. But a shadow of its evil touched
+his spirit as he stood there before the gleaming and glittering heap. He
+would take all of it away, but not now. The tale that the birds told was
+in his mind, and the green of the forest was more to him than the
+glitter of the treasure heap. He would come back with chests and load it
+up and carry it to King Alv's hall. But first he would take such things
+as he himself might wear.
+
+He found a helmet of gold and he put it on his head. He found a great
+armring and his put it around his arm. On the top of the armring there
+was a small fingerring with a rune graved upon it. Sigurd put it on his
+finger. And this was the ring that Andvari the Dwarf had put the curse
+upon when Loki had taken the hoard from him.
+
+He knew that no one would cross the Heath and come to Fafnir's lair, so
+he did not fear to leave the treasure unguarded. He mounted Grani, his
+proud horse, and rode toward the forest. He would seek the House of
+Flame where she lay sleeping, the maiden who was the wisest and the
+bravest and the most beautiful in the world. With his golden helmet
+shining above his golden hair Sigurd rode on.
+
+As he rode toward the forest he thought of Sigmund, his father, whose
+slaying he had avenged, and he thought of Sigmund's father, Volsung, and
+of the grim deeds that the Volsungs had suffered and wrought.
+
+Rerir, the son of Sigi who was the son of Odin, was the father of
+Volsung. And Volsung when he was in his first manhood had built his hall
+around a mighty tree. Its branches went up to the roof and made the
+beams of the house and its great trunk was the center of the hall. "The
+Branstock" the tree was called, and Volsung hall was named "The Hall of
+the Branstock."
+
+Many children had Volsung, eleven sons and one daughter. Strong were all
+his sons and good fighters, and Volsung of the Hall of the Branstock was
+a mighty chief.
+
+It was through Signy, the daughter of the house, that a feud and a
+deadly battle was brought to Volsung and his sons. She was a wise and a
+fair maiden and her fame went through all the lands. Now, one day
+Volsung received a message from a King asking for the hand of Signy in
+marriage. And Volsung who knew of this King through report of his
+battles sent a message to him saying that he would be welcome to the
+Hall of the Branstock.
+
+So King Siggeir came with his men. But when the Volsungs looked into his
+face they liked it not. And Signy shrank away, saying, "This King is
+evil of heart and false of word."
+
+Volsung and his eleven sons took counsel together. Siggeir had a great
+force of men with him, and if they refused to give her he could slay
+them all and harry their kingdom. Besides they had pledged themselves
+to give Signy when they had sent him a message of welcome. Long counsel
+they had together. And ten of Signy's brothers said, "Let Signy wed this
+King. He is not as evil as he seems in her mind." Ten brothers said it.
+But one spoke out, saying, "We will not give our sister to this evil
+King. Rather let us all go down fighting with the Hall of the Branstock
+flaming above our heads."
+
+It was Sigmund, the youngest of the Volsungs, who said this.
+
+But Signy's father said: "We know nought of evil of King Siggeir. Also
+our word is given to him. Let him feast with us this night in the Hall
+of the Branstock and let Signy go from us with him as his wife." Then
+they looked to her and they saw Signy's face and it was white and stern.
+"Let it be as ye have said, my father and my brothers," she said. "I
+will wed King Siggeir and go with him overseas." So she said aloud. But
+Sigmund heard her say to herself, "It is woe for the Volsungs."
+
+A feast was made and King Siggeir and his men came to the Hall of the
+Branstock. Fires were lighted and tables were spread, and great horns of
+mead went around the guests. In the middle of the feasting a stranger
+entered the Hall. He was taller than the tallest there, and his bearing
+made all do him reverence. One offered him a horn of mead and he drank
+it. Then, from under the blue cloak that he wore, he drew a sword that
+made the brightness of the Hall more bright.
+
+He went to the tree that the Hall was built around, to the Branstock,
+and he thrust the sword into it. All the company were hushed. Then they
+heard the voice of the stranger, a voice that was like the trumpet's
+call: "The sword is for the hand that can draw it out of the Branstock."
+Then he went out of the Hall.
+
+All looked to where the sword was placed and saw a hand's breadth of
+wonderful brightness. This one and that one would have laid hands on the
+hilt, only Volsung's voice bade them stand still. "It is meet," he said,
+"that our guest and our son-in-law, King Siggeir, should be the first to
+put hands on its hilt and try to draw the sword of the stranger out of
+the Branstock."
+
+King Siggeir went to the tree and laid his hands on the broad hilt. He
+strove hard to draw out the sword, but all his might could not move it.
+As he strained himself to draw it and failed, a dark look of anger came
+into his face.
+
+Then others tried to draw it, the captains who were with King Siggeir,
+and they, too, failed to move the blade. Then Volsung tried and Volsung
+could not move it. One after the other, his eleven sons strained to draw
+out the stranger's sword. At last it came to the turn of the youngest,
+to Sigmund, to try. And when Sigmund laid his hand on the broad hilt and
+drew it, behold! The sword came with his hand, and once again the Hall
+was brightened with its marvelous brightness.
+
+It was a wondrous sword, a sword made out of better metal and by smiths
+more cunning than any known. All envied Sigmund that he had won for
+himself that wonder-weapon.
+
+King Siggeir looked on it with greedy eyes. "I will give thee its weight
+in gold for that sword, good brother," he said.
+
+But Sigmund said to him proudly: "If the sword was for thy hand thou
+shouldst have won it. The sword was not for thine, but for a Volsung's
+hand."
+
+And Signy, looking at King Siggeir, saw a look of deeper evil come into
+his face. She knew that hatred for all the Volsung race was in his
+heart.
+
+But at the end of the feast she was wed to King Siggeir, and the next
+day she left the Hall of the Branstock and went with him down to where
+his great painted ship was drawn up on the beach. And when they were
+parting from her, her father and her brothers, King Siggeir invited them
+to come to his country, as friends visiting friends and kinsmen visiting
+kinsmen, and look on Signy again. And he stood on the beach and would
+not go on board his ship until each and all of the Volsungs gave their
+word that they would visit Signy and him in his own land. "And when thou
+comest," he said to Sigmund, "be sure thou dost bring with thee the
+mighty sword that thou didst win."
+
+All this was thought of by Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, as he rode toward
+the fringe of the forest.
+
+The time came for Volsung and his sons to redeem the promise they made
+to King Siggeir. They made ready their ship and they sailed from the
+land where stood the Hall of the Branstock. And they landed on the coast
+of King Siggeir's country, and they drew their ship up on the beach and
+they made their camp there, intending to come to the King's Hall in the
+broad light of the day.
+
+But in the half light of the dawn one came to the Volsung ship. A cloak
+and hood covered the figure, but Sigmund, who was the watcher, knew who
+it was. "Signy!" he said, and Signy asked that her father and her
+brothers be awakened until she would speak to them of a treason that was
+brewed against them.
+
+"King Siggeir has made ready a great army against your coming," she told
+them. "He hates the Volsungs, the branch as well as the root, and it is
+his plan to fall upon you, my father and my brothers, with his great
+army and slay you all. And he would possess himself of Gram, Sigmund's
+wonder-sword. Therefore, I say to you, O Volsungs, draw your ship into
+the sea and sail from the land where such treachery can be."
