{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24737/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24737","id":"gutenberg_24737","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24737","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Mythology, Norse -- Juvenile literature","Paganism"],"text":"Produced by Mark C. Orton, Geetu Melwani and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN OF ODIN\nThe Book of Northern Myths\n\nBy Padraic Colum\n\nIllustrated by Willy Pogany\n\n\nMaster storyteller Padraic Colum's rich, musical voice captures all the\nmagic and majesty of the Norse sagas in his retellings of the adventures\nof the gods and goddesses who lived in the Northern paradise of Asgard\nbefore the dawn of history.\n\nHere are the matchless tales of All-Father Odin, who crosses the Rainbow\nBridge to walk among men in Midgard and sacrifices his right eye to\ndrink from the Well of Wisdom; of Thor, whose mighty hammer defends\nAsgard; of Loki, whose mischievous cunning leads him to treachery\nagainst the gods; of giants, dragons, dwarfs and Valkyries; and of the\nterrible last battle that destroyed their world.\n\nThese ancient stories from Northern Europe, which make up one of the\ngreat myth cycles of Western civilization, spring to life in _The\nChildren of Odin_. This classic volume, first published in 1920 and\nreissued in 1962, is now available for the first time in paperback,\nillustrated with the original line drawings by Willy Pogany, to inspire\na new generation of readers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe late Padraic Colum was a poet, playwright, founder of the _Irish\nReview_ and a leader of the Irish Renaissance, but he is perhaps best\nknown today for his outstanding books for children. He was awarded the\nRegina Medal in 1961 for his \"distinguished contribution to children's\nliterature,\" honoring works like _The Children's Homer_, _The Golden\nFleece_ (a Newbery Honor Book), _The Arabian Nights_, _The King of\nIreland's Son_ and _Roofs of Gold_.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE CHILDREN OF ODIN\n\nThe Book of Northern Myths\n\nby\n\nPADRAIC COLUM\n\nillustrated by\nWilly Pogany\n\nCollier Books\nMacmillan Publishing Company\nNew York\n\nCollier Macmillan Publishers\nLondon\n\n\n\n\nCopyright Macmillan Publishing Company, a division of\nMacmillan, Inc., 1920; copyright renewed by\nPadraic Colum and Macmillan Publishing Company 1948\nAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced\nor transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or\nmechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any\ninformation storage and retrieval system, without\npermission in writing from the Publisher.\n\nMacmillan Publishing Company\n866 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022\nCollier Macmillan Canada, Inc.\n\n_The Children of Odin_ is also published in a\nhardcover edition by Macmillan Publishing Company.\nFirst Collier Books edition 1984\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n10 9 8 7 6 5 4\n\nLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data\nColum, Padraic, 1881-1972.\n\nThe children of Odin.\n\nSummary: A retelling of the Norse sagas about Odin,\nFreya, Thor, Loki and the other gods and goddesses who\nlived in Asgard before the dawn of history.\n\n1. Mythology, Norse--Juvenile literature.\n[1. Mythology, Norse] I. Pogany, Willy, 1882-1955, ill.\nII. Title.\n\nBL860.C63 1984b 293'.13 83-20368\nISBN 0-02-042100-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPART I _The Dwellers in Asgard_\n\n1. Far Away and Long Ago                        3\n\n2. The Building of the Wall                     6\n\n3. Iduna and Her Apples: How Loki Put the\n   Gods in Danger                              13\n\n4. Sif's Golden Hair: How Loki Wrought\n   Mischief in Asgard                          27\n\n5. How Brock Brought Judgment on Loki          34\n\n6. How Freya Gained Her Necklace and How\n   Her Loved One Was Lost to Her               44\n\n7. How Frey Won Gerda, the Giant Maiden,\n   and How He Lost His Magic Sword             51\n\n8. Heimdall and Little Hnossa: How All\n   Things Came to Be                           62\n\n9. The All-Father's Forebodings: How He\n   Leaves Asgard                               69\n\n\nPART II _Odin the Wanderer_\n\n1. Odin Goes to Mimir's Well: His Sacrifice\n   for Wisdom                                  77\n\n2. Odin Faces an Evil Man                      82\n\n3. Odin Wins for Men the Magic Mead            90\n\n4. Odin Tells to Vidar, His Silent Son, the\n   Secret of His Doings                        99\n\n5. Thor and Loki in the Giants' City          102\n\n6. How Thor and Loki Befooled Thrym the\n   Giant                                      116\n\n7. AEgir's Feast: How Thor Triumphed           124\n\n8. The Dwarf's Hoard, and the Curse that\n   It Brought                                 136\n\n\nPART III _The Witch's Heart_\n\n1. Foreboding in Asgard                       151\n\n2. Loki the Betrayer                          155\n\n3. Loki Against the AEsir                      164\n\n4. The Valkyrie                               169\n\n5. The Children of Loki                       174\n\n6. Baldur's Doom                              180\n\n7. Loki's Punishment                          193\n\n\nPART IV _The Sword of the Volsungs and the\n         Twilight of the Gods_\n\n1. Sigurd's Youth                             199\n\n2. The Sword Gram and the Dragon Fafnir       208\n\n3. The Dragon's Blood                         215\n\n4. The Story of Sigmund and Signy             223\n\n5. The Story of Sigmund and Sinfiotli         233\n\n6. The Story of the Vengeance of the\n   Volsungs and of the Death of Sinfiotli     239\n\n7. Brynhild in the House of Flame             245\n\n8. Sigurd at the House of the Nibelungs       250\n\n9. How Brynhild Was Won for Gunnar            255\n\n10. The Death of Sigurd                       260\n\n11. The Twilight of the Gods                  265\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE DWELLERS IN ASGARD\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFAR AWAY AND LONG AGO\n\n\nOnce there was another Sun and another Moon; a different Sun and a\ndifferent Moon from the ones we see now. Sol was the name of that Sun\nand Mani was the name of that Moon. But always behind Sol and Mani\nwolves went, a wolf behind each. The wolves caught on them at last and\nthey devoured Sol and Mani. And then the world was in darkness and cold.\n\nIn those times the Gods lived, Odin and Thor, Hoedur and Baldur, Tyr and\nHeimdall, Vidar and Vali, as well as Loki, the doer of good and the doer\nof evil. And the beautiful Goddesses were living then, Frigga, Freya,\nNanna, Iduna, and Sif. But in the days when the Sun and Moon were\ndestroyed the Gods were destroyed too--all the Gods except Baldur who\nhad died before that time, Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi\nand Magni, the sons of Thor.\n\nAt that time, too, there were men and women in the world. But before the\nSun and the Moon were devoured and before the Gods were destroyed,\nterrible things happened in the world. Snow fell on the four corners of\nthe earth and kept on falling for three seasons. Winds came and blew\neverything away. And the people of the world who had lived on in spite\nof the snow and the cold and the winds fought each other, brother\nkilling brother, until all the people were destroyed.\n\nAlso there was another earth at that time, an earth green and beautiful.\nBut the terrible winds that blew leveled down forests and hills and\ndwellings. Then fire came and burnt the earth. There was darkness, for\nthe Sun and the Moon were devoured. The Gods had met with their doom.\nAnd the time in which all these things happened was called Ragnaroek, the\nTwilight of the Gods.\n\nThen a new Sun and a new Moon appeared and went traveling through the\nheavens; they were more lovely than Sol and Mani, and no wolves followed\nbehind them in chase. The earth became green and beautiful again, and in\na deep forest that the fire had not burnt a woman and a man wakened up.\nThey had been hidden there by Odin and left to sleep during Ragnaroek,\nthe Twilight of the Gods.\n\nLif was the woman's name, and Lifthrasir was the man's. They moved\nthrough the world, and their children and their children's children made\npeople for the new earth. And of the Gods were left Vidar and Vali, the\nsons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of Thor; on the new earth\nVidar and Vali found tablets that the older Gods had written on and had\nleft there for them, tablets telling of all that had happened before\nRagnaroek, the Twilight of the Gods.\n\nAnd the people who lived after Ragnaroek, the Twilight of the Gods, were\nnot troubled, as the people in the older days were troubled, by the\nterrible beings who had brought destruction upon the world and upon men\nand women, and who from the beginning had waged war upon the Gods.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BUILDING OF THE WALL\n\n\nAlways there had been war between the Giants and the Gods--between the\nGiants who would have destroyed the world and the race of men, and the\nGods who would have protected the race of men and would have made the\nworld more beautiful.\n\nThere are many stories to be told about the Gods, but the first one that\nshould be told to you is the one about the building of their City.\n\nThe Gods had made their way up to the top of a high mountain and there\nthey decided to build a great City for themselves that the Giants could\nnever overthrow. The City they would call \"Asgard,\" which means the\nPlace of the Gods. They would build it on a beautiful plain that was on\nthe top of that high mountain. And they wanted to raise round their\nCity the highest and strongest wall that had ever been built.\n\nNow one day when they were beginning to build their halls and their\npalaces a strange being came to them. Odin, the Father of the Gods, went\nand spoke to him. \"What dost thou want on the Mountain of the Gods?\" he\nasked the Stranger.\n\n\"I know what is in the mind of the Gods,\" the Stranger said. \"They would\nbuild a City here. I cannot build palaces, but I can build great walls\nthat can never be overthrown. Let me build the wall round your City.\"\n\n\"How long will it take you to build a wall that will go round our City?\"\nsaid the Father of the Gods.\n\n\"A year, O Odin,\" said the Stranger.\n\nNow Odin knew that if a great wall could be built around it the Gods\nwould not have to spend all their time defending their City, Asgard,\nfrom the Giants, and he knew that if Asgard were protected, he himself\ncould go amongst men and teach them and help them. He thought that no\npayment the Stranger could ask would be too much for the building of\nthat wall.\n\nThat day the Stranger came to the Council of the Gods, and he swore that\nin a year he would have the great wall built. Then Odin made oath that\nthe Gods would give him what he asked in payment if the wall was\nfinished to the last stone in a year from that day.\n\nThe Stranger went away and came back on the morrow. It was the first day\nof Summer when he started work. He brought no one to help him except a\ngreat horse.\n\nNow the Gods thought that this horse would do no more than drag blocks\nof stone for the building of the wall. But the horse did more than this.\nHe set the stones in their places and mortared them together. And day\nand night and by light and dark the horse worked, and soon a great wall\nwas rising round the palaces that the Gods themselves were building.\n\n\"What reward will the Stranger ask for the work he is doing for us?\" the\nGods asked one another.\n\nOdin went to the Stranger. \"We marvel at the work you and your horse are\ndoing for us,\" he said. \"No one can doubt that the great wall of Asgard\nwill be built up by the first day of Summer. What reward do you claim?\nWe would have it ready for you.\"\n\nThe Stranger turned from the work he was doing, leaving the great horse\nto pile up the blocks of stone. \"O Father of the Gods,\" he said, \"O\nOdin, the reward I shall ask for my work is the Sun and the Moon, and\nFreya, who watches over the flowers and grasses, for my wife.\"\n\nNow when Odin heard this he was terribly angered, for the price the\nStranger asked for his work was beyond all prices. He went amongst the\nother Gods who were then building their shining palaces within the great\nwall and he told them what reward the Stranger had asked. The Gods said,\n\"Without the Sun and the Moon the world will wither away.\" And the\nGoddesses said, \"Without Freya all will be gloom in Asgard.\"\n\nThey would have let the wall remain unbuilt rather than let the Stranger\nhave the reward he claimed for building it. But one who was in the\ncompany of the Gods spoke. He was Loki, a being who only half belonged\nto the Gods; his father was the Wind Giant. \"Let the Stranger build the\nwall round Asgard,\" Loki said, \"and I will find a way to make him give\nup the hard bargain he has made with the Gods. Go to him and tell him\nthat the wall must be finished by the first day of Summer, and that if\nit is not finished to the last stone on that day the price he asks will\nnot be given to him.\"\n\nThe Gods went to the Stranger and they told him that if the last stone\nwas not laid on the wall on the first day of the Summer not Sol or Mani,\nthe Sun and the Moon, nor Freya would be given him. And now they knew\nthat the Stranger was one of the Giants.\n\nThe Giant and his great horse piled up the wall more quickly than\nbefore. At night, while the Giant slept, the horse worked on and on,\nhauling up stones and laying them on the wall with his great forefeet.\nAnd day by day the wall around Asgard grew higher and higher.\n\nBut the Gods had no joy in seeing that great wall rising higher and\nhigher around their palaces. The Giant and his horse would finish the\nwork by the first day of Summer, and then he would take the Sun and the\nMoon, Sol and Mani, and Freya away with him.\n\nBut Loki was not disturbed. He kept telling the Gods that he would find\na way to prevent him from finishing his work, and thus he would make the\nGiant forfeit the terrible price he had led Odin to promise him.\n\nIt was three days to Summer time. All the wall was finished except the\ngateway. Over the gateway a stone was still to be placed. And the Giant,\nbefore he went to sleep, bade his horse haul up a great block of stone\nso that they might put it above the gateway in the morning, and so\nfinish the work two full days before Summer.\n\nIt happened to be a beautiful moonlit night. Svadilfare, the Giant's\ngreat horse, was hauling the largest stone he ever hauled when he saw a\nlittle mare come galloping toward him. The great horse had never seen so\npretty a little mare and he looked at her with surprise.\n\n\"Svadilfare, slave,\" said the little mare to him and went frisking past.\n\nSvadilfare put down the stone he was hauling and called to the little\nmare. She came back to him. \"Why do you call me 'Svadilfare, slave'?\"\nsaid the great horse.\n\n\"Because you have to work night and day for your master,\" said the\nlittle mare. \"He keeps you working, working, working, and never lets you\nenjoy yourself. You dare not leave that stone down and come and play\nwith me.\"\n\n\"Who told you I dare not do it?\" said Svadilfare.\n\n\"I know you daren't do it,\" said the little mare, and she kicked up her\nheels and ran across the moonlit meadow.\n\nNow the truth is that Svadilfare was tired of working day and night.\nWhen he saw the little mare go galloping off he became suddenly\ndiscontented. He left the stone he was hauling on the ground. He looked\nround and he saw the little mare looking back at him. He galloped after\nher.\n\nHe did not catch up on the little mare. She went on swiftly before him.\nOn she went over the moonlit meadow, turning and looking back now and\nagain at the great Svadilfare, who came heavily after her. Down the\nmountainside the mare went, and Svadilfare, who now rejoiced in his\nliberty and in the freshness of the wind and in the smell of the\nflowers, still followed her. With the morning's light they came near a\ncave and the little mare went into it. They went through the cave. Then\nSvadilfare caught up on the little mare and the two went wandering\ntogether, the little mare telling Svadilfare stories of the Dwarfs and\nthe Elves.\n\nThey came to a grove and they stayed together in it, the little mare\nplaying so nicely with him that the great horse forgot all about time\npassing. And while they were in the grove the Giant was going up and\ndown, searching for his great horse.\n\nHe had come to the wall in the morning, expecting to put the stone over\nthe gateway and so finish his work. But the stone that was to be lifted\nup was not near him. He called for Svadilfare, but his great horse did\nnot come. He went to search for him, and he searched all down the\nmountainside and he searched as far across the earth as the realm of the\nGiants. But he did not find Svadilfare.\n\nThe Gods saw the first day of Summer come and the gateway of the wall\nstand unfinished. They said to each other that if it were not finished\nby the evening they need not give Sol and Mani to the Giant, nor the\nmaiden Freya to be his wife. The hours of the summer day went past and\nthe Giant did not raise the stone over the gateway. In the evening he\ncame before them.\n\n\"Your work is not finished,\" Odin said. \"You forced us to a hard\nbargain and now we need not keep it with you. You shall not be given Sol\nand Mani nor the maiden Freya.\"\n\n\"Only the wall I have built is so strong I would tear it down,\" said the\nGiant. He tried to throw down one of the palaces, but the Gods laid\nhands on him and thrust him outside the wall he had built. \"Go, and\ntrouble Asgard no more,\" Odin commanded.\n\nThen Loki returned to Asgard. He told the Gods how he had transformed\nhimself into a little mare and had led away Svadilfare, the Giant's\ngreat horse. And the Gods sat in their golden palaces behind the great\nwall and rejoiced that their City was now secure, and that no enemy\ncould ever enter it or overthrow it. But Odin, the Father of the Gods,\nas he sat upon his throne was sad in his heart, sad that the Gods had\ngot their wall built by a trick; that oaths had been broken, and that a\nblow had been struck in injustice in Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIDUNA AND HER APPLES: HOW LOKI PUT THE GODS IN DANGER\n\n\nIn Asgard there was a garden, and in that garden there grew a tree, and\non that tree there grew shining apples. Thou knowst, O well-loved one,\nthat every day that passes makes us older and brings us to that day when\nwe will be bent and feeble, gray-headed and weak-eyed. But those shining\napples that grew in Asgard--they who ate of them every day grew never a\nday older, for the eating of the apples kept old age away.\n\nIduna, the Goddess, tended the tree on which the shining apples grew.\nNone would grow on the tree unless she was there to tend it. No one but\nIduna might pluck the shining apples. Each morning she plucked them and\nleft them in her basket and every day the Gods and Goddesses came to her\ngarden that they might eat the shining apples and so stay for ever\nyoung.\n\nIduna never went from her garden. All day and every day she stayed in\nthe garden or in her golden house beside it, and all day and every day\nshe listened to Bragi, her husband, tell a story that never had an end.\nAh, but a time came when Iduna and her apples were lost to Asgard, and\nthe Gods and Goddesses felt old age approach them. How all that happened\nshall be told thee, O well beloved.\n\nOdin, the Father of the Gods, often went into the land of men to watch\nover their doings. Once he took Loki with him, Loki, the doer of good\nand the doer of evil. For a long time they went traveling through the\nworld of men. At last they came near Joetunheim, the realm of the Giants.\n\nIt was a bleak and empty region. There were no growing things there, not\neven trees with berries. There were no birds, there were no animals. As\nOdin, the Father of the Gods, and Loki, the doer of good and the doer of\nevil, went through this region hunger came upon them. But in all the\nland around they saw nothing that they could eat.\n\nLoki, running here and running there, came at last upon a herd of wild\ncattle. Creeping up on them, he caught hold of a young bull and killed\nhim. Then he cut up the flesh into strips of meat. He lighted a fire and\nput the meat on spits to roast. While the meat was being cooked, Odin,\nthe Father of the Gods, a little way off, sat thinking on the things he\nhad seen in the world of men.\n\nLoki made himself busy putting more and more logs on the fire. At last\nhe called to Odin, and the Father of the Gods came and sat down near the\nfire to eat the meal.\n\nBut when the meat was taken off the cooking-spits and when Odin went to\ncut it, he found that it was still raw. He smiled at Loki for thinking\nthe meat was cooked, and Loki, troubled that he had made a mistake, put\nthe meat back, and put more logs upon the fire. Again Loki took the meat\noff the cooking-spits and called Odin to the meal.\n\nOdin, when he took the meat that Loki brought him, found that it was as\nraw as if it had never been put upon the fire. \"Is this a trick of\nyours, Loki?\" he said.\n\nLoki was so angry at the meat being uncooked that Odin saw he was\nplaying no tricks. In his hunger he raged at the meat and he raged at\nthe fire. Again he put the meat on the cooking-spits and put more logs\non the fire. Every hour he would take up the meat, sure that it was now\ncooked, and every time he took it off Odin would find that the meat was\nas raw as the first time they took it off the fire.\n\nNow Odin knew that the meat must be under some enchantment by the\nGiants. He stood up and went on his way, hungry but strong. Loki,\nhowever, would not leave the meat that he had put back on the fire. He\nwould make it be cooked, he declared, and he would not leave that place\nhungry.\n\nThe dawn came and he took up the meat again. As he was lifting it off\nthe fire he heard a whirr of wings above his head. Looking up, he saw a\nmighty eagle, the largest eagle that ever appeared in the sky. The eagle\ncircled round and round and came above Loki's head. \"Canst thou not cook\nthy food?\" the eagle screamed to him.\n\n\"I cannot cook it,\" said Loki.\n\n\"I will cook it for thee, if thou wilt give me a share,\" screamed the\neagle.\n\n\"Come, then, and cook it for me,\" said Loki.\n\nThe eagle circled round until he was above the fire. Then flapping his\ngreat wings over it, he made the fire blaze and blaze. A heat that Loki\nhad never felt before came from the burning logs. In a minute he drew\nthe meat from the spits and found it was well cooked.\n\n\"My share, my share, give me my share,\" the eagle screamed at him. He\nflew down, and seizing on a large piece of meat instantly devoured it.\nHe seized on another piece. Piece after piece he devoured until it\nlooked as if Loki would be left with no meat for his meal.\n\nAs the eagle seized on the last piece Loki became angry indeed. Taking\nup the spit on which the meat had been cooked, he struck at the eagle.\nThere was a clang as if he had struck some metal. The wood of the spit\ndid not come away. It stuck to the breast of the eagle. But Loki did not\nlet go his hold on the spit. Suddenly the eagle rose up in the air.\nLoki, who held to the spit that was fastened to the eagle's breast, was\ndrawn up with him.\n\nBefore he knew what had happened Loki was miles and miles up in the air\nand the eagle was flying with him toward Joetunheim, the Realm of the\nGiants. And the eagle was screaming out, \"Loki, friend Loki, I have thee\nat last. It was thou who didst cheat my brother of his reward for\nbuilding the wall round Asgard. But, Loki, I have thee at last. Know now\nthat Thiassi the Giant has captured thee, O Loki, most cunning of the\ndwellers in Asgard.\"\n\nThus the eagle screamed as he went flying with Loki toward Joetunheim,\nthe Realm of the Giants. They passed over the river that divides\nJoetunheim from Midgard, the World of Men. And now Loki saw a terrible\nplace beneath him, a land of ice and rock. Great mountains were there:\nthey were lighted by neither sun nor moon, but by columns of fire thrown\nup now and again through cracks in the earth or out of the peaks of the\nmountains.\n\nOver a great iceberg the eagle hovered. Suddenly he shook the spit from\nhis breast and Loki fell down on the ice. The eagle screamed out to him,\n\"Thou art in my power at last, O thou most cunning of all the Dwellers\nin Asgard.\" The eagle left Loki there and flew within a crack in the\nmountain.\n\nMiserable indeed was Loki upon that iceberg. The cold was deadly. He\ncould not die there, for he was one of the Dwellers in Asgard and death\nmight not come to him that way. He might not die, but he felt bound to\nthat iceberg with chains of cold.\n\nAfter a day his captor came to him, not as an eagle this time, but in\nhis own form, Thiassi the Giant.\n\n\"Wouldst thou leave thine iceberg, Loki,\" he said, \"and return to thy\npleasant place in Asgard? Thou dost delight in Asgard, although only by\none-half dost thou belong to the Gods. Thy father, Loki, was the Wind\nGiant.\"\n\n\"O that I might leave this iceberg,\" Loki said, with the tears freezing\non his face.\n\n\"Thou mayst leave it when thou showest thyself ready to pay thy ransom\nto me,\" said Thiassi. \"Thou wilt have to get me the shining apples that\nIduna keeps in her basket.\"\n\n\"I cannot get Iduna's apples for thee, Thiassi,\" said Loki.\n\n\"Then stay upon the iceberg,\" said Thiassi the Giant. He went away and\nleft Loki there with the terrible winds buffeting him as with blows of a\nhammer.\n\nWhen Thiassi came again and spoke to him about his ransom, Loki said,\n\"There is no way of getting the shining apples from Iduna.\"\n\n\"There must be some way, O cunning Loki,\" said the Giant.\n\n\"Iduna, although she guards well the shining apples, is simple-minded,\"\nsaid Loki. \"It may be that I shall be able to get her to go outside the\nwall of Asgard. If she goes she will bring her shining apples with her,\nfor she never lets them go out of her hand except when she gives them to\nthe Gods and Goddesses to eat.\"\n\n\"Make it so that she will go beyond the wall of Asgard,\" said the Giant.\n\"If she goes outside of the wall I shall get the apples from her. Swear\nby the World-Tree that thou wilt lure Iduna beyond the wall of Asgard.\nSwear it, Loki, and I shall let thee go.\"\n\n\"I swear it by Ygdrassil, the World-Tree, that I will lure Iduna beyond\nthe wall of Asgard if thou wilt take me off this iceberg,\" said Loki.\n\nThen Thiassi changed himself into a mighty eagle, and taking Loki in his\ntalons, he flew with him over the stream that divides Joetunheim, the\nRealm of the Giants, from Midgard, the World of Men. He left Loki on the\nground of Midgard, and Loki then went on his way to Asgard.\n\nNow Odin had already returned and he had told the Dwellers in Asgard of\nLoki's attempt to cook the enchanted meat. All laughed to think that\nLoki had been left hungry for all his cunning. Then when he came into\nAsgard looking so famished, they thought it was because Loki had had\nnothing to eat. They laughed at him more and more. But they brought him\ninto the Feast Hall and they gave him the best of food with wine out of\nOdin's wine cup. When the feast was over the Dwellers in Asgard went to\nIduna's garden as was their wont.\n\nThere sat Iduna in the golden house that opened on her garden. Had she\nbeen in the world of men, every one who saw her would have remembered\ntheir own innocence, seeing one who was so fair and good. She had eyes\nblue as the blue sky, and she smiled as if she were remembering lovely\nthings she had seen or heard. The basket of shining apples was beside\nher.\n\nTo each God and Goddess Iduna gave a shining apple. Each one ate the\napple given, rejoicing to think that they would never become a day\nolder. Then Odin, the Father of the Gods, said the runes that were\nalways said in praise of Iduna, and the Dwellers in Asgard went out of\nIduna's garden, each one going to his or her own shining house.\n\nAll went except Loki, the doer of good and the doer of evil. Loki sat in\nthe garden, watching fair and simple Iduna. After a while she spoke to\nhim and said, \"Why dost thou still stay here, wise Loki?\"\n\n\"To look well on thine apples,\" Loki said. \"I am wondering if the apples\nI saw yesterday are really as shining as the apples that are in thy\nbasket.\"\n\n\"There are no apples in the world as shining as mine,\" said Iduna.\n\n\"The apples I saw were more shining,\" said Loki. \"Aye, and they smelled\nbetter, Iduna.\"\n\nIduna was troubled at what Loki, whom she deemed so wise, told her. Her\neyes filled with tears that there might be more shining apples in the\nworld than hers. \"O Loki,\" she said, \"it cannot be. No apples are more\nshining, and none smell so sweet, as the apples I pluck off the tree in\nmy garden.\"\n\n\"Go, then, and see,\" said Loki. \"Just outside Asgard is the tree that\nhas the apples I saw. Thou, Iduna, dost never leave thy garden, and so\nthou dost not know what grows in the world. Go outside of Asgard and\nsee.\"\n\n\"I will go, Loki,\" said Iduna, the fair and simple.\n\nIduna went outside the wall of Asgard. She went to the place Loki had\ntold her that the apples grew in. But as she looked this way and that\nway, Iduna heard a whirr of wings above her. Looking up, she saw a\nmighty eagle, the largest eagle that had ever appeared in the sky.\n\nShe drew back toward the gate of Asgard. Then the great eagle swooped\ndown; Iduna felt herself lifted up, and then she was being carried away\nfrom Asgard, away, away; away over Midgard where men lived, away toward\nthe rocks and snows of Joetunheim. Across the river that flows between\nthe World of Men and the Realm of the Giants Iduna was borne. Then the\neagle flew into a cleft in a mountain and Iduna was left in a cavernous\nhall lighted up by columns of fire that burst up from the earth.\n\nThe eagle loosened his grip on Iduna and she sank down on the ground of\nthe cavern. The wings and the feathers fell from him and she saw her\ncaptor as a terrible Giant.\n\n\"Oh, why have you carried me off from Asgard and brought me to this\nplace?\" Iduna cried.\n\n\"That I might eat your shining apples, Iduna,\" said Thiassi the Giant.\n\n\"That will never be, for I will not give them to you,\" said Iduna.\n\n\"Give me the apples to eat, and I shall carry you back to Asgard.\"\n\n\"No, no, that cannot be. I have been trusted with the shining apples\nthat I might give them to the Gods only.\"\n\n\"Then I shall take the apples from you,\" said Thiassi the Giant.\n\nHe took the basket out of her hands and opened it. But when he touched\nthe apples they shriveled under his hands. He left them in the basket\nand he set the basket down, for he knew now that the apples would be no\ngood to him unless Iduna gave them to him with her own hands.\n\n\"You must stay with me here until you give me the shining apples,\" he\nsaid to her.\n\nThen was poor Iduna frightened: she was frightened of the strange cave\nand frightened of the fire that kept bursting up out of the earth and\nshe was frightened of the terrible Giant. But above all she was\nfrightened to think of the evil that would fall upon the Dwellers in\nAsgard if she were not there to give them the shining apples to eat.\n\nThe Giant came to her again. But still Iduna would not give him the\nshining apples. And there in the cave she stayed, the Giant troubling\nher every day. And she grew more and more fearful as she saw in her\ndreams the Dwellers in Asgard go to her garden--go there, and not being\ngiven the shining apples, feel and see a change coming over themselves\nand over each other.\n\nIt was as Iduna saw it in her dreams. Every day the Dwellers in Asgard\nwent to her garden--Odin and Thor, Hoedur and Baldur, Tyr and Heimdall,\nVidar and Vali, with Frigga, Freya, Nanna, and Sif. There was no one to\npluck the apples of their tree. And a change began to come over the Gods\nand Goddesses.\n\nThey no longer walked lightly; their shoulders became bent; their eyes\nno longer were as bright as dewdrops. And when they looked upon one\nanother they saw the change. Age was coming upon the Dwellers in Asgard.\n\nThey knew that the time would come when Frigga would be gray and old;\nwhen Sif's golden hair would fade; when Odin would no longer have his\nclear wisdom, and when Thor would not have strength enough to raise and\nfling his thunderbolts. And the Dwellers in Asgard were saddened by this\nknowledge, and it seemed to them that all brightness had gone from their\nshining City.\n\nWhere was Iduna whose apples would give back youth and strength and\nbeauty to the Dwellers in Asgard? The Gods had searched for her through\nthe World of Men. No trace of her did they find. But now Odin, searching\nthrough his wisdom, saw a means to get knowledge of where Iduna was\nhidden.\n\nHe summoned his two ravens, Hugin and Munin, his two ravens that flew\nthrough the earth and through the Realm of the Giants and that knew all\nthings that were past and all things that were to come. He summoned\nHugin and Munin and they came, and one sat on his right shoulder and one\nsat on his left shoulder and they told him deep secrets: they told him\nof Thiassi and of his desire for the shining apples that the Dwellers in\nAsgard ate, and of Loki's deception of Iduna, the fair and simple.\n\nWhat Odin learnt from his ravens was told in the Council of the Gods.\nThen Thor the Strong went to Loki and laid hands upon him. When Loki\nfound himself in the grip of the strong God, he said, \"What wouldst thou\nwith me, O Thor?\"\n\n\"I would hurl thee into a chasm in the ground and strike thee with my\nthunder,\" said the strong God. \"It was thou who didst bring it about\nthat Iduna went from Asgard.\"\n\n\"O Thor,\" said Loki, \"do not crush me with thy thunder. Let me stay in\nAsgard. I will strive to win Iduna back.\"\n\n\"The judgment of the Gods,\" said Thor, \"is that thou, the cunning one,\nshouldst go to Joetunheim, and by thy craft win Iduna back from the\nGiants. Go or else I shall hurl thee into a chasm and crush thee with my\nthunder.\"\n\n\"I will go,\" said Loki.\n\nFrom Frigga, the wife of Odin, Loki borrowed the dress of falcon\nfeathers that she owned. He clad himself in it, and flew to Joetunheim in\nthe form of a falcon.\n\nHe searched through Joetunheim until he found Thiassi's daughter, Skadi.\nHe flew before Skadi and he let the Giant maid catch him and hold him as\na pet. One day the Giant maid carried him into the cave where Iduna, the\nfair and simple, was held.\n\nWhen Loki saw Iduna there he knew that part of his quest was ended. Now\nhe had to get Iduna out of Joetunheim and away to Asgard. He stayed no\nmore with the Giant maid, but flew up into the high rocks of the cave.\nSkadi wept for the flight of her pet, but she ceased to search and to\ncall and went away from the cave.\n\nThen Loki, the doer of good and the doer of evil, flew to where Iduna\nwas sitting and spoke to her. Iduna, when she knew that one of the\nDwellers in Asgard was near, wept with joy.\n\nLoki told her what she was to do. By the power of a spell that was given\nhim he was able to change her into the form of a sparrow. But before she\ndid this she took the shining apples out of her basket and flung them\ninto places where the Giant would never find them.\n\nSkadi, coming back to the cave, saw the falcon fly out with the sparrow\nbeside him. She cried out to her father and the Giant knew that the\nfalcon was Loki and the sparrow was Iduna. He changed himself into the\nform of a mighty eagle. By this time sparrow and falcon were out of\nsight, but Thiassi, knowing that he could make better flight than they,\nflew toward Asgard.\n\nSoon he saw them. They flew with all the power they had, but the great\nwings of the eagle brought him nearer and nearer to them. The Dwellers\nin Asgard, standing on the wall, saw the falcon and the sparrow with the\ngreat eagle pursuing them. They knew who they were--Loki and Iduna with\nThiassi in pursuit.\n\nAs they watched the eagle winging nearer and nearer, the Dwellers in\nAsgard were fearful that the falcon and the sparrow would be caught upon\nand that Iduna would be taken again by Thiassi. They lighted great fires\nupon the wall, knowing that Loki would find a way through the fires,\nbringing Iduna with him, but that Thiassi would not find a way.\n\nThe falcon and the sparrow flew toward the fires. Loki went between the\nflames and brought Iduna with him. And Thiassi, coming up to the fires\nand finding no way through, beat his wings against the flames. He fell\ndown from the wall and the death that came to him afterwards was laid to\nLoki.\n\nThus Iduna was brought back to Asgard. Once again she sat in the golden\nhouse that opened to her garden, once again she plucked the shining\napples off the tree she tended, and once again she gave them to the\nDwellers in Asgard. And the Dwellers in Asgard walked lightly again, and\nbrightness came into their eyes and into their cheeks; age no more\napproached them; youth came back; light and joy were again in Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSIF'S GOLDEN HAIR: HOW LOKI WROUGHT MISCHIEF IN ASGARD\n\n\nAll who dwelt in Asgard, the AEsir and the Asyniur, who were the Gods and\nthe Goddesses, and the Vanir, who were the friends of the Gods and the\nGoddesses, were wroth with Loki. It was no wonder they were wroth with\nhim, for he had let the Giant Thiassi carry off Iduna and her golden\napples. Still, it must be told that the show they made of their wrath\nmade Loki ready to do more mischief in Asgard.\n\nOne day he saw a chance to do mischief that made his heart rejoice. Sif,\nthe wife of Thor, was lying asleep outside her house. Her beautiful\ngolden hair flowed all round her. Loki knew how much Thor loved that\nshining hair, and how greatly Sif prized it because of Thor's love.\nHere was his chance to do a great mischief. Smilingly, he took out his\nshears and he cut off the shining hair, every strand and every tress.\nShe did not waken while her treasure was being taken from her. But Loki\nleft Sif's head cropped and bare.\n\nThor was away from Asgard. Coming back to the City of the Gods, he went\ninto his house. Sif, his wife, was not there to welcome him. He called\nto Sif, but no glad answer came from her. To the palaces of all the Gods\nand Goddesses Thor went, but in none of them did he find Sif, his\ngolden-haired wife.\n\nWhen he was coming back to his house he heard his name whispered. He\nstopped, and then a figure stole out from behind a stone. A veil covered\nher head, and Thor scarce knew that this was Sif, his wife. As he went\nto her she sobbed and sobbed. \"O Thor, my husband,\" she said, \"do not\nlook upon me. I am ashamed that you should see me. I shall go from\nAsgard and from the company of the Gods and Goddesses, and I shall go\ndown to Svartheim and live amongst the Dwarfs. I cannot bear that any of\nthe Dwellers in Asgard should look upon me now.