+
+But Volsung, her father, would not listen. "The Volsungs do not depart
+like broken men from a land they have brought their ship to," he said.
+"We gave, each and all, the word that we would visit King Siggeir and
+visit him we will. And if he is a dastard and would fall upon us, why we
+are the unbeaten Volsungs, and we will fight against him and his army
+and slay him, and bear you back with us to the Hall of the Branstock.
+The day widens now, and we shall go to the Hall."
+
+Signy would have spoken of the great army King Siggeir had gathered, but
+she knew that the Volsungs never harkened to talk of odds. She spoke no
+more, but bowed her head and went back to King Siggeir's hall.
+
+Siggeir knew that Signy had been to warn her father and her brothers. He
+called the men he had gathered and he posted them cunningly in the way
+the Volsungs would come. Then he sent one to the ship with a message of
+welcome.
+
+As they left their ship the army of King Siggeir fell upon the Volsungs
+and their followers. Very fierce was the battle that was waged on the
+beach, and many and many a one of King Siggeir's fierce fighters went
+down before the fearless ones that made Volsung's company. But at last
+Volsung himself was slain and his eleven sons were taken captive. And
+Gram, his mighty sword, was taken out of Sigmund's hands.
+
+They were brought before King Siggeir in his hall, the eleven Volsung
+princes. Siggeir laughed to see them before him. "Ye are not in the Hall
+of the Branstock now, to dishonor me with black looks and scornful
+words," he said, "and a harder task will be given you than that of
+drawing a sword out of a tree-trunk. Before set of sun I will see you
+hewn to pieces with the sword."
+
+Then Signy who was there stood up with her white face and her wide eyes,
+and she said: "I pray not for longer life for my brothers, for well I
+know that my prayers would avail them nought. But dost thou not heed the
+proverb, Siggeir--'Sweet to the eye as long as the eye can see'?"
+
+And Siggeir laughed his evil laugh when he heard her. "Aye, my Queen,"
+he said, "sweet to the eye as long as the eye may see their torments.
+They shall not die at once nor all together. I will let them see each
+other die."
+
+So Siggeir gave a new order to his dastard troops. The order was that
+the eleven brothers should be taken into the depths of the forest and
+chained to great beams and left there. This was done with the eleven
+sons of Volsung.
+
+The next day one who had watched and who was faithful to Signy came, and
+Signy said to him: "What has befallen my brothers?"
+
+And the watcher said: "A great wolf came to where the chained men are,
+and fell upon the first of them and devoured him."
+
+When Signy heard this no tears came from her eyes, but that which was
+hard around her heart became harder. She said, "Go again, and watch what
+befalls."
+
+And the watcher came the second time and said: "The second of your
+brothers has been devoured by the wolf." Signy shed no tears this time
+either, and again that which was hard around her heart became harder.
+
+And every day the watcher came and he told her what had befallen her
+brothers. And it came to the time when but one of her brothers was left
+alive, Sigmund, the youngest.
+
+Then said Signy: "Not without device are we left at the end. I have
+thought of what is to be done. Take a pot of honey to where he is
+chained and smear Sigmund's face with the honey."
+
+The watcher did as Signy bade him.
+
+Again the great wolf came along the forest-ways to where Sigmund was
+chained. When she snuffed over him she found the honey upon his face.
+She put down her tongue to lick over his face. Then, with his strong
+teeth Sigmund seized the tongue of the wolf. She fought and she
+struggled with all her might, but Sigmund did not let go of her tongue.
+The struggle with the beast broke the beam to which he was chained. Then
+Sigmund seized the wolf with his hands and tore her jaws apart.
+
+The watcher saw this happening and told of it to Signy. A fierce joy
+went through her, and she said: "One of the Volsungs lives, and
+vengeance will be wrought upon King Siggeir and upon his house."
+
+Still the watcher stayed in the ways of the forest, and he marked where
+Sigmund built for himself a hidden hut. Often he bore tokens from Signy
+to Sigmund. Sigmund took to the ways of the hunter and the outlaw, but
+he did not forsake the forest. And King Siggeir knew not that one of the
+Volsungs lived and was near him.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE STORY OF SIGMUND AND SINFIOTLI
+
+
+As Sigurd rode the ways of the forest he thought upon Sigmund, his
+father, on his life and his death, according to what Hiordis, his
+mother, had told him. Sigmund lived for long the life of the hunter and
+the outlaw, but he never strayed far from the forest that was in King
+Siggeir's dominion. Often did he get a token from Signy. They two, the
+last of the Volsungs, knew that King Siggeir and his house would have to
+perish for the treason he had wrought on their father and their
+brothers.
+
+Sigmund knew that his sister would send her son to help him. One morning
+there came to his hut a boy of ten years. He knew that this was one of
+Signy's sons, and that she would have him train him into being a
+warrior worthy of the Volsung breed.
+
+Sigmund hardly looked and hardly spoke to the lad. He was going hunting,
+and as he took down his spear from the wall he said:
+
+"There is the mealbag, boy. Mix the meal and make the bread, and we will
+eat when I come back."
+
+When he returned the bread was unmade, and the boy was standing watching
+the mealbag with widened eyes. "Thou didst not make the bread?" Sigmund
+said.
+
+"Nay," said the boy, "I was afeard to go near the bag. Something stirred
+within it."
+
+"Thou hast the heart of a mouse so to be frighted. Go back to thy mother
+and tell her that not in thee is the stuff for a Volsung warrior."
+
+So Sigmund spoke, and the boy went away weeping.
+
+A year later another son of Signy's came. As before Sigmund hardly
+looked at and hardly spoke to the boy. He said:
+
+"There is the mealbag. Mix the meal and make ready the bread against the
+time I return."
+
+When Sigmund came back the bread was unmade. The boy had shrunk away
+from where the bag was.
+
+"Thou hast not made the bread?" Sigmund said.
+
+"Nay," said the boy, "something stirred in the bag, and I was afeard."
+
+"Thou hast the heart of a mouse. Get thee back to thy mother and tell
+her that there is not in thee the stuff for the making of a Volsung
+warrior."
+
+And this boy, like his brother, went back weeping.
+
+At that time Signy had no other sons. But at last one was born to her,
+the child of a desperate thought. Him, too, when he was grown, she sent
+to Sigmund.
+
+"What did thy mother say to thee?" Sigmund said to this boy when he
+showed himself at the hut.
+
+"Nothing. She sewed my gloves to my hands and then bade me pull them
+off."
+
+"And didst thou?"
+
+"Aye, and the skin came with them."
+
+"And didst thou weep?"
+
+"A Volsung does not weep for such a thing."
+
+Long did Sigmund look on the lad. He was tall and fair and great-limbed,
+and his eyes had no fear in them.
+
+"What wouldst thou have me do for thee?" said the lad.
+
+"There is the mealbag," Sigmund said. "Mix the meal and make the bread
+for me against the time I return."
+
+When Sigmund came back the bread was baking on the coals. "What didst
+thou with the meal?" Sigmund asked.
+
+"I mixed it. Something was in the meal--a serpent, I think--but I
+kneaded it with the meal, and now the serpent is baking on the coals."