\"\n\n\"O Sif,\" cried Thor, \"what has happened to change you?\"\n\n\"I have lost the hair of my head,\" said Sif, \"I have lost the beautiful\ngolden hair that you, Thor, loved. You will not love me any more, and so\nI must go away, down to Svartheim and to the company of the Dwarfs. They\nare as ugly as I am now.\"\n\nThen she took the veil off her head and Thor saw that all her beautiful\nhair was gone. She stood before him, shamed and sorrowful, and he grew\ninto a mighty rage. \"Who was it did this to you, Sif?\" he said. \"I am\nThor, the strongest of all the Dwellers in Asgard, and I shall see to it\nthat all the powers the Gods possess will be used to get your fairness\nback. Come with me, Sif.\" And taking his wife's hand in his, Thor went\noff to the Council House where the Gods and the Goddesses were.\n\nSif covered her head with her veil, for she would not have the Gods and\nGoddesses look upon her shorn head. But from the anger in Thor's eyes\nall saw that the wrong done to Sif was great indeed. Then Thor told of\nthe cutting of her beautiful hair. A whisper went round the Council\nHouse. \"It was Loki did this--no one else in Asgard would have done a\ndeed so shameful,\" one said to the other.\n\n\"Loki it was who did it,\" said Thor. \"He has hidden himself, but I shall\nfind him and I will slay him.\"\n\n\"Nay, not so, Thor,\" said Odin, the Father of the Gods. \"Nay, no Dweller\nin Asgard may slay another. I shall summon Loki to come before us here.\nIt is for you to make him (and remember that Loki is cunning and able to\ndo many things) bring back to Sif the beauty of her golden hair.\"\n\nThen the call of Odin, the call that all in Asgard have to harken to,\nwent through the City of the Gods. Loki heard it, and he had to come\nfrom his hiding-place and enter the house where the Gods held their\nCouncil. And when he looked on Thor and saw the rage that was in his\neyes, and when he looked on Odin and saw the sternness in the face of\nthe Father of the Gods, he knew that he would have to make amends for\nthe shameful wrong he had done to Sif.\n\nSaid Odin, \"There is a thing that you, Loki, have to do: Restore to Sif\nthe beauty of her hair.\"\n\nLoki looked at Odin, Loki looked at Thor, and he saw that what was said\nwould have to be done. His quick mind searched to find a way of\nrestoring to Sif the beauty of her golden hair.\n\n\"I shall do as you command, Odin All-Father,\" he said.\n\nBut before we tell you of what Loki did to restore the beauty of Sif's\ngolden hair, we must tell you of the other beings besides the Gods and\nthe Goddesses who were in the world at the time. First, there was the\nVanir. When the Gods who were called the AEsir came to the mountain on\nwhich they built Asgard, they found other beings there. These were not\nwicked and ugly like the Giants; they were beautiful and friendly; the\nVanir they were named.\n\nAlthough they were beautiful and friendly the Vanir had no thought of\nmaking the world more beautiful or more happy. In that way they differed\nfrom the AEsir who had such a thought. The AEsir made peace with them, and\nthey lived together in friendship, and the Vanir came to do things that\nhelped the AEsir to make the world more beautiful and more happy. Freya,\nwhom the Giant wanted to take away with the Sun and the Moon as a reward\nfor the building of the wall round Asgard, was of the Vanir. The other\nbeings of the Vanir were Frey, who was the brother of Freya, and Nioerd,\nwho was their father.\n\nOn the earth below there were other beings--the dainty Elves, who danced\nand fluttered about, attending to the trees and flowers and grasses. The\nVanir were permitted to rule over the Elves. Then below the earth, in\ncaves and hollows, there was another race, the Dwarfs or Gnomes, little,\ntwisted creatures, who were both wicked and ugly, but who were the best\ncraftsmen in the world.\n\nIn the days when neither the AEsir nor the Vanir were friendly to him\nLoki used to go down to Svartheim, the Dwarfs' dwelling below the earth.\nAnd now that he was commanded to restore to Sif the beauty of her hair,\nLoki thought of help he might get from the Dwarfs.\n\nDown, down, through the winding passages in the earth he went, and he\ncame at last to where the Dwarfs who were most friendly to him were\nworking in their forges. All the Dwarfs were master-smiths, and when he\ncame upon his friends he found them working hammer and tongs, beating\nmetals into many shapes. He watched them for a while and took note of\nthe things they were making. One was a spear, so well balanced and made\nthat it would hit whatever mark it was thrown at no matter how bad the\naim the thrower had. The other was a boat that could sail on any sea,\nbut that could be folded up so that it would go into one's pocket. The\nspear was called Gungnir and the boat was called Skidbladnir.\n\nLoki made himself very agreeable to the Dwarfs, praising their work and\npromising them things that only the Dwellers in Asgard could give,\nthings that the Dwarfs longed to possess. He talked to them till the\nlittle, ugly folk thought that they would come to own Asgard and all\nthat was in it.\n\nAt last Loki said to them, \"Have you got a bar of fine gold that you can\nhammer into threads--into threads so fine that they will be like the\nhair of Sif, Thor's wife? Only the Dwarfs could make a thing so\nwonderful. Ah, there is the bar of gold. Hammer it into those fine\nthreads, and the Gods themselves will be jealous of your work.\"\n\nFlattered by Loki's speeches, the Dwarfs who were in the forge took up\nthe bar of fine gold and flung it into the fire. Then taking it out and\nputting it upon their anvil they worked on the bar with their tiny\nhammers until they beat it into threads that were as fine as the hairs\nof one's head. But that was not enough. They had to be as fine as the\nhairs on Sif's head, and these were finer than anything else. They\nworked on the threads, over and over again, until they were as fine as\nthe hairs on Sif's head. The threads were as bright as sunlight, and\nwhen Loki took up the mass of worked gold it flowed from his raised hand\ndown on the ground. It was so fine that it could be put into his palm,\nand it was so light that a bird might not feel its weight.\n\nThen Loki praised the Dwarfs more and more, and he made more and more\npromises to them. He charmed them all, although they were an unfriendly\nand a suspicious folk. And before he left them he asked them for the\nspear and the boat he had seen them make, the spear Gungnir and the\nboat Skidbladnir. The Dwarfs gave him these things, though in a while\nafter they wondered at themselves for giving them.\n\nBack to Asgard Loki went. He walked into the Council House where the\nDwellers in Asgard were gathered. He met the stern look in Odin's eyes\nand the rageful look in Thor's eyes with smiling good humor. \"Off with\nthy veil, O Sif,\" he said. And when poor Sif took off her veil he put\nupon her shorn head the wonderful mass of gold he held in his palm. Over\nher shoulders the gold fell, fine, soft, and shining as her own hair.\nAnd the AEsir and the Asyniur, the Gods and the Goddesses, and the Van\nand Vana, when they saw Sif's head covered again with the shining web,\nlaughed and clapped their hands in gladness. And the shining web held to\nSif's head as if indeed it had roots and was growing there.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW BROCK BROUGHT JUDGMENT ON LOKI\n\n\nIt was then that Loki, with the wish of making the AEsir and the Vanir\nfriendly to him once more, brought out the wonderful things he had\ngained from the Dwarfs--the spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir. The\nAEsir and the Vanir marveled at things so wonderful. Loki gave the spear\nas a gift to Odin, and to Frey, who was chief of the Vanir, he gave the\nboat Skidbladnir.\n\nAll Asgard rejoiced that things so wonderful and so helpful had been\nbrought to them. And Loki, who had made a great show in giving these\ngifts, said boastingly:\n\n\"None but the Dwarfs who work for me could make such things. There are\nother Dwarfs, but they are as unhandy as they are misshapen. The Dwarfs\nwho are my servants are the only ones who can make such wonders.\"\n\nNow Loki in his boastfulness had said a foolish thing. There were other\nDwarfs besides those who had worked for him, and one of these was there\nin Asgard. All unknown to Loki he stood in the shadow of Odin's seat,\nlistening to what was being said. Now he went over to Loki, his little,\nunshapely form trembling with rage--Brock, the most spiteful of all the\nDwarfs.\n\n\"Ha, Loki, you boaster,\" he roared, \"you lie in your words. Sindri, my\nbrother, who would scorn to serve you, is the best smith in Svartheim.\"\n\nThe AEsir and the Vanir laughed to see Loki outfaced by Brock the Dwarf\nin the middle of his boastfulness. As they laughed Loki grew angry.\n\n\"Be silent, Dwarf,\" he said, \"your brother will know about smith's work\nwhen he goes to the Dwarfs who are my friends, and learns something from\nthem.\"\n\n\"He learn from the Dwarfs who are your friends! My brother Sindri learn\nfrom the Dwarfs who are your friends!\" Brock roared, in a greater rage\nthan before. \"The things you have brought out of Svartheim would not be\nnoticed by the AEsir and the Vanir if they were put beside the things\nthat my brother Sindri can make.\"\n\n\"Sometime we will try your brother Sindri and see what he can do,\" said\nLoki.\n\n\"Try now, try now,\" Brock shouted. \"I'll wager my head against yours,\nLoki, that his work will make the Dwellers in Asgard laugh at your\nboasting.\"\n\n\"I will take your wager,\" said Loki. \"My head against yours. And glad\nwill I be to see that ugly head of yours off your misshapen shoulders.\"\n\n\"The AEsir will judge whether my brother's work is not the best that ever\ncame out of Svartheim. And they will see to it that you will pay your\nwager, Loki, the head off your shoulders. Will ye not sit in judgment, O\nDwellers in Asgard?\"\n\n\"We will sit in judgment,\" said the AEsir. Then, still full of rage,\nBrock the Dwarf went down to Svartheim, and to the place where his\nbrother Sindri worked.\n\nThere was Sindri in his glowing forge, working with bellows and anvil\nand hammers beside him, and around him masses of metal--gold and silver,\ncopper and iron. Brock told his tale, how he had wagered his head\nagainst Loki's that Sindri could make things more wonderful than the\nspear and the boat that Loki had brought into Asgard.\n\n\"You were right in what you said, my brother,\" said Sindri, \"and you\nshall not lose your head to Loki. But the two of us must work at what I\nam going to forge. It will be your work to keep the fire so that it will\nneither blaze up nor die down for a single instant. If you can keep the\nfire as I tell you, we will forge a wonder. Now, brother, keep your\nhands upon the bellows, and keep the fire under your control.\"\n\nThen into the fire Sindri threw, not a piece of metal, but a pig's skin.\nBrock kept his hands on the bellows, working it so that the fire neither\ndied down nor blazed up for a single instant. And in the glowing fire\nthe pigskin swelled itself into a strange shape.\n\nBut Brock was not left to work the bellows in peace. In to the forge\nflew a gadfly. It lighted on Brock's hands and stung them. The Dwarf\nscreamed with pain, but his hands still held the bellows, working it to\nkeep the fire steady, for he knew that the gadfly was Loki, and that\nLoki was striving to spoil Sindri's work. Again the gadfly stung his\nhands, but Brock, although his hands felt as if they were pierced with\nhot irons, still worked the bellows so that the fire did not blaze up or\ndie down for a single instant.\n\nSindri came and looked into the fire. Over the shape that was rising\nthere he said words of magic. The gadfly had flown away, and Sindri bade\nhis brother cease working. He took out the thing that had been shaped in\nthe fire, and he worked over it with his hammer. It was a wonder\nindeed--a boar, all golden, that could fly through the air, and that\nshed light from its bristles as it flew. Brock forgot the pain in his\nhands and screamed with joy. \"This is the greatest of wonders,\" he said.\n\"The Dwellers in Asgard will have to give the judgment against Loki. I\nshall have Loki's head!\"\n\nBut Sindri said, \"The boar Golden Bristle may not be judged as great a\nwonder as the spear Gungnir or the boat Skidbladnir. We must make\nsomething more wonderful still. Work the bellows as before, brother, and\ndo not let the fire die down or blaze up for a single instant.\"\n\nThen Sindri took up a piece of gold that was so bright it lightened up\nthe dark cavern that the Dwarfs worked in. He threw the piece of gold\ninto the fire. Then he went to make ready something else and left Brock\nto work the bellows.\n\nThe gadfly flew in again. Brock did not know it was there until it\nlighted on the back of his neck. It stung him till Brock felt the pain\nwas wrenching him apart. But still he kept his hands on the bellows,\nworking it so that the fire neither blazed up nor died down for a single\ninstant. When Sindri came to look into the fire, Brock was not able to\nspeak for pain.\n\nAgain Sindri said magic words over the gold that was being smelted in\nthe fire. He took it out of the glow and worked it over on the\nmain-anvil. Then in a while he showed Brock something that looked like\nthe circle of their sun. \"A splendid armring, my brother,\" he said. \"An\narmring for a God's right arm. And this ring has hidden wonders. Every\nninth night eight rings like itself will drop from this armring, for\nthis is Draupnir, the Ring of Increase.\"\n\n\"To Odin, the Father of the Gods, the ring shall be given,\" said Brock.\n\"And Odin will have to declare that nothing so wonderful or so\nprofitable to the Gods was ever brought into Asgard. O Loki, cunning\nLoki, I shall have thy head in spite of thy tricks.\"\n\n\"Be not too hasty, brother,\" said Sindri. \"What we have done so far is\ngood. But better still must be the thing that will make the Dwellers in\nAsgard give the judgment that delivers Loki's head to thee. Work as\nbefore, brother, and do not let the fire blaze up or die down for a\nsingle instant.\"\n\nThis time Sindri threw into the fire a bar of iron. Then he went away to\nfetch the hammer that would shape it. Brock worked the bellows as\nbefore, but only his hands were steady, for every other part of him was\ntrembling with expectation of the gadfly's sting.\n\nHe saw the gadfly dart into the forge. He screamed as it flew round and\nround him, searching out a place where it might sting him most\nfearfully. It lighted down on his forehead, just between his eyes. The\nfirst sting it gave took the sight from his eyes. It stung again and\nBrock felt the blood flowing down. Darkness filled the cave. Brock tried\nto keep his hands steady on the bellows, but he did not know whether the\nfire was blazing up or dying down. He shouted and Sindri hurried up.\n\nSindri said the magic words over the thing that was in the fire. Then he\ndrew it out. \"An instant more,\" he said, \"and the work would have been\nperfect. But because you let the fire die down for an instant the work\nis not as good as it might have been made.\" He took what was shaped in\nthe fire to the main-anvil and worked over it. Then when Brock's\neyesight came back to him he saw a great hammer, a hammer all of iron.\nThe handle did not seem to be long enough to balance the head. This was\nbecause the fire had died down for an instant while it was being formed.\n\n\"The hammer is Mioelnir,\" said Sindri, \"and it is the greatest of the\nthings that I am able to make. All in Asgard must rejoice to see this\nhammer. Thor only will be able to wield it. Now I am not afraid of the\njudgment that the Dwellers in Asgard will give.\"\n\n\"The Dwellers in Asgard will have to give judgment for us,\" Brock cried\nout. \"They will have to give judgment for us, and the head of Loki, my\ntormentor, will be given me.\"\n\n\"No more wonderful or more profitable gifts than these have ever been\nbrought into Asgard,\" Sindri said. \"Thy head is saved, and thou wilt be\nable to take the head of Loki who was insolent to us. Bring it here, and\nwe will throw it into the fire in the forge.\"\n\nThe AEsir and the Vanir were seated in the Council House of Asgard when a\ntrain of Dwarfs appeared before them. Brock came at the head of the\ntrain, and he was followed by a band of Dwarfs carrying things of great\nweight. Brock and his attendants stood round the throne of Odin, and\nhearkened to the words of the Father of the Gods.\n\n\"We know why you have come into Asgard from out of Svartheim,\" Odin\nsaid. \"You have brought things wonderful and profitable to the Dwellers\nin Asgard. Let what you have brought be seen, Brock. If they are more\nwonderful and more useful than the things Loki has brought out of\nSvartheim, the spear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir, we will give\njudgment for you.\"\n\nThen Brock commanded the Dwarfs who waited on him to show the Dwellers\nin Asgard the first of the wonders that Sindri had made. They brought\nout the boar, Golden Bristle. Round and round the Council House the boar\nflew, leaving a track of brightness. The Dwellers in Asgard said one to\nthe other that this was a wonder indeed. But none would say that the\nboar was a better thing to have in Asgard than the spear that would hit\nthe mark no matter how badly it was flung, or the boat Skidbladnir that\nwould sail on any sea, and that could be folded up so small that it\nwould fit in any one's pocket: none would say that Golden Bristle was\nbetter than these wonders.\n\nTo Frey, who was Chief of the Vanir, Brock gave the wondrous boar.\n\nThen the attending Dwarfs showed the armring that was as bright as the\ncircle of the Sun. All admired the noble ring. And when it was told how\nevery ninth night this ring dropped eight rings of gold that were like\nitself, the Dwellers in Asgard spoke aloud, all saying that Draupnir,\nthe Ring of Increase, was a wonder indeed. Hearing their voices raised,\nBrock looked triumphantly at Loki who was standing there with his lips\ndrawn closely together.\n\nTo Odin, the Father of the Gods, Brock gave the noble armring.\n\nThen he commanded the attending Dwarfs to lay before Thor the hammer\nMioelnir. Thor took the hammer up and swung it around his head. As he did\nso he uttered a great cry. And the eyes of the Dwellers in Asgard\nlightened up when they saw Thor with the hammer Mioelnir in his hands;\ntheir eyes lightened up and from their lips came the cry, \"This is a\nwonder, a wonder indeed! With this hammer in his hand none can withstand\nThor, our Champion. No greater thing has ever come into Asgard than the\nhammer Mioelnir.\"\n\nThen Odin, the Father of the Gods, spoke from his throne, giving\njudgment. \"The hammer Mioelnir that the Dwarf Brock has brought into\nAsgard is a thing wonderful indeed and profitable to the Gods. In\nThor's hands it can crush mountains, and hurl the Giant race from the\nramparts of Asgard. Sindri the Dwarf has forged a greater thing than the\nspear Gungnir and the boat Skidbladnir. There can be no other judgment.\"\n\nBrock looked at Loki, showing his gnarled teeth. \"Now, Loki, yield your\nhead, yield your head,\" he cried.\n\n\"Do not ask such a thing,\" said Odin. \"Put any other penalty on Loki for\nmocking you and tormenting you. Make him yield to you the greatest thing\nthat it is in his power to give.\"\n\n\"Not so, not so,\" screamed Brock. \"You Dwellers in Asgard would shield\none another. But what of me? Loki would have taken my head had I lost\nthe wager. Loki has lost his head to me. Let him kneel down now till I\ncut it off.\"\n\nLoki came forward, smiling with closed lips. \"I kneel before you,\nDwarf,\" he said. \"Take off my head. But be careful. Do not touch my\nneck. I did not bargain that you should touch my neck. If you do, I\nshall call upon the Dwellers in Asgard to punish you.\"\n\nBrock drew back with a snarl. \"Is this the judgment of the Gods?\" he\nasked.\n\n\"The bargain you made, Brock,\" said Odin, \"was an evil one, and all its\nevil consequences you must bear.\"\n\nBrock, in a rage, looked upon Loki, and he saw that his lips were\nsmiling. He stamped his feet and raged. Then he went up to Loki and\nsaid, \"I may not take your head, but I can do something with your lips\nthat mock me.\"\n\n\"What would you do, Dwarf?\" asked Thor.\n\n\"Sew Loki's lips together,\" said Brock, \"so that he can do no more\nmischief with his talk. You Dwellers in Asgard cannot forbid me to do\nthis. Down, Loki, on your knees before me.\"\n\nLoki looked round on the Dwellers in Asgard and he saw that their\njudgment was that he must kneel before the Dwarf. He knelt down with a\nfrown upon his brow. \"Draw your lips together, Loki,\" said Brock. Loki\ndrew his lips together while his eyes flashed fire. With an awl that he\ntook from his belt Brock pierced Loki's lips. He took out a thong and\ntightened them together. Then in triumph the Dwarf looked on Loki.\n\n\"O Loki,\" he said, \"you boasted that the Dwarfs who worked for you were\nbetter craftsmen than Sindri, my brother. Your words have been shown to\nbe lies. And now you cannot boast for a while.\"\n\nThen Brock the Dwarf, with great majesty, walked out of the Council\nHouse of Asgard, and the attending Dwarfs marched behind him in\nprocession. Down the passages in the earth the Dwarfs went, singing the\nsong of Brock's triumph over Loki. And in Svartheim it was told forever\nafter how Sindri and Brock had prevailed.\n\nIn Asgard, now that Loki's lips were closed, there was peace and a\nrespite from mischief. No one amongst the AEsir or the Vanir were sorry\nwhen Loki had to walk about in silence with his head bent low.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW FREYA GAINED HER NECKLACE AND HOW HER LOVED ONE WAS LOST TO HER\n\n\nYes, Loki went through Asgard silent and with head bent, and the\nDwellers in Asgard said one unto the other, \"This will teach Loki to\nwork no more mischief.\" They did not know that what Loki had done had\nsown the seeds of mischief and that these seeds were to sprout up and\nbring sorrow to the beautiful Vana Freya, to Freya whom the Giant wanted\nto carry off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for his building the\nwall around Asgard.\n\nFreya had looked upon the wonders that Loki had brought into Asgard--the\ngolden threads that were Sif's hair, and Frey's boar that shed light\nfrom its bristles as it flew. The gleam of these golden things dazzled\nher, and made her dream in the day time and the night time of the\nwonders that she herself might possess. And often she thought, \"What\nwonderful things the Three Giant Women would give me if I could bring\nmyself to go to them on their mountaintop.\"\n\nLong ere this, when the wall around their City was not yet built, and\nwhen the Gods had set up only the court with their twelve seats and the\nHall that was for Odin and the Hall that was for the Goddesses, there\nhad come into Asgard Three Giant Women.\n\nThey came after the Gods had set up a forge and had begun to work metal\nfor their buildings. The metal they worked was pure gold. With gold they\nbuilt Gladsheim, the Hall of Odin, and with gold they made all their\ndishes and household ware. Then was the Age of Gold, and the Gods did\nnot grudge gold to anyone. Happy were the Gods then, and no shadow nor\nforeboding lay on Asgard.\n\nBut after the Three Giant Women came the Gods began to value gold and to\nhoard it. They played with it no more. And the happy innocence of their\nfirst days departed from them.\n\nAt last the Three were banished from Asgard. The Gods turned their\nthoughts from the hoarding of gold, and they built up their City, and\nthey made themselves strong.\n\nAnd now Freya, the lovely Vanir bride, thought upon the Giant Women and\non the wonderful things of gold they had flashed through their hands.\nBut not to Odur, her husband, did she speak her thoughts; for Odur, more\nthan any of the other dwellers in Asgard, was wont to think on the days\nof happy innocence, before gold came to be hoarded and valued. Odur\nwould not have Freya go near the mountaintop where the Three had their\nhigh seat.\n\nBut Freya did not cease to think upon them and upon the things of gold\nthey had. \"Why should Odur know I went to them?\" she said to herself.\n\"No one will tell him. And what difference will it make if I go to them\nand gain some lovely thing for myself? I shall not love Odur the less\nbecause I go my own way for once.\"\n\nThen one day she left their palace, leaving Odur, her husband, playing\nwith their little child Hnossa. She left the palace and went down to the\nEarth. There she stayed for a while, tending the flowers that were her\ncharge. After a while she asked the Elves to tell her where the mountain\nwas on which the Three Giant Women stayed.\n\nThe Elves were frightened and would not tell her, although she was queen\nover them. She left them and stole down into the caves of the Dwarfs. It\nwas they who showed her the way to the seat of the Giant Women, but\nbefore they showed her the way they made her feel shame and misery.\n\n\"We will show you the way if you stay with us here,\" said one of the\nDwarfs.\n\n\"For how long would you have me stay?\" said Freya.\n\n\"Until the cocks in Svartheim crow,\" said the Dwarfs, closing round her.\n\"We want to know what the company of one of the Vanir is like.\" \"I will\nstay,\" Freya said.\n\nThen one of the Dwarfs reached up and put his arms round her neck and\nkissed her with his ugly mouth. Freya tried to break away from them, but\nthe Dwarfs held her. \"You cannot go away from us now until the cocks of\nSvartheim crow,\" they said.\n\nThen one and then another of the Dwarfs pressed up to her and kissed\nher. They made her sit down beside them on the heaps of skins they had.\nWhen she wept they screamed at her and beat her. One, when she would not\nkiss him on the mouth, bit her hands. So Freya stayed with the Dwarfs\nuntil the cocks of Svartheim crew.\n\nThey showed her the mountain on the top of which the Three banished from\nAsgard had their abode. The Giant Women sat overlooking the World of\nMen. \"What would you have from us, wife of Odur?\" one who was called\nGulveig said to her.\n\n\"Alas! Now that I have found you I know that I should ask you for\nnought,\" Freya said.\n\n\"Speak, Vana,\" said the second of the Giant Women.\n\nThe third said nothing, but she held up in her hands a necklace of gold\nmost curiously fashioned. \"How bright it is!\" Freya said. \"There is\nshadow where you sit, women, but the necklace you hold makes brightness\nnow. Oh, how I should joy to wear it!\"\n\n\"It is the necklace Brisingamen,\" said the one who was called Gulveig.\n\n\"It is yours to wear, wife of Odur,\" said the one who held it in her\nhands.\n\nFreya took the shining necklace and clasped it round her throat. She\ncould not bring herself to thank the Giant Women, for she saw that\nthere was evil in their eyes. She made reverence to them, however, and\nshe went from the mountain on which they sat overlooking the World of\nMen.\n\nIn a while she looked down and saw Brisingamen and her misery went from\nher. It was the most beautiful thing ever made by hands. None of the\nAsyniur and none other of the Vanir possessed a thing so beautiful. It\nmade her more and more lovely, and Odur, she thought, would forgive her\nwhen he saw how beautiful and how happy Brisingamen made her.\n\nShe rose up from amongst the flowers and took leave of the slight Elves\nand she made her way into Asgard. All who greeted her looked long and\nwith wonder upon the necklace that she wore. And into the eyes of the\nGoddesses there came a look of longing when they saw Brisingamen.\n\nBut Freya hardly stopped to speak to anyone. As swiftly as she could she\nmade her way to her own palace. She would show herself to Odur and win\nhis forgiveness. She entered her shining palace and called to him. No\nanswer came. Her child, the little Hnossa, was on the floor, playing.\nHer mother took her in her arms, but the child, when she looked on\nBrisingamen, turned away crying.\n\nFreya left Hnossa down and searched again for Odur. He was not in any\npart of their palace. She went into the houses of all who dwelt in\nAsgard, asking for tidings of him. None knew where he had gone to. At\nlast Freya went back to their palace and waited and waited for Odur to\nreturn. But Odur did not come.\n\nOne came to her. It was a Goddess, Odin's wife, the queenly Frigga. \"You\nare waiting for Odur, your husband,\" Frigga said. \"Ah, let me tell you\nOdur will not come to you here. He went, when for the sake of a shining\nthing you did what would make him unhappy. Odur has gone from Asgard and\nno one knows where to search for him.\"\n\n\"I will seek him outside of Asgard,\" Freya said. She wept no more, but\nshe took the little child Hnossa and put her in Frigga's arms. Then she\nmounted her car that was drawn by two cats, and journeyed down from\nAsgard to Midgard, the Earth, to search for Odur her husband.\n\nYear in and year out, and over all the Earth, Freya went searching and\ncalling for the lost Odur. She went as far as the bounds of the Earth,\nwhere she could look over to Joetunheim, where dwelt the Giant who would\nhave carried her off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for the\nbuilding of the wall around Asgard. But in no place, from the end of the\nRainbow Bifroest, that stretched from Asgard to the Earth, to the\nboundary of Joetunheim, did she find a trace of her husband Odur.\n\nAt last she turned her car toward Bifroest, the Rainbow Bridge that\nstretched from Midgard, the Earth, to Asgard, the Dwelling of the Gods.\nHeimdall, the Watcher for the Gods, guarded the Rainbow Bridge. To him\nFreya went with a half hope fluttering in her heart.\n\n\"O Heimdall,\" she cried, \"O Heimdall, Watcher for the Gods, speak and\ntell me if you know where Odur is.\"\n\n\"Odur is in every place where the searcher has not come; Odur is in\nevery place that the searcher has left; those who seek him will never\nfind Odur,\" said Heimdall, the Watcher for the Gods.\n\nThen Freya stood on Bifroest and wept. Frigga, the queenly Goddess, heard\nthe sound of her weeping, and came out of Asgard to comfort her.\n\n\"Ah, what comfort can you give me, Frigga?\" cried Freya. \"What comfort\ncan you give me when Odur will never be found by one who searches for\nhim?\"\n\n\"Behold how your daughter, the child Hnossa, has grown,\" said Frigga.\nFreya looked up and saw a beautiful maiden standing on Bifroest, the\nRainbow Bridge. She was young, more youthful than any of the Vanir or\nthe Asyniur, and her face and her form were so lovely that all hearts\nbecame melted when they looked upon her.\n\nAnd Freya was comforted in her loss. She followed Frigga across Bifroest,\nthe Rainbow Bridge, and came once again into the City of the Gods. In\nher own palace in Asgard Freya dwelt with Hnossa, her child.\n\nStill she wore round her neck Brisingamen, the necklace that lost her\nOdur. But now she wore it, not for its splendor, but as a sign of the\nwrong she had done. She weeps, and her tears become golden drops as they\nfall on the earth. And by poets who know her story she is called The\nBeautiful Lady in Tears.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW FREY WON GERDA, THE GIANT MAIDEN, AND HOW HE LOST HIS MAGIC SWORD\n\n\nFrey, chief of the Vanir, longed to have sight of his sister who had\nbeen from Asgard for so long. (You must know that this happened during\nthe time when Freya was wandering through the world, seeking her\nhusband, the lost Odur.) Now there was in Asgard a place from which one\ncould overlook the world and have a glimpse of all who wandered there.\nThat place was Hlidskjalf, Odin's lofty Watch-Tower.\n\nHigh up into the blue of the air that Tower went. Frey came to it and he\nknew that Odin All-Father was not upon Hlidskjalf. Only the two wolves,\nGeri and Freki, that crouched beside Odin's seat at the banquet, were\nthere, and they stood in the way of Frey's entrance to the Tower. But\nFrey spoke to Geri and Freki in the language of the Gods, and Odin's\nwolves had to let him pass.\n\nBut, as he went up the steps within the Tower, Frey, chief of the Vanir,\nknew that he was doing a fateful thing. For none of the High Gods, not\neven Thor, the Defender of Asgard, nor Baldur, the Best-Beloved of the\nGods, had ever climbed to the top of that Tower and seated themselves\nupon the All-Father's seat. \"But if I could see my sister once I should\nbe contented,\" said Frey to himself, \"and no harm can come to me if I\nlook out on the world.\"\n\nHe came to the top of Hlidskjalf. He seated himself on Odin's lofty\nseat. He looked out on the world. He saw Midgard, the World of Men, with\nits houses and towns, its farms and people. Beyond Midgard he saw\nJoetunheim, the Realm of the Giants, terrible with its dark mountains and\nits masses of snow and ice. He saw Freya as she went upon her\nwanderings, and he marked that her face was turned toward Asgard and\nthat her steps were leading toward the City of the Gods. \"I have\ncontented myself by looking from Hlidskjalf,\" said Frey to himself, \"and\nno harm has come to me.\"\n\nBut even as he spoke his gaze was drawn to a dwelling that stood in the\nmiddle of the ice and snow of Joetunheim. Long he gazed upon that\ndwelling without knowing why he looked that way. Then the door of the\nhouse was opened and a Giant maiden stood within the doorway. Frey gazed\nand gazed on her. So great was the beauty of her face that it was like\nstarlight in that dark land. She looked from the doorway of the house,\nand then turned and went within, shutting the door.\n\nFrey sat on Odin's high seat for long. Then he went down the steps of\nthe Tower and passed by the two wolves, Geri and Freki, that looked\nthreateningly upon him. He went through Asgard, but he found no one to\nplease him in the City of the Gods. That night sleep did not come to\nhim, for his thoughts were fixed upon the loveliness of the Giant maid\nhe had looked upon. And when morning came he was filled with loneliness\nbecause he thought himself so far from her. He went to Hlidskjalf again,\nthinking to climb the Tower and have sight of her once more. But now the\ntwo wolves, Geri and Freki, bared their teeth at him and would not let\nhim pass, although he spoke to them again in the language of the Gods.\n\nHe went and spoke to wise Nioerd, his father. \"She whom you have seen, my\nson,\" said Nioerd, \"is Gerda, the daughter of the Giant Gymer. You must\ngive over thinking of her. Your love for her would be an ill thing for\nyou.\"\n\n\"Why should it be an ill thing for me?\" Frey asked.\n\n\"Because you would have to give that which you prize most for the sake\nof coming to her.\"\n\n\"That which I prize most,\" said Frey, \"is my magic sword.\"\n\n\"You will have to give your magic sword,\" said his father, the wise\nNioerd.\n\n\"I will give it,\" said Frey, loosening his magic sword from his belt.\n\n\"Bethink thee, my son,\" said Nioerd. \"If thou givest thy sword, what\nweapon wilt thou have on the day of Ragnaroek, when the Giants will make\nwar upon the Gods?\"\n\nFrey did not speak, but he thought the day of Ragnaroek was far off. \"I\ncannot live without Gerda,\" he said, as he turned away.\n\nThere was one in Asgard who was called Skirnir. He was a venturesome\nbeing who never cared what he said or did. To no one else but Skirnir\ncould Frey bring himself to tell of the trouble that had fallen on\nhim--the trouble that was the punishment for his placing himself on the\nseat of the All-Father.\n\nSkirnir laughed when he heard Frey's tale. \"Thou, a Van, in love with a\nmaid of Joetunheim! This is fun indeed! Will ye make a marriage of it?\"\n\n\"Would that I might even speak to her or send a message of love to her,\"\nsaid Frey. \"But I may not leave my watch over the Elves.\"\n\n\"And if I should take a message to Gerda,\" said Skirnir the Venturesome,\n\"what would my reward be?\"\n\n\"My boat Skidbladnir or my boar Golden Bristle,\" said Frey.\n\n\"No, no,\" said Skirnir. \"I want something to go by my side. I want\nsomething to use in my hand. Give me the magic sword you own.\"\n\nFrey thought upon what his father said, that he would be left weaponless\non the day of Ragnaroek, when the Giants would make war upon the Gods and\nwhen Asgard would be endangered. He thought upon this, and drew back\nfrom Skirnir, and for a while he remained in thought. And all the time\nthick-set Skirnir was laughing at him out of his wide mouth and his blue\neyes. Then Frey said to himself, \"The day of Ragnaroek is far off, and I\ncannot live without Gerda.\"\n\nHe drew the magic sword from his belt and he placed it in Skirnir's\nhand. \"I give you my sword, Skirnir,\" he said. \"Take my message to\nGerda, Gymer's daughter. Show her this gold and these precious jewels,\nand say I love her, and that I claim her love.\"\n\n\"I shall bring the maid to you,\" said Skirnir the Venturesome.\n\n\"But how wilt thou get to Joetunheim?\" said Frey, suddenly remembering\nhow dark the Giants' land was and how terrible were the approaches to\nit.\n\n\"Oh, with a good horse and a good sword one can get anywhere,\" said\nSkirnir. \"My horse is a mighty horse, and you have given me your sword\nof magic. Tomorrow I shall make the journey.\"\n\nSkirnir rode across Bifroest, the Rainbow Bridge, laughing out of his\nwide mouth and his blue eyes at Heimdall, the Warder of the Bridge to\nAsgard. His mighty horse trod the earth of Midgard, and swam the river\nthat divides Midgard, the World of Men, from Joetunheim, the Realm of the\nGiants. He rode on heedlessly and recklessly, as he did all things. Then\nout of the iron forests came the monstrous wolves of Joetunheim, to tear\nand devour him and his mighty horse. It was well for Skirnir that he had\nin his belt Frey's magic sword. Its edge slew and its gleam frighted\nthe monstrous beasts. On and on Skirnir rode on his mighty horse. Then\nhe came to a wall of fire. No other horse but his mighty horse could go\nthrough it. Skirnir rode through the fire and came to the dale in which\nwas Gymer's dwelling.\n\nAnd now he was before the house that Frey had seen Gerda enter on the\nday when he had climbed Hlidskjalf, Odin's Watch-Tower. The mighty\nhounds that guarded Gymer's dwelling came and bayed around him. But the\ngleam of the magic sword kept them away. Skirnir backed his horse to the\ndoor, and made his horse's hooves strike against it.\n\nGymer was in the feast hall drinking with his Giant friends, and he did\nnot hear the baying of the hounds nor the clatter that Skirnir made\nbefore the door. But Gerda sat spinning with her maidens in the hall.\n\"Who comes to Gymer's door?