+
+Sigmund laughed and threw his arms around the boy. "Thou wilt not eat of
+that bread," he said. "Thou didst knead into it a venomous serpent."
+
+The boy's name was Sinfiotli. Sigmund trained him in the ways of the
+hunter and the outlaw. Here and there they went, taking vengeance on
+King Siggeir's men. The boy was fierce, but never did he speak a word
+that was false.
+
+One day when Sigmund and Sinfiotli were hunting, they came upon a
+strange house in the dark wood. When they went within they found two men
+lying there sleeping a deep sleep. On their arms were heavy rings of
+gold, and Sigmund knew that they were the sons of Kings.
+
+And beside the sleeping men he saw wolfskins, left there as though they
+had been cast off. Then Sigmund knew that these men were
+shape-changers--that they were ones who changed their shapes and ranged
+through the forests as wolves.
+
+Sigmund and Sinfiotli put on the skins that the men had cast off, and
+when they did this they changed their shapes and became as wolves. And
+as wolves they ranged through the forest, now and then changing their
+shapes back to those of men. As wolves they fell upon King Siggeir's men
+and slew more and more of them.
+
+One day Sigmund said to Sinfiotli: "Thou art still young and I would not
+have thee be too rash. If thou dost come upon a company of seven men,
+fight them. But if thou dost come on a company greater than seven, raise
+up thy voice as a wolf's cry and bring me to thy side."
+
+Sinfiotli promised that he would do this.
+
+One day, as he went through the forest in his wolf's shape, Sigmund
+heard the din of a struggle and he stopped to listen for Sinfiotli's
+call. But no call came. Then Sigmund went through the forest in the
+direction of the struggle. On his way he passed the bodies of eleven
+slain men. And he came upon Sinfiotli lying in the thicket, his wolf's
+shape upon him, and panting from the battle he had waged.
+
+"Thou didst strive with eleven men. Why didst thou not call to me?"
+Sigmund said.
+
+"Why should I have called to thee? I am not so feeble but I can strive
+with eleven men."
+
+Sigmund was made angry with this answer. He looked on Sinfiotli where he
+lay, and the wicked wolf's nature that was in the skin came over him. He
+sprang upon him, sinking his teeth in Sinfiotli's throat.
+
+Sinfiotli lay gasping in the throes of death. And Sigmund, knowing the
+deadly grip that was in those jaws of his, howled his anguish.
+
+Then, as he licked the face of his comrade, he saw two weasels meet.
+They began to fight, one with the other, and the first caught the second
+at the throat, and bit him with his teeth and laid him out as if in
+death. Sigmund marked the combat and the end of it. But then the first
+weasel ran and found leaves of a certain herb and he put them upon his
+comrade's wound. And the herb cured the wound, and the weasel that was
+bitten rose up and was sound and swift again.
+
+Sigmund went searching for the herb he saw the weasel carry to his
+comrade. And as he sought for it he saw a raven with a leaf in her beak.
+She dropped the leaf as he came to her, and behold! It was the same leaf
+as the weasel had brought to his comrade. Sigmund took it and laid it on
+the wound he had made in Sinfiotli's throat, and the wound healed, and
+Sinfiotli was sound once more. They went back to their hut in the
+forest. And the next day they burnt the wolfskins, and they prayed the
+Gods that they might never be afflicted with the wolf's evil nature
+again. And Sigmund and Sinfiotli never afterwards changed their shapes.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE STORY OF THE VENGEANCE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND
+OF THE DEATH OF SINFIOTLI
+
+
+And now Sinfiotli had come to his full strength and it was time to take
+vengeance on King Siggeir for the slaying of Volsung and the dread doom
+he had set for Volsung's ten sons. Sigmund and Sinfiotli put helmets on
+their heads and took swords in their hands and went to King Siggeir's
+Hall. They hid behind the casks of ale that were at the entrance and
+they waited for the men-at-arms to leave the Hall that they might fall
+upon King Siggeir and his attendants.
+
+The younger children of King Siggeir were playing in the Hall and one
+let fall a ball. It went rolling behind the casks of ale. And the child
+peering after the ball saw two men crouching with swords in their hands
+and helmets on their heads.
+
+The child told a servant who told the King. Then Siggeir arose, and he
+drew his men-at-arms around him, and he set them on the men who were
+hiding behind the barrels. Sigmund and Sinfiotli sprang up and fought
+against the men of King Siggeir, but they were taken captives.
+
+Now they might not be slain there and then, for it was unlawful to slay
+captives after sunset. But for all that, King Siggeir would not leave
+them above ground. He decreed that they should be put in a pit, and a
+mound made over them so that they would be buried alive.
+
+The sentence was carried out. A great flagstone was put down to divide
+the pit in two, so that Sigmund and Sinfiotli might hear each other's
+struggle and not be able to give help to each other. All was done as the
+King commanded.
+
+But while his thralls were putting sods over the pit, one came amongst
+them, cloaked and hooded, and dropped something wrapped in straw into
+the side of the pit where Sinfiotli lay. And when the sky was shut out
+from them with the turf and soil that was put over the pit, Sinfiotli
+shouted to Sigmund: "I shall not die, for the queen has thrown down to
+me meat wrapped in a parcel of straw."
+
+And a while afterwards Sinfiotli shouted to Sigmund: "The queen has left
+a sword in the meat which she flung down to me. It is a mighty sword.
+Almost I think it is Gram, the sword you told me of."
+
+"If it be Gram," Sigmund said, "it is a sword that can cut through this
+flagstone. Thrust the blade against the stone and try."
+
+Sinfiotli thrust the blade against the stone and the blade went through
+the stone. Then, one on each side, they took hold of the sword and they
+cut the great stone in two. Afterwards, working together, it was easy to
+shift the turf and soil. The two came out under the sky.
+
+Before them was the Hall of King Siggeir. They came to the Hall and they
+set dry wood before it and they fired the wood and made the Hall blaze
+up. And when the Hall was in a blaze King Siggeir came to the door and
+shouted, "Who is it that has fired the house of the King?"
+
+And Sigmund said, "I, Sigmund, the son of Volsung, that you may pay for
+the treason wrought on the Volsungs."
+
+Seeing Sigmund there with Gram, the great sword, in his hands, Siggeir
+went back into his Hall. Then Signy was seen with her white face and her
+stern eyes, and Sigmund called to her, "Come forth, come forth. Sigmund
+calls. Come out of Siggeir's blazing house and together we will go back
+to the Hall of the Branstock."
+
+But Signy said, "All is finished now. The vengeance is wrought and I
+have no more to keep me in life. The Volsung race lives on in you, my
+brother, and that is my joy. Not merrily did I wed King Siggeir and not
+merrily did I live with him, but merrily will I die with him now."
+
+She went within the Hall; then the flames burst over it and all who were
+within perished. Thus the vengeance of the Volsungs was wrought.
+
+And Sigurd thought on the deed that Sigmund, his father, and Sinfiotli,
+the youth who was his father's kinsman, wrought, as he rode the ways of
+the forest, and of the things that thereafter befell them.