\" she said.\n\n\"A warrior upon a mighty horse,\" said one of the maidens.\n\n\"Even though he be an enemy and one who slew my brother, yet shall we\nopen the door to him and give him a cup of Gymer's mead,\" said Gerda.\n\nOne of the maidens opened the door and Skirnir entered Gymer's dwelling.\nHe knew Gerda amongst her maidens. He went to her and showed her the\nrich gold and the precious jewels that he had brought from Frey. \"These\nare for you, fairest Gerda,\" he said, \"if you will give your love to\nFrey, the Chief of the Vanir.\"\n\n\"Show your gold and jewels to other maidens,\" said Gerda. \"Gold and\njewels will never bring me to give my love.\"\n\nThen Skirnir the Venturesome, the heedless of his words, drew the magic\nsword from his belt and held it above her. \"Give your love to Frey, who\nhas given me this sword,\" he said, \"or meet your death by the edge of\nit.\"\n\nGerda, Gymer's daughter, only laughed at the reckless Skirnir, \"Make the\ndaughters of men fearful by the sharpness of Frey's sword,\" she said,\n\"but do not try to frighten a Giant's daughter with it.\"\n\nThen Skirnir the Reckless, the heedless of his words, made the magic\nsword flash before her eyes, while he cried out in a terrible voice,\nsaying a spell over her:\n\n     Gerda, I will curse thee;\n     Yes, with this magic\n     Blade I shall touch thee;\n     Such is its power\n     That, like a thistle,\n     Withered 'twill leave thee,\n     Like a thistle the wind\n     Strips from the roof.\n\nHearing these terrible words and the strange hissings of the magic\nsword, Gerda threw herself on the ground, crying out for pity. But\nSkirnir stood above her, and the magic sword flashed and hissed over\nher. Skirnir sang:\n\n     More ugly I'll leave thee\n     Than maid ever was;\n     Thou wilt be mocked at\n     By men and by Giants;\n     A Dwarf only will wed thee;\n     Now on this instant\n     With this blade I shall touch thee,\n     And leave thee bespelled.\n\nShe lifted herself on her knees and cried out to Skirnir to spare her\nfrom the spell of the magic sword.\n\n\"Only if thou wilt give thy love to Frey,\" said Skirnir.\n\n\"I will give my love to him,\" said Gerda. \"Now put up thy magic sword\nand drink a cup of mead and depart from Gymer's dwelling.\"\n\n\"I will not drink a cup of your mead nor shall I depart from Gymer's\ndwelling until you yourself say that you will meet and speak with Frey.\"\n\n\"I will meet and speak with him,\" said Gerda.\n\n\"When will you meet and speak with him?\" asked Skirnir.\n\n\"In the wood of Barri nine nights from this. Let him come and meet me\nthere.\"\n\nThen Skirnir put up his magic sword and drank the cup of mead that Gerda\ngave him. He rode from Gymer's house, laughing aloud at having won Gerda\nfor Frey, and so making the magic sword his own for ever.\n\nSkirnir the Venturesome, the heedless of his words, riding across\nBifroest on his mighty horse, found Frey standing waiting for him beside\nHeimdall, the Warder of the Bridge to Asgard.\n\n\"What news dost thou bring me?\" cried Frey. \"Speak, Skirnir, before thou\ndost dismount from thine horse.\"\n\n\"In nine nights from this thou mayst meet Gerda in Barri Wood,\" said\nSkirnir. He looked at him, laughing out of his wide mouth and his blue\neyes. But Frey turned away, saying to himself:\n\n     Long is one day;\n     Long, long two.\n     Can I live through\n     Nine long days?\n\nLong indeed were these days for Frey. But the ninth day came, and in the\nevening Frey went to Barri Wood. And there he met Gerda, the Giant maid.\nShe was as fair as when he had seen her before the door of Gymer's\nhouse. And when she saw Frey, so tall and noble looking, the Giant's\ndaughter was glad that Skirnir the Venturesome had made her promise to\ncome to Barri Wood. They gave each other rings of gold. It was settled\nthat the Giant maid should come as a bride to Asgard.\n\nGerda came, but another Giant maid came also. This is how that came to\nbe:\n\nAll the Dwellers in Asgard were standing before the great gate, waiting\nto welcome the bride of Frey. There appeared a Giant maid who was not\nGerda; all in armor was she.\n\n\"I am Skadi,\" she said, \"the daughter of Thiassi. My father met his\ndeath at the hands of the Dwellers in Asgard. I claim a recompense.\"\n\n\"What recompense would you have, maiden?\" asked Odin, smiling to see a\nGiant maid standing so boldly in Asgard.\n\n\"A husband from amongst you, even as Gerda. And I myself must be let\nchoose him.\"\n\nAll laughed aloud at the words of Skadi. Then said Odin, laughing, \"We\nwill let you choose a husband from amongst us, but you must choose him\nby his feet.\"\n\n\"I will choose him whatever way you will,\" said Skadi fixing her eyes on\nBaldur, the most beautiful of all the Dwellers in Asgard.\n\nThey put a bandage round her eyes, and the AEsir and the Vanir seat in a\nhalf circle around. As she went by she stooped over each and laid hands\nupon their feet. At last she came to one whose feet were so finely\nformed that she felt sure it was Baldur. She stood up and said:\n\n\"This is the one that Skadi chooses for her husband.\"\n\nThen the AEsir and the Vanir laughed more and more. They took the bandage\noff her eyes and she saw, not Baldur the Beautiful, but Nioerd, the\nfather of Frey. But as Skadi looked more and more on Nioerd she became\nmore and more contented with her choice; for Nioerd was strong, and he\nwas noble looking.\n\nThese two, Nioerd and Skadi, went first to live in Nioerd's palace by the\nsea; but the coming of the sea mew would waken Skadi too early in the\nmorning, and she drew her husband to the mountaintop where she was more\nat home. He would not live long away from the sound of the sea. Back and\nforward, between the mountain and the sea, Skadi and Nioerd went. But\nGerda stayed in Asgard with Frey, her husband, and the AEsir and the\nVanir came to love greatly Gerda, the Giant maid.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHEIMDALL AND LITTLE HNOSSA: HOW ALL THINGS CAME TO BE\n\n\nHnossa, the child of Freya and the lost Odur, was the youngest of all\nthe Dwellers in Asgard. And because it had been prophesied that the\nchild would bring her father and her mother together, little Hnossa was\noften taken without the City of the Gods to stand by Bifroest, the\nRainbow Bridge, so that she might greet Odur if his steps turned toward\nAsgard.\n\nIn all the palaces of the City of the Gods little Hnossa was made\nwelcome: in Fensalir, the Halls of Mists, where Frigga, the wife of Odin\nAll-Father, sat spinning with golden threads; in Breidablik, where\nBaldur, the Well Beloved, lived with his fair wife, the young Nanna; in\nBilskirnir, the Winding House, where Thor and Sif lived; and in Odin's\nown palace Valaskjalf, that was all roofed over with silver shields.\n\nThe greatest of all the palaces was Gladsheim, that was built by the\ngolden-leaved wood, Glasir. Here the banquets of the Gods were held.\nOften little Hnossa looked within and saw Odin All-Father seated at the\nbanquet table, with a mantle of blue over him and a shining helmet\nshaped like an eagle upon his head. Odin would sit there, not eating at\nall, but drinking the wine of the Gods, and taking the food off the\ntable and giving it to Geri and Freki, the two wolves that crouched\nbeside his seat.\n\nShe loved to go outside the great gate and stay beside Heimdall, the\nWarder of the Rainbow Bridge. There, when there was no one crossing that\nshe might watch, she would sit beside Heimdall and listen to the wonders\nthat he spoke of.\n\nHeimdall held in his hands the horn that was called the Gialarhorn. He\nwould sound it to let the Dwellers in Asgard know that one was crossing\nthe Rainbow Bridge. And Heimdall told little Hnossa how he had trained\nhimself to hear the grasses grow, and how he could see all around him\nfor a hundred miles. He could see in the night as well as the day. He\nnever slept. He had nine mothers, he told Hnossa, and he fed on the\nstrength of the earth and the cold sea.\n\nAs she sat beside him day after day, Heimdall would tell little Hnossa\nhow all things began. He had lived from the beginning of time and he\nknew all things. \"Before Asgard was built,\" he said, \"and before Odin\nlived, earth and sea and sky were all mixed together: what was then was\nthe Chasm of Chasms. In the North there was Niflheim, the Place of\nDeadly Cold. In the South there was Muspelheim, the Land of Fire. In\nNiflheim there was a cauldron called Hveigelmer that poured out twelve\nrivers that flowed into the Chasm of Chasms.\n\n\"Ginnungagap, the Chasm of Chasms, filled up with ice, for the waters of\nthe rivers froze as they poured into it. From Muspelheim came clouds of\nfire that turned the ice into thick mists. The mists fell down again in\ndrops of dew, and from these drops were formed Ymir, the Ancient Giant.\n\n\"Ymir, the Ancient Giant, traveled along by the twelve rivers until he\ncame to where another living form was standing in the mists. This was a\nGiant Cow. Audhumla was the name of that cow. Ymir lay down beside her\nand drank her milk, and on the milk she gave him he lived. Other beings\nwere formed out of the dew that fell to the ground. They were the\nDaughters of the Frost, and Ymir, the Ancient Giant, married one, and\ntheir children were the Giants.\n\n\"One day Ymir saw Audhumla breathe upon a cliff of ice and lick with her\ntongue the place she breathed on. As her tongue went over and over the\nplace he saw that a figure was being formed. It was not like a Giant's\nform; it was more shapely and more beautiful. A head appeared in the\ncliff and golden hair fell over the ice. As Ymir looked upon the being\nthat was being formed he hated him for his beauty.\n\n\"Audhumla, the Giant Cow, went on licking the place where she had\nbreathed. At last a man completely formed stepped from the cliff. Ymir,\nthe Ancient Giant, hated him so much that he would have slain him then\nand there. But he knew that if he did this, Audhumla would feed him no\nmore with her milk.\n\n\"Bur was the name of the man who was formed in the ice cliff, Bur, the\nfirst of the heroes. He, too, lived on the milk of Audhumla. He married\na daughter of the Ancient Giant and he had a son. But Ymir and Ymir's\nsons hated Bur, and the time came at last when they were able to kill\nhim.\n\n\"And now there was war between Ymir and Ymir's sons and the son and\nson's sons of Bur. Odin was the son of Bur's son. Odin brought all his\nbrothers together, and they were able to destroy Ymir and all his\nbrood--all except one. So huge was Ymir that when he was slain his blood\npoured out in such a mighty flood that his sons were all drowned in it,\nall except Bergelmir, who was in a boat with his wife when the flood\ncame, and who floated away on the flood to the place that we now call\nJoetunheim, the Realm of the Giants.\n\n\"Now Odin and his sons took the body of Ymir--the vastest body that ever\nwas--and they flung it into the Chasm of Chasms, filling up all the\nhollow places with it. They dug the bones out of the body and they piled\nthem up as the mountains. They took the teeth out and they made them\ninto the rocks. They took the hair of Ymir and they made it into the\nforests of trees. They took his eyebrows and formed them into the place\nwhere Men now dwell, Midgard. And out of Ymir's hollow skull they made\nthe sky.\n\n\"And Odin and his sons and brothers did more than this. They took the\nsparks and the clouds of flame that blew from Muspelheim, and they made\nthem into the sun and the moon and all the stars that are in the sky.\nOdin found a dusky Giantess named Night whose son was called Day, and he\ngave both of them horses to drive across the sky. Night drove a horse\nthat is named Hrimfaxe, Frosty Mane, and Day drove a horse that is named\nSkinfaxe, Shining Mane. From Hrimfaxe's bit fall the drops that make the\ndew upon the earth.\n\n\"Then Odin and his sons made a race of men and women and gave them\nMidgard to live in. Ugly Dwarfs had grown up and had spread themselves\nover the earth. These Odin made go live in the hollow places beneath the\nearth. The Elves he let stay on the earth, but he gave them the tasks of\ntending the streams and the grasses and the flowers. And with the Vanir\nhe made peace after a war had been waged, taking Nioerd from them for a\nhostage.\n\n\"Bergelmir, the Giant who escaped drowning in Ymir's blood, had sons and\ndaughters in Joetunheim. They hated Odin and his sons and strove against\nthem. When Odin lighted up the world with the sun and the moon they were\nvery wroth, and they found two of the fiercest of the mighty wolves of\nJoetunheim and set them to follow them. And still the sun and the moon,\nSol and Mani, are followed by the wolves of Joetunheim.\"\n\nSuch wonders did Heimdall with the Golden Teeth tell Hnossa, the\nyoungest of the Dwellers in Asgard. Often the child stayed with him by\nthe Rainbow Bridge, and saw the Gods pass to and from Midgard: Thor,\nwith his crown of stars, with the great hammer Mioelnir in his hands,\nwith the gloves of iron that he used when he grasped Mioelnir; Thor in\nhis chariot drawn by two goats and wearing the belt that doubled his\nstrength; Frigga, with her dress of falcon feathers, flying swiftly as a\nbird; Odin All-Father himself, riding upon Sleipner, his eight-legged\nsteed, clad all in golden armor, with his golden helmet, shaped like an\neagle, upon his head, and with his spear Gungnir in his hand.\n\nHeimdall kept his horn in the branch of a great tree. This tree was\ncalled Ygdrassil, he told little Hnossa, and it was a wonder to Gods and\nMen. \"No one knows of a time when Ygdrassil was not growing, and all are\nafraid to speak of the time when it will be destroyed.\n\n\"Ygdrassil has three roots. One goes deep under Midgard, another goes\ndeep under Joetunheim, and the third grows above Asgard. Over Odin's hall\na branch of Ygdrassil grows, and it is called the Peace Bough.\n\n\"You see Ygdrassil, little Hnossa, but you do not know all the wonders\nof it. Far up in its branches four stags graze; they shake from their\nhorns the water that falls as rain upon the earth. On the topmost branch\nof Ygdrassil, the branch that is so high that the Gods themselves can\nhardly see it, there is an eagle that knows all things. Upon the beak of\nthis eagle a hawk is perched, a hawk that sees what the eyes of the\neagle may not see.\n\n\"The root of Ygdrassil that is in Midgard goes deep down to the place\nof the dead. Here there is an evil dragon named Nidhoegg that gnaws\nconstantly at the root, striving to destroy Ygdrassil, the Tree of\ntrees. And Ratatoesk, the Squirrel of Mischief--behold him now!--runs up\nand down Ygdrassil, making trouble between the eagle above and the\ndragon below. He goes to tell the dragon how the eagle is bent upon\ntearing him to pieces and he goes back to tell the eagle how the dragon\nplans to devour him. The stories that he brings to Nidhoegg make that\nevil dragon more fierce to destroy Ygdrassil, the Tree of trees, so that\nhe may come upon the eagle and devour him.\n\n\"There are two wells by the roots of Ygdrassil, and one is above and one\nis below. One is beside the root that grows in Joetunheim. This is a Well\nof Knowledge, and it is guarded by old Mimir the Wise. Whoever drinks\nout of this well knows of all the things that will come to be. The other\nwell is by the root that grows above Asgard. No one may drink out of\nthis well. The three sisters that are the holy Norns guard it, and they\ntake the white water from it to water Ygdrassil, that the Tree of Life\nmay keep green and strong. This well, little Hnossa, is called Urda's\nWell.\"\n\nAnd little Hnossa heard that by Urda's Well there were two beautiful\nwhite swans. They made a music that the Dwellers in Asgard often heard.\nBut Hnossa was too young to hear the music that was made by the swans of\nUrda's Well.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE ALL-FATHER'S FOREBODINGS: HOW HE LEAVES ASGARD\n\n\nTwo ravens had Odin All-Father; Hugin and Munin were their names; they\nflew through all the worlds every day, and coming back to Asgard they\nwould light on Odin's shoulders and tell him of all the things they had\nseen and heard. And once a day passed without the ravens coming back.\nThen Odin, standing on the Watch-Tower Hlidskjalf, said to himself:\n\n     I fear me for Hugin,\n     Lest he come not back,\n     But I watch more for Munin.\n\nA day passed and the ravens flew back. They sat, one on each of his\nshoulders. Then did the All-Father go into the Council Hall that was\nbeside Glasir, the wood that had leaves of gold, and harken to what\nHugin and Munin had to tell him.\n\nThey told him only of shadows and forebodings. Odin All-Father did not\nspeak to the Dwellers in Asgard of the things they told him. But Frigga,\nhis Queen, saw in his eyes the shadows and forebodings of things to\ncome. And when he spoke to her about these things she said, \"Do not\nstrive against what must take place. Let us go to the holy Norns who sit\nby Urda's Well and see if the shadows and the forebodings will remain\nwhen you have looked into their eyes.\"\n\nAnd so it came that Odin and the Gods left Asgard and came to Urda's\nWell, where, under the great root of Ygdrassil, the three Norns sat,\nwith the two fair swans below them. Odin went, and Tyr, the great\nswordsman, and Baldur, the most beautiful and the Best-Beloved of the\nGods, and Thor, with his Hammer.\n\nA Rainbow Bridge went from Asgard, the City of the Gods, to Midgard, the\nWorld of Men. But another Rainbow Bridge, more beautiful and more\ntremulous still, went from Asgard to that root of Ygdrassil under which\nwas Urda's Well. This Rainbow Bridge was seldom seen by men. And where\nthe ends of the two rainbows came together Heimdall stood, Heimdall with\nthe Golden Teeth, the Watcher for the Gods, and the Keeper of the Way to\nUrda's Well.\n\n\"Open the gate, Heimdall,\" said the All-Father, \"open the gate, for\ntoday the Gods would visit the holy Norns.\"\n\nWithout a word Heimdall opened wide the gate that led to that bridge\nmore colored and more tremulous than any rainbow seen from earth. Then\ndid Odin and Tyr and Baldur step out on the bridge. Thor followed, but\nbefore his foot was placed on the bridge, Heimdall laid his hand upon\nhim.\n\n\"The others may go, but you may not go that way, Thor,\" said Heimdall.\n\n\"What? Would you, Heimdall, hold me back?\" said Thor.\n\n\"Yes, for I am Keeper of the Way to the Norns,\" said Heimdall. \"You with\nthe mighty hammer you carry are too weighty for this way. The bridge I\nguard would break under you, Thor with the hammer.\"\n\n\"Nevertheless I will go visit the Norns with Odin and my comrades,\" said\nThor.\n\n\"But not this way, Thor,\" said Heimdall. \"I will not let the bridge be\nbroken under the weight of you and your hammer. Leave your hammer here\nwith me if you would go this way.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said Thor. \"I will not leave in any one's charge the hammer\nthat defends Asgard. And I may not be turned back from going with Odin\nand my comrades.\"\n\n\"There is another way to Urda's Well,\" said Heimdall. \"Behold these two\ngreat Cloud Rivers, Koermt and Ermt. Canst thou wade through them? They\nare cold and suffocating, but they will bring thee to Urda's Well, where\nsit the three holy Norns.\"\n\nThor looked out on the two great rolling rivers of cloud. It was a bad\nway for one to go, cold and suffocating. Yet if he went that way he\ncould keep on his shoulder the hammer which he would not leave in\nanother's charge. He stept out into the Cloud River that flowed by the\nRainbow Bridge, and with his hammer upon his shoulder he went struggling\non to the other river.\n\nOdin, Tyr, and Baldur were beside Urda's Well when Thor came struggling\nout of the Cloud River, wet and choking, but with his hammer still upon\nhis shoulder. There stood Tyr, upright and handsome, leaning on his\nsword that was inscribed all over with magic runes; there stood Baldur,\nsmiling, with his head bent as he listened to the murmur of the two fair\nswans; and there stood Odin All-Father, clad in his blue cloak fringed\nwith golden stars, without the eagle-helmet upon his head, and with no\nspear in his hands.\n\nThe three Norns, Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda, sat beside the well that\nwas in the hollow of the great root of Ygdrassil. Urda was ancient and\nwith white hair, and Verdandi was beautiful, while Skulda could hardly\nbe seen, for she sat far back, and her hair fell over her face and eyes.\nUrda, Verdandi, and Skulda; they knew the whole of the Past, the whole\nof the Present, and the whole of the Future. Odin, looking on them, saw\ninto the eyes of Skulda even. Long, long he stood looking on the Norns\nwith the eyes of a God, while the others listened to the murmur of the\nswans and the falling of the leaves of Ygdrassil into Urda's Well.\n\nLooking into their eyes, Odin saw the shadows and forebodings that Hugin\nand Munin told him of take shape and substance. And now others came\nacross the Rainbow Bridge. They were Frigga and Sif and Nanna, the\nwives of Odin and Thor and Baldur. Frigga looked upon the Norns. As she\ndid, she turned a glance of love and sadness upon Baldur, her son, and\nthen she drew back and placed her hand upon Nanna's head.\n\nOdin turned from gazing on the Norns, and looked upon Frigga, his\nqueenly wife. \"I would leave Asgard for a while, wife of Odin,\" he said.\n\n\"Yea,\" said Frigga. \"Much has to be done in Midgard, the World of Men.\"\n\n\"I would change what knowledge I have into wisdom,\" said Odin, \"so that\nthe things that are to happen will be changed into the best that may\nbe.\"\n\n\"You would go to Mimir's Well,\" said Frigga.\n\n\"I would go to Mimir's Well,\" said Odin.\n\n\"My husband, go,\" said Frigga.\n\nThen they went back over that Rainbow Bridge that is more beautiful and\nmore tremulous than the one that men see from the earth; they went back\nover the Rainbow Bridge, the AEsir and the Asyniur, Odin and Frigga,\nBaldur and Nanna, Tyr, with his sword, and Sif beside Tyr. As for Thor,\nhe went struggling through the Cloud Rivers Koermt and Ermt, his hammer\nMioelnir upon his shoulder.\n\nLittle Hnossa, the youngest of the Dwellers in Asgard, was there,\nstanding beside Heimdall, the Watcher for the Gods and the Keeper of the\nBridge to Urda's Well, when Odin All-Father and Frigga, his Queen, went\nthrough the great gate with heads bent. \"Tomorrow,\" Hnossa heard Odin\nsay, \"tomorrow I shall be Vegtam the Wanderer upon the ways of Midgard\nand Joetunheim.\"\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nODIN THE WANDERER\n\n[Illustration]\n\nODIN GOES TO MIMIR'S WELL: HIS SACRIFICE FOR WISDOM\n\n\nAnd so Odin, no longer riding on Sleipner, his eight-legged steed; no\nlonger wearing his golden armor and his eagle-helmet, and without even\nhis spear in his hand, traveled through Midgard, the World of Men, and\nmade his way toward Joetunheim, the Realm of the Giants.\n\nNo longer was he called Odin All-Father, but Vegtam the Wanderer. He\nwore a cloak of dark blue and he carried a traveler's staff in his\nhands. And now, as he went toward Mimir's Well, which was near to\nJoetunheim, he came upon a Giant riding on a great Stag.\n\nOdin seemed a man to men and a giant to giants. He went beside the\nGiant on the great Stag and the two talked together. \"Who art thou, O\nbrother?\" Odin asked the Giant.\n\n\"I am Vafthrudner, the wisest of the Giants,\" said the one who was\nriding on the Stag. Odin knew him then. Vafthrudner was indeed the\nwisest of the Giants, and many went to strive to gain wisdom from him.\nBut those who went to him had to answer the riddles Vafthrudner asked,\nand if they failed to answer the Giant took their heads off.\n\n\"I am Vegtam the Wanderer,\" Odin said, \"and I know who thou art, O\nVafthrudner. I would strive to learn something from thee.\"\n\nThe Giant laughed, showing his teeth. \"Ho, ho,\" he said, \"I am ready for\na game with thee. Dost thou know the stakes? My head to thee if I cannot\nanswer any question thou wilt ask. And if thou canst not answer any\nquestion that I may ask, then thy head goes to me. Ho, ho, ho. And now\nlet us begin.\"\n\n\"I am ready,\" Odin said.\n\n\"Then tell me,\" said Vafthrudner, \"tell me the name of the river that\ndivides Asgard from Joetunheim?\"\n\n\"Ifling is the name of that river,\" said Odin. \"Ifling that is dead\ncold, yet never frozen.\"\n\n\"Thou hast answered rightly, O Wanderer,\" said the Giant. \"But thou hast\nstill to answer other questions. What are the names of the horses that\nDay and Night drive across the sky?\"\n\n\"Skinfaxe and Hrimfaxe,\" Odin answered. Vafthrudner was startled to\nhear one say the names that were known only to the Gods and to the\nwisest of the Giants. There was only one question now that he might ask\nbefore it came to the stranger's turn to ask him questions.\n\n\"Tell me,\" said Vafthrudner, \"what is the name of the plain on which the\nlast battle will be fought?\"\n\n\"The Plain of Vigard,\" said Odin, \"the plain that is a hundred miles\nlong and a hundred miles across.\"\n\nIt was now Odin's turn to ask Vafthrudner questions. \"What will be the\nlast words that Odin will whisper into the ear of Baldur, his dear son?\"\nhe asked.\n\nVery startled was the Giant Vafthrudner at that question. He sprang to\nthe ground and looked at the stranger keenly.\n\n\"Only Odin knows what his last words to Baldur will be,\" he said, \"and\nonly Odin would have asked that question. Thou art Odin, O Wanderer, and\nthy question I cannot answer.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Odin, \"if thou wouldst keep thy head, answer me this: what\nprice will Mimir ask for a draught from the Well of Wisdom that he\nguards?\"\n\n\"He will ask thy right eye as a price, O Odin,\" said Vafthrudner.\n\n\"Will he ask no less a price than that?\" said Odin.\n\n\"He will ask no less a price. Many have come to him for a draught from\nthe Well of Wisdom, but no one yet has given the price Mimir asks. I\nhave answered thy question, O Odin. Now give up thy claim to my head and\nlet me go on my way.\"\n\n\"I give up my claim to thy head,\" said Odin. Then Vafthrudner, the\nwisest of the Giants, went on his way, riding on his great Stag.\n\nIt was a terrible price that Mimir would ask for a draught from the Well\nof Wisdom, and very troubled was Odin All-Father when it was revealed to\nhim. His right eye! For all time to be without the sight of his right\neye! Almost he would have turned back to Asgard, giving up his quest for\nwisdom.\n\nHe went on, turning neither to Asgard nor to Mimir's Well. And when he\nwent toward the South he saw Muspelheim, where stood Surtur with the\nFlaming Sword, a terrible figure, who would one day join the Giants in\ntheir war against the Gods. And when he turned North he heard the\nroaring of the cauldron Hvergelmer as it poured itself out of Niflheim,\nthe place of darkness and dread. And Odin knew that the world must not\nbe left between Surtur, who would destroy it with fire, and Niflheim,\nthat would gather it back to Darkness and Nothingness. He, the eldest of\nthe Gods, would have to win the wisdom that would help to save the\nworld.\n\nAnd so, with his face stern in front of his loss and pain, Odin\nAll-Father turned and went toward Mimir's Well. It was under the great\nroot of Ygdrassil--the root that grew out of Joetunheim. And there sat\nMimir, the Guardian of the Well of Wisdom, with his deep eyes bent upon\nthe deep water. And Mimir, who had drunk every day from the Well of\nWisdom, knew who it was that stood before him.\n\n\"Hail, Odin, Eldest of the Gods,\" he said.\n\nThen Odin made reverence to Mimir, the wisest of the world's beings. \"I\nwould drink from your well, Mimir,\" he said.\n\n\"There is a price to be paid. All who have come here to drink have\nshrunk from paying that price. Will you, Eldest of the Gods, pay it?\"\n\n\"I will not shrink from the price that has to be paid, Mimir,\" said Odin\nAll-Father.\n\n\"Then drink,\" said Mimir. He filled up a great horn with water from the\nwell and gave it to Odin.\n\nOdin took the horn in both his hands and drank and drank. And as he\ndrank all the future became clear to him. He saw all the sorrows and\ntroubles that would fall upon Men and Gods. But he saw, too, why the\nsorrows and troubles had to fall, and he saw how they might be borne so\nthat Gods and Men, by being noble in the days of sorrow and trouble,\nwould leave in the world a force that one day, a day that was far off\nindeed, would destroy the evil that brought terror and sorrow and\ndespair into the world.\n\nThen when he had drunk out of the great horn that Mimir had given him,\nhe put his hand to his face and he plucked out his right eye. Terrible\nwas the pain that Odin All-Father endured. But he made no groan nor\nmoan. He bowed his head and put his cloak before his face, as Mimir took\nthe eye and let it sink deep, deep into the water of the Well of Wisdom.\nAnd there the Eye of Odin stayed, shining up through the water, a sign\nto all who came to that place of the price that the Father of the Gods\nhad paid for his wisdom.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nODIN FACES AN EVIL MAN\n\n\nOnce, when his wisdom was less great, Odin had lived in the world of\nmen. Frigga, his Queen, was with him then; they had lived on a bleak\nisland, and they were known as Grimner the Fisherman and his wife.\n\nAlways Odin and Frigga were watching over the sons of men, watching to\nknow which ones they would foster and train so that they might have the\nstrength and spirit to save the world from the power of the Giants. And\nwhile they were staying on the bleak island, Odin and Frigga saw the\nsons of King Hrauding, and both thought that in them the spirit of\nheroes could be fostered. Odin and Frigga made plans to bring the\nchildren to them, so that they might be under their care and training.\nOne day the boys went fishing. A storm came and drove their boat on the\nrocks of the island where Odin and Frigga lived.\n\nThey brought them to their hut, Odin and Frigga, and they told them they\nwould care for them and train them through the winter and that in the\nspring they would build a boat that would carry them back to their\nfather's country. \"We shall see,\" said Odin to Frigga that night, \"we\nshall see which of the two can be formed into the noblest hero.\"\n\nHe said that because Frigga favored one of the boys and he favored the\nother. Frigga thought well of the elder boy, Agnar, who had a gentle\nvoice and quiet and kindly ways. But Odin thought more of the younger\nboy. Geirrod, his name was, and he was strong and passionate, with a\nhigh and a loud voice.\n\nOdin took Geirrod into his charge, and he showed him how to fish and\nhunt. He made the boy even bolder than he was by making him leap from\nrock to rock, and by letting him climb the highest cliffs and jump\nacross the widest chasms. He would bring him to the den of the bear and\nmake him fight for his life with the spear he had made for him. Agnar\nwent to the chase, too, and showed his skill and boldness. But Geirrod\novercame him in nearly every trial. \"What a hero Geirrod will be,\" Odin\nwould often say.\n\nAgnar stayed often with Frigga. He would stay beside her while she spun,\nlistening to the tales she told, and asking such questions as brought\nhim more and more wisdom. And Agnar heard of Asgard and of the Dwellers\nin Asgard and of how they protected Midgard, the World of Men, from the\nGiants of Joetunheim. Agnar, though he did not speak out, said in his own\nmind that he would give all his life and all his strength and all his\nthought to helping the work of the Gods.\n\nSpring came and Odin built a boat for Geirrod and Agnar. They could go\nback now to their own country. And before they set out Odin told Geirrod\nthat one day he would come to visit him. \"And do not be too proud to\nreceive a Fisherman in your hall, Geirrod,\" said Odin. \"A King should\ngive welcome to the poorest who comes to his hall.\"\n\n\"I will be a hero, no doubt of that,\" Geirrod answered. \"And I would be\na King, too, only Agnar Little-good was born before me.\"\n\nAgnar bade goodby to Frigga and to Odin, thanking them for the care they\nhad taken of Geirrod and himself. He looked into Frigga's eyes, and he\ntold her that he would strive to learn how he might fight the battle for\nthe Gods.\n\nThe two went into the boat and they rowed away. They came near to King\nHrauding's realm. They saw the castle overlooking the sea. Then Geirrod\ndid a terrible thing. He turned the boat back toward the sea, and he\ncast the oars away. Then, for he was well fit to swim the roughest sea\nand climb the highest cliffs, he plunged into the water and struck out\ntoward the shore. And Agnar, left without oars, went drifting out to\nsea.\n\nGeirrod climbed the high cliffs and came to his father's castle.\n\nKing Hrauding, who had given up both of his sons for lost, was rejoiced\nto see him. Geirrod told of Agnar that he had fallen out of the boat on\ntheir way back and that he had been drowned. King Hrauding, who had\nthought both of his sons were gone from him, was glad enough that one\nhad come safe. He put Geirrod beside him on the throne, and when he died\nGeirrod was made King over the people.\n\nAnd now Odin, having drunk from Mimir's Well, went through the kingdoms\nof men, judging Kings and simple people according to the wisdom he had\ngained. He came at last to the kingdom that Geirrod ruled over. Odin\nthought that of all the Kings he had judged to be noble, Geirrod would\nassuredly be the noblest.\n\nHe went to the King's house as a Wanderer, blind of one eye, wearing a\ncloak of dark blue and with a wanderer's staff in his hands. As he drew\nnear the King's house men on dark horses came riding behind him. The\nfirst of the men did not turn his horse as he came near the Wanderer,\nbut rode on, nearly trampling him to the ground.\n\nAs they came before the King's house the men on the dark horses shouted\nfor servants. Only one servant was in the stable. He came out and took\nthe horse of the first man. Then the others called upon the Wanderer to\ntend their horses. He had to hold the stirrups for some of them to\ndismount.\n\nOdin knew who the first man was. He was Geirrod the King. And he knew\nwho the man who served in the stable was. He was Agnar, Geirrod's\nbrother. By the wisdom he had gained he knew that Agnar had come back to\nhis father's kingdom in the guise of a servant, and he knew that\nGeirrod did not know who this servant was.\n\nThey went into the stable together. Agnar took bread and broke it and\ngave some to the Wanderer. He gave him, too, straw to seat himself on.\nBut in a while Odin said, \"I would seat myself at the fire in the King's\nhall and eat my supper of meat.\"\n\n\"Nay, stay here,\" Agnar said. \"I will give you more bread and a wrap to\ncover yourself with. Do not go to the door of the King's house, for the\nKing is angry today and he might repulse you.\"\n\n\"How?\" said Odin. \"A King turn away a Wanderer who comes to his door! It\ncannot be that he would do it!\"\n\n\"Today he is angry,\" Agnar said. Again he begged him not to go to the\ndoor of the King's house. But Odin rose up from the straw on which he\nwas seated and went to the door.\n\nA porter, hunchbacked and with long arms, stood at the door. \"I am a\nWanderer, and I would have rest and food in the King's hall,\" Odin said.\n\n\"Not in this King's hall,\" said the hunchbacked porter. He would have\nbarred the door to Odin, but the voice of the King called him away. Odin\nthen strode into the hall and saw the King at table with his friends,\nall dark-bearded, and cruel-looking men. And when Odin looked on them he\nknew that the boy whom he had trained in nobility had become a King over\nrobbers.\n\n\"Since you have come into the hall where we eat, sing to us, Wanderer,\"\nshouted one of the dark men. \"Aye, I will sing to you,\" said Odin. Then\nhe stood between two of the stone pillars in the hall and he sang a song\nreproaching the King for having fallen into an evil way of life, and\ndenouncing all for following the cruel ways of robbers.\n\n\"Seize him,\" said the King, when Odin's song was finished. The dark men\nthrew themselves upon Odin and put chains around him and bound him\nbetween the stone pillars of the hall. \"He came into this hall for\nwarmth, and warmth he shall have,\" said Geirrod. He called upon his\nservants to heap up wood around him. They did this. Then the King, with\nhis own hand, put a blazing torch to the wood and the fagots blazed up\naround the Wanderer.\n\nThe fagots burned round and round him. But the fire did not burn the\nflesh of Odin All-Father. The King and the King's friends stood round,\nwatching with delight the fires blaze round a living man. The fagots all\nburned away, and Odin was left standing there with his terrible gaze\nfixed upon the men who were so hard and cruel.\n\nThey went to sleep, leaving him chained to the pillars of the hall. Odin\ncould have broken the chains and pulled down the pillars, but he wanted\nto see what else would happen in this King's house. The servants were\nordered not to bring food or drink to him, but at dawn, when there was\nno one near, Agnar came to him with a horn of ale and gave it to him to\ndrink.\n\nThe next evening when the King came back from his robberies, and when he\nand his friends, sitting down at the tables, had eaten like wolves, he\nordered the fagots to be placed around Odin. And again they stood\naround, watching in delight the fire playing around a living man. And\nas before Odin stood there, unhurt by the fire, and his steady and\nterrible gaze made the King hate him more and more. And all day he was\nkept in chains, and the servants were forbidden to bring him food or\ndrink. None knew that a horn of ale was brought to him at dawn.\n\nAnd night after night, for eight nights, this went on. Then, on the\nninth night, when the fires around him had been lighted, Odin lifted up\nhis voice and began to sing a song.\n\nHis song became louder and louder, and the King and the King's friends\nand the servants of the thing's house had to stand still and harken to\nit. Odin sang about Geirrod, the King; how the Gods had protected him,\ngiving him strength and skill, and how instead of making a noble use of\nthat strength and skill he had made himself like one of the wild beasts.\nThen he sang of how the vengeance of the Gods was about to fall on this\nignoble King.\n\nThe flames died down and Geirrod and his friends saw before them, not a\nfriendless Wanderer, but one who looked more kingly than any King of the\nearth. The chains fell down from his body and he advanced toward the\nevil company. Then Geirrod rushed upon him with his sword in hand to\nkill him. The sword struck him, but Odin remained unhurt.\n\n     Thy life runs out,\n     The Gods they are wroth with thee;\n     Draw near if thou canst;\n     Odin thou shalt see.