+
+Sigmund and Sinfiotli left King Siggeir's land and came back to the land
+where was the Hall of the Branstock. Sigmund became a great King and
+Sinfiotli was the Captain of his host.
+
+And the story of Sigmund and Sinfiotli goes on to tell how Sigmund wed a
+woman whose name was Borghild, and how Sinfiotli loved a woman who was
+loved by Borghild's brother. A battle came in which the youths were on
+opposite sides, and Sinfiotli killed Borghild's brother, and it was in
+fair combat.
+
+Sinfiotli returned home. To make peace between him and the Queen,
+Sigmund gave Borghild a great measure of gold as compensation for the
+loss of her brother. The Queen took it and said, "Lo, my brother's worth
+is reckoned at this; let no more be said about his slaying." And she
+made Sinfiotli welcome to the Hall of the Branstock.
+
+But although she showed herself friendly to him her heart was set upon
+his destruction.
+
+That night there was a feast in the Hall of the Branstock and Borghild
+the Queen went to all the guests with a horn of mead in her hand. She
+came to Sinfiotli and she held the horn to him. "Take this from my
+hands, O friend of Sigmund," she said.
+
+But Sinfiotli saw what was in her eyes and he said, "I will not drink
+from this horn. There is venom in the drink."
+
+Then, to end the mockery that the Queen would have made over Sinfiotli,
+Sigmund who was standing by took the horn out of Borghild's hand. No
+venom or poison could injure him. He raised the horn to his lips and
+drained the mead at a draught.
+
+The Queen said to Sinfiotli, "Must other men quaff thy drink for thee?"
+
+Later in the night she came to him again, the horn of mead in her hand.
+She offered it to Sinfiotli, but he looked in her eyes and saw the
+hatred that was there. "Venom is in the drink," he said. "I will not
+take it."
+
+And again Sigmund took the horn and drank the mead at a draught. And
+again the Queen mocked Sinfiotli.
+
+A third time she came to him. Before she offered the horn she said,
+"This is the one who fears to take his drink like a man. What a Volsung
+heart he has!" Sinfiotli saw the hatred in her eyes, and her mockery
+could not make him take the mead from her. As before Sigmund was
+standing by. But now he was weary of raising the horn and he said to
+Sinfiotli, "Pour the drink through thy beard."
+
+He thought that Sigmund meant that he should pour the mead through his
+lips that were bearded and make trouble no more between him and the
+Queen. But Sigmund did not mean that. He meant that he should pretend to
+drink and let the mead run down on the floor. Sinfiotli, not
+understanding what his comrade meant, took the horn from the Queen and
+raised it to his lips and drank. And as soon as he drank, the venom that
+was in the drink went to his heart, and he fell dead in the Hall of the
+Branstock.
+
+Oh, woeful was Sigmund for the death of his kinsman and his comrade. He
+would let no one touch his body. He himself lifted Sinfiotli in his arms
+and carried him out of the Hall, and through the wood, and down to the
+seashore. And when he came to the shore he saw a boat drawn up with a
+man therein. Sigmund came near to him and saw that the man was old and
+strangely tall. "I will take thy burthen from thee," the man said.
+
+Sigmund left the body of Sinfiotli in the boat, thinking to take a place
+beside it. But as soon as the body was placed in it the boat went from
+the land without sail or oars. Sigmund, looking on the old man who stood
+at the stern, knew that he was not of mortal men, but was Odin
+All-Father, the giver of the sword Gram.
+
+Then Sigmund went back to his Hall. His Queen died, and in time he wed
+with Hiordis, who became the mother of Sigurd. And now Sigurd the
+Volsung, the son of Sigmund and Hiordis, rode the ways of the forest,
+the sword Gram by his side, and the Golden Helmet of the Dragon's Hoard
+above his golden hair.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BRYNHILD IN THE HOUSE OF FLAME
+
+
+The forest ways led him on and up a mountain-side. He came to a
+mountain-summit at last: Hindfell, where the trees fell away, leaving a
+place open to the sky and the winds. On Hindfell was the House of Flame.
+Sigurd saw the walls black, and high, and all around them was a ring of
+fire.
+
+As he rode nearer he heard the roar of the mounting and the circling
+fire. He sat on Grani, his proud horse, and for long he looked on the
+black walls and the flame that went circling around them.
+
+Then he rode Grani to the fire. Another horse would have been
+affrighted, but Grani remained steady under Sigurd. To the wall of fire
+they came, and Sigurd, who knew no fear, rode through it.
+
+Now he was in the courtyard of the Hall. No stir was there of man or
+hound or horse. Sigurd dismounted and bade Grani be still. He opened a
+door and he saw a chamber with hangings on which was wrought the pattern
+of a great tree, a tree with three roots, and the pattern was carried
+across from one wall to the other. On a couch in the center of the
+chamber one lay in slumber. Upon the head was a helmet and across the
+breast was a breastplate. Sigurd took the helmet off the head. Then over
+the couch fell a heap of woman's hair--wondrous, bright-gleaming hair.
+This was the maiden that the birds had told him of.
+
+He cut the fastenings of the breastplate with his sword, and he gazed
+long upon her. Beautiful was her face, but stern; like the face of one
+who subdues but may not be subdued. Beautiful and strong were her arms
+and her hands. Her mouth was proud, and over her closed eyes there were
+strong and beautiful brows.
+
+Her eyes opened, and she turned them and looked full upon Sigurd. "Who
+art thou who hast awakened me?" she said.
+
+"I am Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, of the Volsung race," he answered.
+
+"And thou didst ride through the ring of fire to me?"
+
+"That did I."
+
+She knelt on the couch and stretched out her arms to where the light
+shone. "Hail, O Day," she cried, "and hail, O beams that are the sons of
+Day. O Night, and O daughter of Night, may ye look on us with eyes that
+bless. Hail, O Æsir and O Asyniur! Hail, O wide-spreading fields of
+Midgard! May ye give us wisdom, and wise speech, and healing power, and
+grant that nothing untrue or unbrave may come near us!"
+
+All this she cried with eyes open wide; they were eyes that had in them
+all the blue that Sigurd had ever seen: the blue of flowers, the blue of
+skies, the blue of battle-blades. She turned those great eyes upon him
+and she said, "I am Brynhild, once a Valkyrie but now a mortal maiden,
+one who will know death and all the sorrows that mortal women know. But
+there are things that I may not know, things that are false and of no
+bravery."
+
+She was the bravest and the wisest and the most beautiful maiden in the
+world: Sigurd knew that it was so. He laid his sword Gram at her feet,
+and he said her name, "Brynhild." He told her how he had slain the
+Dragon, and how he had heard the birds tell of her. She rose from the
+couch and bound her wondrous hair on her head. In wonder he watched her.
+When she moved it was as though she walked above the earth.
+
+They sat together and she told him wonderful and secret things. And she
+told him, too, how she was sent by Odin from Asgard to choose the slain
+for his hall Valhalla, and to give victory to those whom he willed to
+have it. And she told how she had disobeyed the will of All-Father, and
+how for that she was made outcast of Asgard. Odin put into her flesh the
+thorn of the Tree of Sleep that she might remain in slumber until one
+who was the bravest of mortal men should waken her. Whoever would break
+the fastenings of the breastplate would take out the Thorn of Sleep.