\n\nSo Odin sang, and, in fear of his terrible gaze, Geirrod and his company\nshrank away. And as they shrank away they were changed into beasts, into\nthe wolves that range the forests.\n\nAnd Agnar came forward, and him Odin declared to be King. All the folk\nwere glad when Agnar came to rule over them, for they had been oppressed\nby Geirrod in his cruel reign. And Agnar was not only kind, but he was\nstrong and victorious in his rule.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nODIN WINS FOR MEN THE MAGIC MEAD\n\n\nIt was the Dwarfs who brewed the Magic Mead, and it was the Giants who\nhid it away. But it was Odin who brought it from the place where it was\nhidden and gave it to the sons of men. Those who drank of the Magic Mead\nbecame very wise, and not only that but they could put their wisdom into\nsuch beautiful words that every one who heard would love and remember\nit.\n\nThe Dwarfs brewed the Magic Mead through cruelty and villainy. They made\nit out of the blood of a man. The man was Kvasir the Poet. He had\nwisdom, and he had such beautiful words with it, that what he said was\nloved and remembered by all. The Dwarfs brought Kvasir down into their\ncaverns and they killed him there. \"Now,\" they said, \"we have Kvasir's\nblood and Kvasir's wisdom. No one else will have his wisdom but us.\"\nThey poured the blood into three jars and they mixed it with honey, and\nfrom it they brewed the Magic Mead.\n\nHaving killed a man the Dwarfs became more and more bold. They came out\nof their caverns and went up and down through Midgard, the World of Men.\nThey went into Joetunheim, and began to play their evil tricks on the\nmost harmless of the Giants.\n\nThey came upon one Giant who was very simple. Gilling was his name. They\npersuaded Gilling to row them out to sea in a boat. Then the two most\ncunning of the Dwarfs, Galar and Fialar, steered the boat on to a rock.\nThe boat split. Gilling, who could not swim, was drowned. The Dwarfs\nclambered up on pieces of the boat and came safely ashore. They were so\ndelighted with their evil tricks that they wanted to play some more of\nthem.\n\nGalar and Fialar then thought of a new piece of mischief they might do.\nThey led their band of Dwarfs to Gilling's house and screamed out to his\nwife that Gilling was dead. The Giant's wife began to weep and lament.\nAt last she rushed out of the house weeping and clapping her hands. Now\nGalar and Fialar had clambered up on the lintel of the house, and as she\ncame running out they cast a millstone on her head. It struck her and\nGilling's wife fell down dead. More and more the Dwarfs were delighted\nat the destruction they were making.\n\nThey were so insolent now that they made up songs and sang them, songs\nthat were all a boast of how they had killed Kvasir the Poet, and\nGilling the Giant, and Gilling's wife. They stayed around Joetunheim,\ntormenting all whom they were able to torment, and flattering themselves\nthat they were great and strong. They stayed too long, however. Suttung,\nGilling's brother, tracked them down and captured them.\n\nSuttung was not harmless and simple like Gilling, his brother. He was\ncunning and he was covetous. Once they were in his hands the Dwarfs had\nno chance of making an escape. He took them and left them on a rock in\nthe sea, a rock that the tide would cover.\n\nThe Giant stood up in the water taller than the rock, and the tide as it\ncame in did not rise above his knees. He stood there watching the Dwarfs\nas the water rose up round them and they became more and more terrified.\n\n\"Oh, take us off the rock, good Suttung,\" they cried out to him. \"Take\nus off the rock and we will give you gold and jewels. Take us off the\nrock and we will give you a necklace as beautiful as Brisingamen.\" So\nthey cried out to him, but the Giant Suttung only laughed at them. He\nhad no need of gold or jewels.\n\nThen Fialar and Galar cried out: \"Take us off the rock and we will give\nyou the jars of the Magic Mead we have brewed.\"\n\n\"The Magic Mead,\" said Suttung. \"This is something that no one else has.\nIt would be well to get it, for it might help us in the battle against\nthe Gods. Yes, I will get the Magic Mead from them.\"\n\nHe took the band of Dwarfs off the rock, but he held Galar and Fialar,\ntheir chiefs, while the others went into their caverns and brought up\nthe jars of the Magic Mead. Suttung took the Mead and brought it to a\ncavern in a mountain near his dwelling. And thus it happened that the\nMagic Mead, brewed by the Dwarfs through cruelty and villainy, came into\nthe hands of the Giants. And the story now tells how Odin, the Eldest of\nthe Gods, at that time in the world as Vegtam the Wanderer, took the\nMagic Mead out of Suttung's possession and brought it into the world of\nmen.\n\nNow, Suttung had a daughter named Gunnloed, and she by her goodness and\nher beauty was like Gerda and Skadi, the Giant maids whom the Dwellers\nin Asgard favored. Suttung, that he might have a guardian for the Magic\nMead, enchanted Gunnloed, turning her from a beautiful Giant maiden into\na witch with long teeth and sharp nails. He shut her into the cavern\nwhere the jars of the Magic Mead were hidden.\n\nOdin heard of the death of Kvasir whom he honored above all men. The\nDwarfs who slew him he had closed up in their caverns so that they were\nnever again able to come out into the World of Men. And then he set out\nto get the Magic Mead that he might give it to men, so that, tasting it,\nthey would have wisdom, and words would be at their command that would\nmake wisdom loved and remembered.\n\nHow Odin won the Magic Mead out of the rock-covered cavern where Suttung\nhad hidden it, and how he broke the enchantment that lay upon Gunnloed,\nSuttung's daughter, is a story often told around the hearths of men.\n\nNine strong thralls were mowing in a field as a Wanderer went by clad in\na dark blue cloak and carrying a wanderer's staff in his hand. One of\nthe thralls spoke to the Wanderer: \"Tell them in the house of Baugi up\nyonder that I can mow no more until a whetstone to sharpen my scythe is\nsent to me.\" \"Here is a whetstone,\" said the Wanderer, and he took one\nfrom his belt. The thrall who had spoken whetted his scythe with it and\nbegan to mow. The grass went down before his scythe as if the wind had\ncut it. \"Give us the whetstone, give us the whetstone,\" cried the other\nthralls. The Wanderer threw the whetstone amongst them, leaving them\nquarreling over it, and went on his way.\n\nThe Wanderer came to the house of Baugi, the brother of Suttung. He\nrested in Baugi's house, and at supper time he was given food at the\ngreat table. And while he was eating with the Giant a Messenger from the\nfield came in.\n\n\"Baugi,\" said the Messenger, \"your nine thralls are all dead. They\nkilled each other with their scythes, fighting in the field about a\nwhetstone. There are no thralls now to do your work.\"\n\n\"What shall I do, what shall I do?\" said Baugi the Giant. \"My fields\nwill not be mown now, and I shall have no hay to feed my cattle and my\nhorses in the winter.\"\n\n\"I might work for you,\" said the Wanderer.\n\n\"One man's work is no use to me,\" said the Giant, \"I must have the work\nof nine men.\"\n\n\"I shall do the work of nine men,\" said the Wanderer, \"give me a trial,\nand see.\"\n\nThe next day Vegtam the Wanderer went into Baugi's field. He did as much\nwork as the nine thralls had done in a day.\n\n\"Stay with me for the season,\" said Baugi, \"and I shall give you a full\nreward.\"\n\nSo Vegtam stayed at the Giant's house and worked in the Giant's fields,\nand when all the work of the season was done Baugi said to him:\n\n\"Speak now and tell me what reward I am to give you.\"\n\n\"The only reward I shall ask of you,\" said Vegtam, \"is a draught of the\nMagic Mead.\"\n\n\"The Magic Mead?\" said Baugi. \"I do not know where it is nor how to get\nit.\"\n\n\"Your brother Suttung has it. Go to him and claim a draught of the Magic\nMead for me.\"\n\nBaugi went to Suttung. But when he heard what he had come for, the Giant\nSuttung turned on his brother in a rage.\n\n\"A draught of the Magic Mead?\" he said. \"To no one will I give a draught\nof the Magic Mead. Have I not enchanted my daughter Gunnloed, so that she\nmay watch over it? And you tell me that a Wanderer who has done the work\nof nine men for you asks a draught of the Magic Mead for his fee! O\nGiant as foolish as Gilling! O oaf of a Giant! Who could have done such\nwork for you, and who would demand such a fee from you, but one of our\nenemies, the AEsir? Go from me now and never come to me again with talk\nof the Magic Mead.\"\n\nBaugi went back to his house and told the Wanderer that Suttung would\nyield none of the Magic Mead. \"I hold you to your bargain,\" said Vegtam\nthe Wanderer, \"and you will have to get me the fee I asked. Come with me\nnow and help me to get it.\"\n\nHe made Baugi bring him to the place where the Magic Mead was hidden.\nThe place was a cavern in the mountain. In front of that cavern was a\ngreat mass of stone.\n\n\"We cannot move that stone nor get through it,\" said Baugi. \"I cannot\nhelp you to your fee.\"\n\nThe Wanderer drew an auger from his belt. \"This will bore through the\nrock if there is strength behind it. You have the strength, Giant. Begin\nnow and bore.\"\n\nBaugi took the auger in his hands and bored with all his strength, and\nthe Wanderer stood by leaning on his staff, calm and majestic in his\ncloak of blue.\n\n\"I have made a deep, deep hole. It goes through the rock,\" Baugi said,\nat last.\n\nThe Wanderer went to the hole and blew into it. The dust of the rock\nflew back into their faces.\n\n\"So that is your boasted strength, Giant,\" he said. \"You have not bored\nhalf-way through the rock. Work again.\"\n\nThen Baugi took the auger again and he bored deeper and deeper into the\nrock. And he blew into it, and lo! His breath went through. Then he\nlooked at the Wanderer to see what he would do; his eyes had become\nfierce and he held the auger in his hand as if it were a stabbing\nknife.\n\n\"Look up to the head of the rock,\" said the Wanderer. As Baugi looked up\nthe Wanderer changed himself into a snake and glided into the hole in\nthe rock. And Baugi struck at him with the auger, hoping to kill him,\nbut the snake slipped through.\n\nBehind the mighty rock there was a hollow place all lighted up by the\nshining crystals in the rock. And within the hollow place there was an\nill-looking witch, with long teeth and sharp nails. But she sat there\nrocking herself and letting tears fall from her eyes. \"O youth and\nbeauty,\" she sang, \"O sight of men and women, sad, sad for me it is that\nyou are shut away, and that I have only this closed-in cavern and this\nhorrible form.\"\n\nA snake glided across the floor. \"Oh, that you were deadly and that you\nmight slay me,\" cried the witch. The snake glided past her. Then she\nheard a voice speak softly: \"Gunnloed, Gunnloed!\" She looked round, and\nthere standing behind her was a majestic man, clad in a cloak of dark\nblue, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods.\n\n\"You have come to take the Magic Mead that my father has set me here to\nguard,\" she cried. \"You shall not have it. Rather shall I spill it out\non the thirsty earth of the cavern.\"\n\n\"Gunnloed,\" he said, and he came to her. She looked at him and she felt\nthe red blood of youth come back into her cheeks. She put her hands with\ntheir sharp nails over her breast, and she felt the nails drive into her\nflesh. \"Save me from all this ugliness,\" she cried.\n\n\"I will save you,\" Odin said. He went to her. He took her hands and\nheld them. He kissed her on the mouth. All the marks of ill favor went\nfrom her. She was no longer bent, but tall and shapely. Her eyes became\nwide and deep blue. Her mouth became red and her hands soft and\nbeautiful. She became as fair as Gerda, the Giant maid whom Frey had\nwed.\n\nThey stayed looking at each other, then they sat down side by side and\ntalked softly to each other, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, and Gunnloed,\nthe beautiful Giant maiden.\n\nShe gave him the three jars of the Magic Mead and she told him she would\ngo out of the cavern with him. Three days passed and still they were\ntogether. Then Odin by his wisdom found hidden paths and passages that\nled out of the cavern and he brought Gunnloed out into the light of the\nday.\n\nAnd he brought with him the jars of the Magic Mead, the Mead whose taste\ngives wisdom, and wisdom in such beautiful words that all love and\nremember it. And Gunnloed, who had tasted a little of the Magic Mead,\nwandered through the world singing of the beauty and the might of Odin,\nand of her love for him.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nODIN TELLS TO VIDAR, HIS SILENT SON, THE SECRET OF HIS DOINGS\n\n\nIt was not only to Giants and Men that Odin showed himself in the days\nwhen he went through Joetunheim and Midgard as Vegtam the Wanderer. He\nmet and he spoke with the Gods also, with one who lived far away from\nAsgard and with others who came to Midgard and to Joetunheim.\n\nThe one who lived far away from Asgard was Vidar, Odin's silent son. Far\nwithin a wilderness, with branches and tall grass growing around him,\nVidar sat. And near by him a horse grazed with a saddle upon it, a horse\nthat was ever ready for the speedy journey.\n\nAnd Odin, now Vegtam the Wanderer, came into that silent place and spoke\nto Vidar, the Silent God.\n\n\"O Vidar,\" he said, \"strangest of all my sons; God who will live when\nall of us have passed away; God who will bring the memory of the\nDwellers of Asgard into a world that will know not their power; O Vidar,\nwell do I know why there grazes near by thee the horse ever ready for\nthe speedy journey: it is that thou mayst spring upon it and ride\nunchecked, a son speeding to avenge his father.\n\n\"To you only, O Vidar the Silent One, will I speak of the secrets of my\ndoings. Who but you can know why I, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, hung\non the tree Ygdrassil nine days and nine nights, mine own spear\ntransfixing me? I hung upon that windy tree that I might learn the\nwisdom that would give me power in the nine worlds. On the ninth night\nthe Runes of Wisdom appeared before mine eyes, and slipping down from\nthe tree I took them to myself.\n\n\"And I shall tell why my ravens fly to thee, carrying in their beaks\nscraps of leather. It is that thou mayst make for thyself a sandal; with\nthat sandal on thou mayst put thy foot on the lower jaw of a mighty wolf\nand rend him. All the shoemakers of the earth throw on the ground scraps\nof the leather they use so that thou mayst be able to make the sandal\nfor thy wolf-rending foot.\n\n\"And I have counseled the dwellers on earth to cut off the fingernails\nand the toenails of their dead, lest from those fingernails and toenails\nthe Giants make for themselves the ship Naglfar in which they will sail\nfrom the North on the day of Ragnaroek, the Twilight of the Gods.\n\n\"More, Vidar, I will tell to thee. I, living amongst men, have wed the\ndaughter of a hero. My son shall live as a mortal amongst mortals. Sigi\nhis name shall be. From him shall spring heroes who will fill Valhalla,\nmy own hall in Asgard, with heroes against the day of our strife with\nthe Giants and with Surtur of the Flaming Sword.\"\n\nFor long Odin stayed in that silent place communing with his silent son,\nwith Vidar, who with his brother would live beyond the lives of the\nDwellers of Asgard and who would bring into another day and another\nworld the memory of the AEsir and the Vanir. For long Odin spoke with\nhim, and then he went across the wilderness where the grass and the\nbushes grew and where that horse grazed in readiness for the sudden\njourney. He went toward the seashore where the AEsir and the Vanir were\nnow gathered for the feast that old AEgir, the Giant King of the Sea, had\noffered them.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration:]\n\nTHOR AND LOKI IN THE GIANTS' CITY\n\n\nAll but a few of the Dwellers of Asgard had come to the feast offered by\nAEgir the Old, the Giant King of the Sea. Frigga, the queenly wife of\nOdin, was there, and Frey and Freya; Iduna, who guarded the Apples of\nYouth, and Bragi, her husband; Tyr, the great swordsman, and Nioerd, the\nGod of the Sea, Skadi, who wedded Nioerd and whose hatred for Loki was\nfierce, and Sif, whose golden hair was once shorn off by Loki the\nmischievous. Thor and Loki were there. The Dwellers of Asgard, gathered\ntogether in the hall of AEgir, waited for Odin.\n\nBefore Odin came Loki made the company merry by the tales that he told\nin mockery of Thor. Loki long since had his lips unloosed from the thong\nthat the Dwarf Brock had sewn them with. And Thor had forgotten the\nwrong that he had done to Sif. Loki had been with Thor in his\nwanderings through Joetunheim, and about these wanderings he now told\nmocking tales.\n\nHe told how he had seen Thor in his chariot of brass drawn by two goats\ngo across Bifroest, the Rainbow Bridge. None of the AEsir or the Vanir\nknew on what adventure Thor was bent. But Loki followed him and Thor\nkept him in his company.\n\nAs they traveled on in the brass chariot drawn by the two goats, Thor\ntold Loki of the adventure on which he was bent. He would go into\nJoetunheim, even into Utgard, the Giants' City, and he would try his\nstrength against the Giants. He was not afraid of aught that might\nhappen, for he carried Mioelnir, his hammer, with him.\n\nTheir way was through Midgard, the World of Men. Once, as they were\ntraveling on, night came upon them as they were hungry and in need of\nshelter. They saw a peasant's hut and they drove the chariot toward it.\nUnyoking the goats and leaving them standing in a hollow beside the\nchariot, the two, looking not like Dwellers in Asgard, but like men\ntraveling through the country, knocked at the door of the hut and asked\nfor food and shelter.\n\nThey could have shelter, the peasant and his wife told them, but they\ncould not have food. There was little in that place, and what little\nthere had been they had eaten for supper. The peasant showed them the\ninside of the hut: it was poor and bare, and there was nothing there to\ngive anyone. In the morning, the peasant said, he would go down to the\nriver and catch some fish for a meal.\n\n\"We can't wait until morning, we must eat now,\" said Thor, \"and I think\nI can provide a good meal for us all.\" He went over to where his goats\nstood in the hollow beside the chariot of brass, and, striking them with\nhis hammer, he left them lifeless on the ground. He skinned the goats\nthen, and taking up the bones very carefully, he left them down on the\nskins. Skins and bones he lifted up and bringing them into the house he\nleft them in a hole above the peasant's fireplace. \"No one,\" said he in\na commanding voice, \"must touch the bones that I leave here.\"\n\nThen he brought the meat into the house. Soon it was cooked and laid\nsmoking on the table. The peasant and his wife and his son sat round the\nboard with Thor and Loki. They had not eaten plentifully for many days,\nand now the man and the woman fed themselves well.\n\nThialfi was the name of the peasant's son. He was a growing lad and had\nan appetite that had not been satisfied for long. While the meat was on\nthe table his father and mother had kept him going here and there,\ncarrying water, putting fagots on the fire, and holding a blazing stick\nso that those at the table might see to eat. There was not much left for\nhim when he was able to sit down, for Thor and Loki had great appetites,\nand the lad's father and mother had eaten to make up for days of want.