+"Odin granted me this," she said, "that as a mortal maid I should wed
+none but him who is the bravest in the world. And so that none but him
+might come to me, All-Father put the fire-ring round where I lay in
+slumber. And it is thou, Sigurd, son of Sigmund, who hast come to me.
+Thou art the bravest and I think thou art the most beautiful too; like
+to Tyr, the God who wields the sword."
+
+She told him that whoever rode through the fire and claimed her as his
+wife, him she must wed.
+
+They talked to each other fondly and the day flowed by them. Then Sigurd
+heard Grani, his horse, neigh for him again and again. He cried to
+Brynhild: "Let me go from the gaze of thine eyes. I am that one who is
+to have the greatest name in the world. Not yet have I made my name as
+great as my father and my father's father made their names great. I have
+overcome King Lygni, and I have slain Fafnir the Dragon, but that is
+little. I would make my name the greatest in the world, and endure all
+that is to be endured in making it so. Then I would come back to thee in
+the House of Flame."
+
+Brynhild said to him: "Well dost thou speak. Make thy name great, and
+endure what thou hast to endure in making it so. I will wait for thee,
+knowing that none but Sigurd will be able to win through the fire that
+guards where I abide."
+
+They gazed long on each other, but little more they spoke. Then they
+held each other's hands in farewell, and they plighted faith, promising
+each other that they would take no other man or maiden for their mate.
+And for token of their troth Sigurd took the ring that was on his finger
+and placed it on Brynhild's--Andvari's ring it was.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+SIGURD AT THE HOUSE OF THE NIBELUNGS
+
+
+He left Hindfell and he came into a kingdom that was ruled over by a
+people that were called the Nibelungs as Sigurd's people were called the
+Volsungs. Giuki was the name of the King of that land.
+
+Giuki and his Queen and all their sons gave a great welcome to Sigurd
+when he came to their hall, for he looked such a one as might win the
+name of being the world's greatest hero. And Sigurd went to war beside
+the King's sons, Gunnar and Högni, and the three made great names for
+themselves, but Sigurd's shone high above the others.
+
+When they came back from that war there were great rejoicings in the
+hall of the Nibelungs, and Sigurd's heart was filled with friendship
+for all the Nibelung race; he had love for the King's sons, Gunnar and
+Högni, and with Gunnar and Högni he swore oaths of brotherhood.
+Henceforward he and they would be as brethren. King Giuki had a stepson
+named Guttorm and he was not bound in the oath that bound Sigurd and the
+others in brotherhood.
+
+After the war they had waged Sigurd spent a whole winter in the hall of
+the Nibelungs. His heart was full of memories of Brynhild and of
+longings to ride to her in the House of Flame and to take her with him
+to the kingdom that King Giuki would have given him. But as yet he would
+not go back to her, for he had sworn to give his brethren further help.
+
+One day, as he rode by himself, he heard birds talk to each other and he
+knew the words they were saying. One said, "There is Sigurd who wears
+the wondrous helmet that he took out of Fafnir's hoard." And the other
+bird said, "He knows not that by that helmet he can change his shape as
+Fafnir changed his shape, and make him look like this creature or that
+creature, or this man or that man." And the third bird said, "He knows
+not that the helmet can do anything so wonderful for him."
+
+He rode back to the hall of the Nibelungs, and at the supperboard he
+told them what he had heard the birds say. He showed them the wondrous
+helmet. Also he told them how he had slain Fafnir the Dragon, and of how
+he had won the mighty hoard for himself. His two sworn brothers who were
+there rejoiced that he had such wondrous possessions.
+
+But more precious than the hoard and more wondrous than the helmet was
+the memory of Brynhild that he had. But of this he said no word.
+
+Grimhild was the name of the Queen. She was the mother of Gunnar and
+Högni and their half-brother Guttorm. And she and the King had one
+daughter whose name was Gudrun. Now Grimhild was one of the wisest of
+women, and she knew when she looked upon him that Sigurd was the world's
+greatest warrior. She would have him belong to the Nibelungs, not only
+by the oaths of brotherhood he had sworn with Gunnar and Högni, but by
+other ties. And when she heard of the great hoard that was his she had
+greater wish and will that he should be one with the Nibelungs. She
+looked on the helmet of gold and on the great armring that he wore, and
+she made it her heart's purpose that Sigurd should wed with Gudrun, her
+daughter. But neither Sigurd nor the maiden Gudrun knew of Grimhild's
+resolve.
+
+And the Queen, watching Sigurd closely, knew that he had a remembrance
+in his breast that held him from seeing Gudrun's loveliness. She had
+knowledge of spells and secret brews (she was of the race of Borghild
+whose brew had destroyed Sinfiotli's life) and she knew that she could
+make a potion that would destroy the memory Sigurd held.
+
+She mixed the potion. Then one night when there was feasting in the hall
+of the Nibelungs, she gave the cup that held the potion into the hands
+of Gudrun and bade her carry it to Sigurd.
+
+Sigurd took the cup out of the hands of the fair Nibelung maiden and he
+drank the potion. When he had drunk it he put the cup down and he stood
+amongst the feasters like a man in a dream. And like a man in a dream he
+went into his chamber, and for a day and a night afterwards he was
+silent and his mind was astray. When he rode out with Gunnar and Högni
+they would say to him, "What is it thou hast lost, brother?" Sigurd
+could not tell them. But what he had lost was all memory of Brynhild the
+Valkyrie in the House of Flame.
+
+He saw Gudrun and it was as though he looked upon her for the first
+time. Soft were the long tresses of her hair; soft were her hands. Her
+eyes were like woodflowers, and her ways and her speech were gentle. Yet
+was she noble in her bearing as became a Princess who would come into a
+kingdom. And from the first time she had seen him upon Grani, his proud
+horse, and with his golden helmet above his golden hair, Gudrun had
+loved Sigurd.
+
+At the season when the wild swans came to the lake Gudrun went down to
+watch them build their nests. And while she was there Sigurd rode
+through the pines. He saw her, and her beauty made the whole place
+change. He stopped his horse and listened to her voice as she sang to
+the wild swans, sang the song that Völund made for Alvit, his
+swan-bride.
+
+No more was Sigurd's heart empty of memory: it was filled with the
+memory of Gudrun as he saw her by the lake when the wild swans were
+building their nests. And now he watched her in the hall, sitting with
+her mother embroidering, or serving her father or her brothers, and
+tenderness for the maiden kept growing in his heart.
+
+A day came when he asked Gunnar and Högni, his sworn brethren, for
+Gudrun. They were glad as though a great fortune had befallen them. And
+they brought him before Giuki the King, and Grimhild the Queen. It
+seemed as if they had cast off all trouble and care and entered into the
+prime of their life and power, so greatly did the King and the Queen
+rejoice at Sigurd's becoming one with the Nibelungs through his marriage
+with Gudrun.
+
+When Gudrun heard that Sigurd had asked for her, she said to the Queen:
+"Oh, my mother, your wisdom should have strengthened me to bear such
+joy. How can I show him that he is so dear, so dear to me? But I shall
+try not to show it, for he might deem that there was no sense in me but
+sense to love him. So great a warrior would not care for such love. I
+would be with him as a battle-maiden."
+
+Sigurd and Gudrun were wed and all the kingdom that the Nibelungs ruled
+over rejoiced. And Queen Grimhild thought that though the effect of the
+potion she gave would wear away, his love for Gudrun would ever fill his
+heart, and that no other memory would be able to find a place there.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+HOW BRYNHILD WAS WON FOR GUNNAR
+
+
+Now that Sigurd had wed Gudrun he was one with the Nibelungs. The hoard
+that was in Fafnir's cave he brought away and he left it in their
+treasure house. He went into his fosterfather's kingdom again, and he
+saw King Alv and Hiordis, his mother. But he had no memory now of the
+House of Flame, nor of Brynhild, who waited there for him.
+
+King Giuki died, and Gunnar, Sigurd's sworn brother, became King in his
+stead. His mother would have him wed, but Gunnar told her he had seen no
+maiden whom he would choose for his wife.
+
+But when Sigurd and he were together Gunnar would speak of a maiden far
+away, one whom he often thought on. And one day when Sigurd pressed him
+to tell who this maiden was, he spoke of one whom the wisest of the
+poets told of, a maiden in a Hall with a flame around it, a maiden named
+Brynhild who was guarded by a ring of fire.
+
+Sigurd laughed to think that his shrewd brother was beguiled by one whom
+he had only heard of. But if he was beguiled by the tale of her, why
+should he not come to her and wed her? So Sigurd said. Then Gunnar bent
+to him and asked Sigurd would he aid him to win her? And Sigurd took
+Gunnar's hand and swore that he would.
+
+So they started off for Hindfell, Gunnar and Högni and Sigurd. They rode
+on until they came in sight of the black walls with the mounting and
+circling fire around them. No memory had Sigurd of the place. With the
+flame of eagerness upon his stolid face Gunnar went forward to ride
+through the ring of fire. He brought Goti, his horse, near the flame,
+but the horse, for no urging, would go through it. Then Gunnar thought
+that, mounted on Grani, Sigurd's horse, he could ride through the ring
+of fire. He mounted Grani and came near to the flaring wall. But Grani,
+knowing that the one who rode him had fear of the fire, reared up and
+would not go through it. Only with Sigurd on his back would Grani go
+through the flame.
+
+Then were the three sworn brethren greatly discomfited. But after they
+had considered it for long Högni the Wise said: "There is a way to win
+Brynhild, and that is for Sigurd to change shapes, by the magic of his
+helmet, with Gunnar. Then Sigurd could ride Grani through the wall of
+flame and come to Brynhild in Gunnar's shape."
+
+So spoke Högni the Wise, and when he saw his sworn brother's gaze fixed
+on him in pleading, Sigurd could not but agree to ride through the flame
+and come to Brynhild in the way he said. And so by the magic of his
+helmet he changed shapes with Gunnar. Then he mounted Grani and rode to
+the wall of flame. And Grani, knowing that the one he bore was without
+fear, rode through the flaring fire. Then Sigurd came into the courtyard
+of the House of Flame. He dismounted from Grani, and he bade his horse
+be still.
+
+He went within the Hall and he saw one with a bow in her hands shooting
+at a mark. She turned to him, and he saw a beautiful and stern face,
+with coils of wondrous, bright-gleaming hair and eyes that were like
+stars in an unventured-in sea. He thought that the arrow in her hands
+had been shot through him. But it was not so. Brynhild threw down the
+bow and came to him with that walk of hers that was as of one moving
+above the earth. And when she came near and looked upon him she uttered
+a strange cry.
+
+"Who art thou?" she said. "Who art thou who hast come to me through the
+wall of flaring fire?"
+
+"Gunnar, son of Giuki, of the race of the Nibelungs," Sigurd said.
+
+"Art thou the bravest one in the world?" she asked.
+
+"I have ridden through the wall of flaring fire to come to thee," Sigurd
+answered.
+
+"He who has come through that wall of flaring fire may claim me,"
+Brynhild said. "It is written in the runes, and it must be so. But I
+thought there was only one who would come to me through it." She looked
+at him, and her eyes had a flame of anger. "Oh, I would strive with thee
+with warrior-weapons," she cried. Then Sigurd felt her strong hands upon
+him, and he knew that she was striving to throw him.
+
+They wrestled, and each was so strong that none could move the other.
+They wrestled, Sigurd the first of heroes, and Brynhild, the Valkyrie.
+Sigurd got her hand in his in the wrestle. On that hand was a ring, and
+Sigurd bent back the finger and drew it off.
+
+It was Andvari's ring, the ring he had placed on her finger. And when
+the ring was taken off it, Brynhild sank down on her knees like one that
+was strengthless.
+
+Then Sigurd lifted her in his arms and carried her to where Grani, his
+horse, was waiting. He lifted her across his horse, and he mounted
+behind her and again he rode through the wall of flame. Högni and Gunnar
+were waiting, Gunnar in Sigurd's shape. Brynhild did not look upon them,
+but covered her face with her hands. Then Sigurd took back his own
+shape, and he rode before Gunnar and Högni to the hall of the Nibelungs.
+
+He went within, and he found Gudrun, his wife, playing with Sigmund, his
+little son, and he sat beside her and he told her of all that had
+befallen: how, for the sake of the sworn brotherhood, he had won
+Brynhild the Valkyrie for Gunnar, and how he had striven with her and
+had overcome her, and had taken off her finger the ring that he now
+wore upon his own.
+
+And even as he spoke to his wife the fume of the potion that Gudrun's
+mother had given him was wearing off, and he had memories of going to
+the House of Flame on a day that was not this day, and of riding through
+the wall of fire in his own shape. And again, as on the night when he
+drank the potion that Queen Grimhild brewed, he became as one whose wits
+are astray. He stood watching his child as he played, and his wife as
+she worked at her embroidery, and he was as a man in a dream.
+
+While he was standing there Gunnar and Högni came into the hall of the
+Nibelungs bringing Brynhild with them. Gudrun rose up to welcome her who
+came as her brother's bride. Then did Sigurd look on Brynhild and then
+did he remember all. And when he remembered all such a mighty sigh rose
+from his heart as burst the links of the mail that was across his
+breast.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE DEATH OF SIGURD
+
+
+It happened one day that Brynhild, Gunnar's wife, now a Queen, was with
+Sigurd's wife, bathing in a river. Not often they were together.
+Brynhild was the haughtiest of women, and often she treated Gudrun with
+disdain. Now as they were bathing together, Gudrun, shaking out her
+hair, cast some drops upon Brynhild. Brynhild went from Gudrun. And
+Sigurd's wife, not knowing that Brynhild had anger against her, went
+after her up the stream.
+
+"Why dost thou go so far up the river, Brynhild?" Gudrun asked.
+
+"So that thou mayst not shake thy hair over me," answered Brynhild.
+
+Gudrun stood still while Brynhild went up the river like a creature who
+was made to be alone. "Why dost thou speak so to me, sister?" Gudrun
+cried.
+
+She remembered that from the first Brynhild had been haughty with her,
+often speaking to her with harshness and bitterness. She did not know
+what cause Brynhild had for this.
+
+It was because Brynhild had seen in Sigurd the one who had ridden
+through the fire for the first time, he who had awakened her by breaking
+the binding of her breastplate and so drawing out of her flesh the thorn
+of the Tree of Sleep. She had given him her love when she awakened on
+the world. But he, as she thought, had forgotten her easily, giving his
+love to this other maiden. Brynhild, with her Valkyrie's pride, was left
+with a mighty anger in her heart.
+
+"Why dost thou speak so to me, Brynhild?" Gudrun asked.
+
+"It would be ill indeed if drops from thy hair fell on one who is so
+much above thee, one who is King Gunnar's wife," Brynhild answered.
+
+"Thou art married to a King, but not to one more valorous than my lord,"
+Gudrun said.
+
+"Gunnar is more valorous; why dost thou compare Sigurd with him?"
+Brynhild said.
+
+"He slew the Dragon Fafnir, and won for himself Fafnir's hoard," said
+Gudrun.
+
+"Gunnar rode through the ring of fire. Mayhap thou wilt tell us that
+Sigurd did the like," said Brynhild.
+
+"Yea," said Gudrun, now made angry. "It was Sigurd and not Gunnar who
+rode through the ring of fire. He rode through it in Gunnar's shape, and
+he took the ring off thy finger--look, it is now on mine."
+
+And Gudrun held out her hand on which was Andvari's ring. Then Brynhild
+knew, all at once, that what Gudrun said was true. It was Sigurd that
+rode through the ring of fire the second as well as the first time. It
+was he who had struggled with her, taking the ring off her hand and
+claiming her for a bride, not for himself but for another, and out of
+disdain.
+
+Falsely had she been won. And she, one of Odin's Valkyries, had been wed
+to one who was not the bravest hero in the world, and she to whom
+untruth might not come had been deceived. She was silent now, and all
+the pride that was in her turned to hatred of Sigurd.
+
+She went to Gunnar, her husband, and she told him that she was so deeply
+shamed that she could never be glad in his Hall again; that never would
+he see her drinking wine, nor embroidering with golden threads, and
+never would he hear her speaking words of kindness. And when she said
+this to him she rent the web she was weaving, and she wept aloud so that
+all in the hall heard her, and all marveled to hear the proud Queen cry.
+
+Then Sigurd came to her, and he offered in atonement the whole hoard of
+Fafnir. And he told her how forgetfulness of her had come upon him, and
+he begged her to forgive him for winning her in falseness. But she
+answered him: "Too late thou hast come to me, Sigurd. Now I have only a
+great anger in my heart."
+
+When Gunnar came she told him she would forgive him, and love him as she
+had not loved him before, if he would slay Sigurd. But Gunnar would not
+slay him, although Brynhild's passion moved him greatly, since Sigurd
+was a sworn brother of his.
+
+Then she went to Högni and asked him to slay Sigurd, telling him that
+the whole of Fafnir's hoard would belong to the Nibelungs if Sigurd were
+slain. But Högni would not slay him, since Sigurd and he were sworn
+brothers.
+
+There was one who had not sworn brotherhood with Sigurd. He was Guttorm,
+Gunnar's and Högni's half-brother. Brynhild went to Guttorm. He would
+not slay Sigurd, but Brynhild found that he was infirm of will and
+unsteady of thought. With Guttorm, then, she would work for the slaying
+of Sigurd. Her mind was fixed that he and she would no longer be in the
+world of men.
+
+She made a dish of madness for Guttorm--serpent's venom and wolf's flesh
+mixed--and when he had eaten it Guttorm was crazed. Then did he listen
+to Brynhild's words. And she commanded him to go into the chamber where
+Sigurd slept and stab him through the body with a sword.
+
+This Guttorm did. But Sigurd, before he gasped out his life, took Gram,
+his great sword, and flung it at Guttorm and cut him in twain.
+
+And Brynhild, knowing what deed was done, went without and came to where
+Grani, Sigurd's proud horse, was standing. She stayed there with her
+arms across Grani's neck, the Valkyrie leaning across the horse that was
+born of Odin's horse. And Grani stood listening for some sound. He
+heard the cries of Gudrun over Sigurd, and then his heart burst and he
+died.
+
+They bore Sigurd out of the Hall and Brynhild went beside where they
+placed him. She took a sword and put it through her own heart. Thus died
+Brynhild who had been made a mortal woman for her disobedience to the
+will of Odin, and who was won to be a mortal's wife by a falseness.
+
+They took Sigurd and his horse Grani, and his helmet and his golden
+war-gear and they left all on a great painted ship. They could not but
+leave Brynhild beside him, Brynhild with her wondrous hair and her stern
+and beautiful face. They left the two together and launched the ship on
+the sea. And when the ship was on the water they fired it, and Brynhild
+once again lay in the flames.
+
+And so Sigurd and Brynhild went together to join Baldur and Nanna in
+Hela's habitation.
+
+Gunnar and Högni came to dread the evil that was in the hoard. They took
+the gleaming and glittering mass and they brought it to the river along
+which, ages before, Hreidmar had his smithy and the Dwarf Andvari his
+cave. From a rock in the river they cast the gold and jewels into the
+water and the hoard of Andvari sank for ever beneath the waves. Then the
+River Maidens had possession again of their treasure. But not for long
+were they to guard it and to sing over it, for now the season that was
+called the Fimbul Winter was coming over the earth, and Ragnarök, the
+Twilight of the Gods, was coming to the Dwellers in Asgard.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
+
+
+Snow fell on the four quarters of the world; icy winds blew from every
+side; the sun and the moon were hidden by storms. It was the Fimbul
+Winter: no spring came and no summer; no autumn brought harvest or
+fruit, and winter grew into winter again.
+
+There was three years' winter. The first was called the Winter of Winds:
+storms blew and snows drove down and frosts were mighty. The children of
+men might hardly keep alive in that dread winter.
+
+The second winter was called the Winter of the Sword: those who were
+left alive amongst men robbed and slew for what was left to feed on;
+brother fell on brother and slew him, and over all the world there were
+mighty battles.
+
+And the third winter was called the Winter of the Wolf. Then the
+ancient witch who lived in Jarnvid, the Iron Wood, fed the Wolf Managarm
+on unburied men and on the corpses of those who fell in battle. Mightily
+grew and flourished the Wolf that was to be the devourer of Mani, the
+Moon. The Champions in Valhalla would find their seats splashed with the
+blood that Managarm dashed from his jaws; this was a sign to the Gods
+that the time of the last battle was approaching.
+
+A cock crew; far down in the bowels of the earth he was and beside
+Hela's habitation: the rusty-red cock of Hel crew, and his crowing made
+a stir in the lower worlds. In Jötunheim a cock crew, Fialar, the
+crimson cock, and at his crowing the Giants aroused themselves. High up
+in Asgard a cock crew, the golden cock Gullinkambir, and at his crowing
+the Champions in Valhalla bestirred themselves.
+
+A dog barked; deep down in the earth a dog barked; it was Garm, the
+hound with bloody mouth, barking in Gnipa's Cave. The Dwarfs who heard
+groaned before their doors of stone. The tree Ygdrassil moaned in all
+its branches. There was a rending noise as the Giants moved their ship;
+there was a trampling sound as the hosts of Muspelheim gathered their
+horses.
+
+But Jötunheim and Muspelheim and Hel waited tremblingly; it might be
+that Fenrir the Wolf might not burst the bonds wherewith the Gods had
+bound him. Without his being loosed the Gods might not be destroyed. And
+then was heard the rending of the rock as Fenrir broke loose. For the
+second time the Hound Garm barked in Gnipa's Cave.
+
+Then was heard the galloping of the horses of the riders of Muspelheim;
+then was heard the laughter of Loki; then was heard the blowing of
+Heimdall's horn; then was heard the opening of Valhalla's five hundred
+and forty doors, as eight hundred Champions made ready to pass through
+each door.
+
+Odin took council with Mimir's head. Up from the waters of the Well of
+Wisdom he drew it, and by the power of the runes he knew he made the
+head speak to him. Where best might the Æsir and the Vanir and the
+Einherjar, who were the Champions of Midgard, meet, and how best might
+they strive with the forces of Muspelheim and Jötunheim and Hel? The
+head of Mimir counseled Odin to meet them on Vigard Plain and to wage
+there such war that the powers of evil would be destroyed forever, even
+though his own world should be destroyed with them.
+
+The riders of Muspelheim reached Bifröst, the Rainbow Bridge. Now would
+they storm the City of the Gods and fill it with flame. But Bifröst
+broke under the weight of the riders of Muspelheim, and they came not to
+the City of the Gods.
+
+Jörmungand, the serpent that encircles the world, reared itself up from
+the sea. The waters flooded the lands, and the remnant of the world's
+inhabitants was swept away. That mighty flood floated Naglfar, the Ship
+of Nails that the Giants were so long building, and floated the ship of
+Hel also. With Hrymer the Giant steering it, Naglfar sailed against the
+Gods, with all the powers of Jötunheim aboard. And Loki steered the ship
+of Hel with the Wolf Fenrir upon it for the place of the last battle.
+
+Since Bifröst was broken, the Æsir and the Vanir, the Asyniur and the
+Vana, the Einherjar and the Valkyries rode downward to Vigard through
+the waters of Thund. Odin rode at the head of his Champions. His helmet
+was of gold and in his hand was his spear Gungnir. Thor and Tyr were in
+his company.
+
+In Mirkvid, the Dark Forest, the Vanir stood against the host of
+Muspelheim. From the broken end of the Rainbow Bridge the riders came,
+all flashing and flaming, with fire before them and after them. Niörd
+was there with Skadi, his Giant wife, fierce in her war-dress; Freya was
+there also, and Frey had Gerda beside him as a battle-maiden. Terribly
+bright flashed Surtur's sword. No sword ever owned was as bright as his
+except the sword that Frey had given to Skirnir. Frey and Surtur fought;
+he perished, Frey perished in that battle, but he would not have
+perished if he had had in his hand his own magic sword.
+
+And now, for the third time, Garm, the hound with blood upon his jaws,
+barked. He had broken loose on the world, and with fierce bounds he
+rushed toward Vigard Plain, where the Gods had assembled their powers.
+Loud barked Garm. The Eagle Hræsvelgur screamed on the edge of heaven.
+Then the skies were cloven, and the tree Ygdrassil was shaken in all its
+roots.
+
+To the place where the Gods had drawn up their ranks came the ship of
+Jötunheim and the ship of Hel, came the riders of Muspelheim, and Garm,
+the hound with blood upon his jaws. And out of the sea that now
+surrounded the plain of Vigard the serpent Jörmungand came.
+
+What said Odin to the Gods and to the Champions who surrounded him? "We
+will give our lives and let our world be destroyed, but we will battle
+so that these evil powers will not live after us." Out of Hel's ship
+sprang Fenrir the Wolf. His mouth gaped; his lower jaw hung against the
+earth, and his upper jaw scraped the sky. Against the Wolf Odin
+All-Father fought. Thor might not aid him, for Thor had now to encounter
+Jörmungand, the monstrous serpent.
+
+By Fenrir the Wolf Odin was slain. But the younger Gods were now
+advancing to the battle; and Vidar, the Silent God, came face to face
+with Fenrir. He laid his foot on the Wolf's lower jaw, that foot that
+had on the sandal made of all the scraps of leather that shoemakers had
+laid by for him, and with his hands he seized the upper jaw and tore his
+gullet. Thus died Fenrir, the fiercest of all the enemies of the Gods.
+
+Jörmungand, the monstrous serpent, would have overwhelmed all with the
+venom he was ready to pour forth. But Thor sprang forward and crushed
+him with a stroke of his hammer Miölnir. Then Thor stepped back nine
+paces. But the serpent blew his venom over him, and blinded and choked
+and burnt, Thor, the World's Defender, perished.
+
+Loki sprang from his ship and strove with Heimdall, the Warder of the
+Rainbow Bridge and the Watcher for the Gods. Loki slew Heimdall and was
+slain by him.
+
+Bravely fought Tyr, the God who had sacrificed his swordhand for the
+binding of the Wolf. Bravely he fought, and many of the powers of evil
+perished by his strong left hand. But Garm, the hound with bloody jaws,
+slew Tyr.
+
+And now the riders of Muspelheim came down on the field. Bright and
+gleaming were all their weapons. Before them and behind them went
+wasting fires. Surtur cast fire upon the earth; the tree Ygdrassil took
+fire and burned in all its great branches; the World Tree was wasted in
+the blaze. But the fearful fire that Surtur brought on the earth
+destroyed him and all his host.
+
+The Wolf Hati caught up on Sol, the Sun; the Wolf Managarm seized on
+Mani, the Moon; they devoured them; stars fell, and darkness came down
+on the world.
+
+The seas flowed over the burnt and wasted earth and the skies were dark
+above the sea, for Sol and Mani were no more. But at last the seas drew
+back and earth appeared again, green and beautiful. A new Sun and a new
+Moon appeared in the heavens, one a daughter of Sol and the other a
+daughter of Mani. No grim wolves kept them in pursuit.
+
+Four of the younger Gods stood on the highest of the world's peaks; they
+were Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of
+Thor. Modi and Magni found Miölnir, Thor's hammer, and with it they slew
+the monsters that still raged through the world, the Hound Garm and the
+Wolf Managarm.
+
+Vidar and Vali found in the grass the golden tablets on which were
+inscribed the runes of wisdom of the elder Gods. The runes told them of
+a heaven that was above Asgard, of Gimli, that was untouched by Surtur's
+fire. Vili and Ve, Will and Holiness, ruled in it. Baldur and Hödur came
+from Hela's habitation, and the Gods sat on the peak together and held
+speech with each other, calling to mind the secrets and the happenings
+they had known before Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
+
+Deep in a wood two of human kind were left; the fire of Surtur did not
+touch them; they slept, and when they wakened the world was green and
+beautiful again. These two fed on the dews of the morning; a woman and a
+man they were. Lif and Lifthrasir. They walked abroad in the world, and
+from them and from their children came the men and women who spread
+themselves over the earth.
+
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Children of Odin, by Padraic Colum
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+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHILDREN OF ODIN ***
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