\nSo Thialfi got little out of that plentiful feast.\n\nWhen the meal was finished they lay down on the benches. Thor, because\nhe had made a long journey that day, slept very soundly. Thialfi lay\ndown on a bench, too, but his thoughts were still upon the food. When\nall were asleep, he thought, he would take one of the bones that were\nin the skins above him, and break and gnaw it.\n\nSo in the dead of the night the lad stood up on the bench and took down\nthe goatskins that Thor had left so carefully there. He took out a bone,\nbroke it, and gnawed it for the marrow. Loki was awake and saw him do\nthis, but he, relishing mischief as much as ever, did nothing to stay\nthe lad.\n\nHe put the bone he had broken back in the skins and he left the skins\nback in the hole above the fireplace. Then he went to sleep on the\nbench.\n\nIn the morning, as soon as they were up, the first thing Thor did was to\ntake the skins out of the hole. He carried them carefully out to the\nhollow where he had left the goats standing. He put each goatskin down\nwith the bones in it. He struck each with his hammer, and the goats\nsprang up alive, horns and hoofs and all.\n\nBut one was not as he had been before. He limped badly. Thor examined\nthe leg and found out that one bone was broken. In terrible anger he\nturned on the peasant, his wife, and his son. \"A bone of this goat has\nbeen broken under your roof,\" he shouted. \"For that I shall destroy your\nhouse and leave you all dead under it.\" Thialfi wept. Then he came\nforward and touched the knees of Thor. \"I did not know what harm I did,\"\nhe said. \"I broke the bone.\"\n\nThor had his hammer lifted up to crush him into the earth. But he could\nnot bring it down on the weeping boy. He let his hammer rest on the\nground again. \"You will have to do much service for me for having lamed\nmy goat,\" he said. \"Come with me.\"\n\nAnd so the lad Thialfi went off with Thor and Loki. Thor took in his\npowerful hands the shafts of the chariot of brass and he dragged it into\na lonely mountain hollow where neither men nor Giants came. And they\nleft the goats in a great, empty forest to stay resting there until Thor\ncalled to them again.\n\nThor and Loki and the lad Thialfi went across from Midgard into\nJoetunheim. Because of Mioelnir, the great hammer that he carried, Thor\nfelt safe in the Realm of the Giants. And Loki, who trusted in his own\ncunning, felt safe, too. The lad Thialfi trusted in Thor so much that he\nhad no fear. They were long in making the journey, and while they were\ntraveling Thor and Loki trained Thialfi to be a quick and a strong lad.\n\nOne day they came out on a moor. All day they crossed it, and at night\nit still stretched far before them. A great wind was blowing, night was\nfalling, and they saw no shelter near. In the dusk they saw a shape that\nlooked to be a mountain and they went toward it, hoping to find some\nshelter in a cave.\n\nThen Loki saw a lower shape that looked as if it might be a shelter.\nThey walked around it, Loki and Thor and the lad Thialfi. It was a\nhouse, but a house most oddly shaped. The entrance was a long, wide hall\nthat had no doorway. When they entered this hall they found five long\nand narrow chambers running off it. \"It is an odd place, but it is the\nbest shelter we can get,\" Loki said. \"You and I, Thor, will take the\ntwo longest rooms, and the lad Thialfi can take one of the little\nrooms.\"\n\nThey entered their chambers and they lay down to sleep. But from the\nmountain outside there came a noise that was like moaning forests and\nfalling cataracts. The chamber where each one slept was shaken by the\nnoise. Neither Thor nor Loki nor the lad Thialfi slept that night.\n\nIn the morning they left the five-chambered house and turned their faces\ntoward the mountain. It was not a mountain at all, but a Giant. He was\nlying on the ground when they saw him, but just then he rolled over and\nsat up. \"Little men, little men,\" he shouted to them, \"have you passed\nby a glove of mine on your way?\" He stood up and looked all around him.\n\"Ho, I see my glove now,\" he said. Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi\nstood still as the Giant came toward them. He leaned over and picked up\nthe five-roomed shelter they had slept in. He put it on his hand. It was\nreally his glove!\n\nThor gripped his hammer, and Loki and the lad Thialfi stood behind him.\nBut the Giant seemed good-humored enough. \"Where might ye be bound for,\nlittle men?\" said he.\n\n\"To Utgard in Joetunheim,\" Thor replied boldly.\n\n\"Oh, to that place,\" said the Giant. \"Come, then, I shall be with ye so\nfar. You can call me Skyrmir.\"\n\n\"Can you give us breakfast?\" said Thor. He spoke crossly, for he did not\nwant it to appear that there was any reason to be afraid of the Giant.\n\n\"I can give you breakfast,\" said Skyrmir, \"but I don't want to stop to\neat now. We'll sit down as soon as I have an appetite. Come along now.\nHere is my wallet to carry. It has my provisions in it.\"\n\nHe gave Thor his wallet. Thor put it on his back and put Thialfi sitting\nupon it. On and on the Giant strode and Thor and Loki were barely able\nto keep up with him. It was midday before he showed any signs of halting\nto take breakfast.\n\nThey came to an enormous tree. Under it Skyrmir sat down. \"I'll sleep\nbefore I eat,\" he said, \"but you can open my wallet, my little men, and\nmake your meal out of it.\" Saying this, he stretched himself out, and in\na few minutes Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi heard the same sounds as\nkept them awake the night before, sounds that were like forests moaning\nand cataracts falling. It was Skyrmir's snoring.\n\nThor and Loki and the lad Thialfi were too hungry now to be disturbed by\nthese tremendous noises. Thor tried to open the wallet, but he found it\nwas not easy to undo the knots. Then Loki tried to open it. In spite of\nall Loki's cunning he could not undo the knots. Then Thor took the\nwallet from him and tried to break the knots by main strength. Not even\nThor's strength could break them. He threw the wallet down in his rage.\n\nThe snoring of Skyrmir became louder and louder. Thor stood up in his\nrage. He grasped Mioelnir and flung it at the head of the sleeping Giant.\n\nThe hammer struck him on the head. But Skyrmir only stirred in his\nsleep. \"Did a leaf fall on my head?\" he said.\n\nHe turned round on the other side and went to sleep again. The hammer\ncame back to Thor's hand. As soon as Skyrmir snored he flung it again,\naiming at the Giant's forehead. It struck there. The Giant opened his\neyes. \"Has an acorn fallen on my forehead?\" he said.\n\nAgain he went to sleep. But now Thor, terribly roused, stood over his\nhead with the hammer held in his hands. He struck him on the forehead.\nIt was the greatest blow that Thor had ever dealt.\n\n\"A bird is pecking at my forehead--there is no chance to sleep here,\"\nsaid Skyrmir, sitting up. \"And you, little men, did you have breakfast\nyet? Toss over my wallet to me and I shall give you some provision.\" The\nlad Thialfi brought him the wallet. Skyrmir opened it, took out his\nprovisions, and gave a share to Thor and Loki and the lad Thialfi. Thor\nwould not take provision from him, but Loki and the lad Thialfi took it\nand ate. When the meal was finished Skyrmir rose up and said, \"Time for\nus to be going toward Utgard.\"\n\nAs they went on their way Skyrmir talked to Loki. \"I always feel very\nsmall when I go into Utgard,\" he said. \"You see, I'm such a small and a\nweak fellow and the folk who live there are so big and powerful. But you\nand your friends will be welcomed in Utgard. They will be sure to make\nlittle pets of you.\"\n\nAnd then he left them and they went into Utgard, the City of the Giants.\nGiants were going up and down in the streets. They were not so huge as\nSkyrmir would have them believe, Loki noticed.\n\nUtgard was the Asgard of the Giants. But in its buildings there was not\na line of the beauty that there was in the palaces of the Gods,\nGladsheim and Breidablik or Fensalir. Huge but shapeless the buildings\narose, like mountains or icebergs. O beautiful Asgard with the dome\nabove it of the deepest blue! Asgard with the clouds around it heaped up\nlike mountains of diamonds! Asgard with its Rainbow Bridge and its\nglittering gates! O beautiful Asgard, could it be indeed that these\nGiants would one day overthrow you?\n\nThor and Loki with the lad Thialfi went to the palace of the King. The\nhammer that Thor gripped would, they knew, make them safe even there.\nThey passed between rows of Giant guards and came to the King's seat.\n\"We know you, Thor and Loki,\" said the Giant King, \"and we know that\nThor has come to Utgard to try his strength against the Giants. We shall\nhave a contest tomorrow. Today there are sports for our boys. If your\nyoung servant should like to try his swiftness against our youths, let\nhim enter the race today.\"\n\nNow Thialfi was the best runner in Midgard and all the time he had been\nwith them Loki and Thor had trained him in quickness. And so Thialfi was\nnot fearful of racing against the Giants' youths.\n\nThe King called on one named Hugi and placed him against Thialfi. The\npair started together. Thialfi sped off. Loki and Thor watched the race\nanxiously, for they thought it would be well for them if they had a\ntriumph over the dwellers in Utgard in the first contest. But they saw\nHugi leave Thialfi behind. They saw the Giant youth reach the winning\npost, circle round it, and come back to the starting place before\nThialfi had reached the end of the course.\n\nThialfi, who did not know how it was that he had been beaten, asked that\nhe be let run the race with Hugi again. The pair started off once more,\nand this time it did not seem to Thor and Loki that Hugi had left the\nstarting place at all--he was back there almost as soon as the race had\nstarted.\n\nThey came back from the racing ground to the palace. The Giant King and\nhis friends with Thor and Loki sat down to the supper table. \"Tomorrow,\"\nsaid the King, \"we shall have our great contest when Asa Thor will show\nus his power. Have you of Asgard ever heard of one who would enter a\ncontest in eating? We might have a contest in eating at this supper\nboard if we could get one who would match himself with Logi here. He can\neat more than anyone in Joetunheim.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said Loki, \"can eat more than any two in Joetunheim. I will\nmatch myself against your Logi.\"\n\n\"Good!\" said the Giant King. And all the Giants present said, \"Good!\nThis will be a sight worth seeing.\"\n\nThen they put scores of plates along one side of the table, each plate\nfilled with meat. Loki began at one end and Logi began at the other.\nThey started to eat, moving toward each other as each cleared a plate.\nPlate after plate was emptied, and Thor standing by with the Giants was\namazed to see how much Loki ate. But Logi on the other side was leaving\nplate after plate emptied. At last the two stood together with scores of\nplates on each side of them. \"He has not defeated me,\" cried Loki. \"I\nhave cleared as many plates as your champion, O King of the Giants.\"\n\n\"But you have not cleared them so well,\" said the King.\n\n\"Loki has eaten all the meat that was upon them,\" said Thor.\n\n\"But Logi has eaten the bones with the meat,\" said the Giant King. \"Look\nand see if it be not so.\"\n\nThor went to the plates. Where Loki had eaten, the bones were left on\nthe plates. Where Logi had eaten, nothing was left: bones as well as\nmeat were consumed, and all the plates were left bare.\n\n\"We are beaten,\" said Thor to Loki.\n\n\"Tomorrow, Thor,\" said Loki, \"you must show all your strength or the\nGiants will cease to dread the might of the Dwellers in Asgard.\"\n\n\"Be not afraid,\" said Thor. \"No one in Joetunheim will triumph over me.\"\n\nThe next day Thor and Loki came into the great hall of Utgard. The Giant\nKing was there with a throng of his friends. Thor marched into the hall\nwith Mioelnir, his great hammer, in his hands. \"Our young men have been\ndrinking out of this horn,\" said the King, \"and they want to know if\nyou, Asa Thor, would drink out of it a morning draught. But I must tell\nyou that they think that no one of the AEsir could empty the horn at one\ndraught.\"\n\n\"Give it to me,\" said Thor. \"There is no horn you can hand me that I\ncannot empty at a draught.\"\n\nA great horn, brimmed and flowing, was brought over to him. Handing\nMioelnir to Loki and bidding him stand so that he might keep the hammer\nin sight, Thor raised the horn to his mouth. He drank and drank. He felt\nsure there was not a drop left in the horn as he laid it on the ground.\n\"There,\" he gasped, \"your Giant horn is drained.\"\n\nThe Giants looked within the horn and laughed. \"Drained, Asa Thor!\" said\nthe Giant King. \"Look into the horn again. You have hardly drunk below\nthe brim.\"\n\nAnd Thor looked into it and saw that the horn was not half emptied. In a\nmighty rage he lifted it to his lips again. He drank and drank and\ndrank. Then, satisfied that he had emptied it to the bottom, he left the\nhorn on the ground and walked over to the other side of the hall.\n\n\"Thor thinks he has drained the horn,\" said one of the Giants, lifting\nit up. \"But see, friends, what remains in it.\"\n\nThor strode back and looked again into the horn. It was still half\nfilled. He turned round to see that all the Giants were laughing at him.\n\n\"Asa Thor, Asa Thor,\" said the Giant King, \"we know not how you are\ngoing to deal with us in the next feat, but you certainly are not able\nto drink against the Giants.\"\n\nSaid Thor: \"I can lift up and set down any being in your hall.\"\n\nAs he said this a great iron-colored cat bounded into the hall and stood\nbefore Thor, her back arched and her fur bristling.\n\n\"Then lift the cat off the ground,\" said the Giant King.\n\nThor strode to the cat, determined to lift her up and fling her amongst\nthe mocking Giants. He put his hands to the cat, but he could not raise\nher. Up, up went Thor's arms, up, up, as high as they could go. The\ncat's arched back went up to the roof, but her feet were never taken off\nthe ground. And as he heaved and heaved with all his might he heard the\nlaughter of the Giants all round him.\n\nHe turned away, his eyes flaming with anger. \"I am not wont to try to\nlift cats,\" he said. \"Bring me one to wrestle with, and I swear you\nshall see me overthrow him.\"\n\n\"Here is one for you to wrestle with, Asa Thor,\" said the King. Thor\nlooked round and saw an old woman hobbling toward him. She was\nblear-eyed and toothless. \"This is Ellie, my ancient nurse,\" said the\nGiant King. \"She is the one we would have you wrestle with.\"\n\n\"Thor does not wrestle with old women. I will lay my hands on your\ntallest Giants instead.\"\n\n\"Ellie has come where you are,\" said the Giant King. \"Now it is she who\nwill lay hands upon you.\"\n\nThe old woman hobbled toward Thor, her eyes gleaming under her falling\nfringes of gray hair. Thor stood, unable to move as the hag came toward\nhim. She laid her hands upon his arms. Her feet began to trip at his. He\ntried to cast her from him. Then he found that her feet and her hands\nwere as strong against his as bands and stakes of iron.\n\nThen began a wrestling match in earnest between Thor and the ancient\ncrone Ellie. Round and round the hall they wrestled, and Thor was not\nable to bend the old woman backward nor sideways. Instead he became\nless and less able under her terrible grasp. She forced him down, down,\nand at last he could only save himself from being left prone on the\nground by throwing himself down on one knee and holding the hag by the\nshoulders. She tried to force him down on the ground, but she could not\ndo that. Then she broke from him, hobbled to the door and went out of\nthe hall.\n\nThor rose up and took the hammer from Loki's hands. Without a word he\nwent out of the hall and along the ways and toward the gate of the\nGiants' City. He spoke no word to Loki nor to the lad Thialfi who went\nwith him for the seven weeks that they journeyed through Joetunheim.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW THOR AND LOKI BEFOOLED THRYM THE GIANT\n\n\nLoki told another tale about Thor--about Thor and Thrym, a stupid Giant\nwho had cunning streaks in him. Loki and Thor had been in this Giant's\nhouse. He had made a feast for them and Thor had been unwatchful.\n\nThen when they were far from Joetunheim Thor missed Mioelnir, missed the\nhammer that was the defence of Asgard and the help of the Gods. He could\nnot remember how or where he had mislaid it. Loki's thoughts went toward\nThrym, that stupid Giant who yet had cunning streaks in him. Thor, who\nhad lost the hammer that he had sworn never to let out of his sight, did\nnot know what to do.\n\nBut Loki thought it would be worth while to see if Thrym knew anything\nabout it. He went first to Asgard. He hurried across the Rainbow Bridge\nand passed Heimdall without speaking to him. To none of the Dwellers in\nAsgard whom he met did he dare relate the tidings of Thor's loss. He\nspoke to none until he came to Frigga's palace.\n\nTo Frigga he said, \"You must lend me your falcon dress until I fly to\nThrym's dwelling and find out if he knows where Mioelnir is.\"\n\n\"If every feather was silver I would give it to you to go on such an\nerrand,\" Frigga said.\n\nSo Loki put on the falcon dress and flew to Joetunheim and came near\nThrym's dwelling. He found the Giant upon a hillside putting golden and\nsilver collars upon the necks of his hounds. Loki in the plumage of a\nfalcon perched on the rock above him, watching the Giant with falcon\neyes.\n\nAnd while he was there he heard the Giant speak boastful words. \"I put\ncollars of silver and gold on you now, my hounds,\" said he, \"but soon we\nGiants will have the gold of Asgard to deck our hounds and our steeds,\nyea, even the necklace of Freya to put upon you, the best of my hounds.\nFor Mioelnir, the defence of Asgard, is in Thrym's holding.\"\n\nThen Loki spoke to him. \"Yea, we know that Mioelnir is in thy possession,\nO Thrym,\" said he, \"but know thou that the eyes of the watchful Gods are\nupon thee.\"\n\n\"Ha, Loki, Shape-changer,\" said Thrym, \"you are there! But all your\nwatching will not help you to find Mioelnir. I have buried Thor's hammer\neight miles deep in the earth. Find it if you can. It is below the caves\nof the Dwarfs.\"\n\n\"It is useless for us to search for Thor's hammer,\" said Loki; \"eh\nThrym?\"\n\n\"It is useless for you to search for it,\" said the Giant sulkily.\n\n\"But what a recompense you would gain if you restored Thor's hammer to\nthe Dwellers in Asgard,\" Loki said.\n\n\"No, cunning Loki, I will never restore it, not for any recompense,\"\nsaid Thrym.\n\n\"Yet bethink thee, Thrym,\" said Loki. \"Is there nought in Asgard you\nwould like to own? No treasure, no possession? Odin's ring or Frey's\nship, Skidbladnir?\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said Thrym. \"Only one thing could the Dwellers in Asgard offer\nme that I would take in exchange for Mioelnir, Thor's hammer.\"\n\n\"And what would that be, Thrym?\" said Loki, flying toward him.\n\n\"She whom many Giants have striven to gain--Freya, for my wife,\" said\nThrym.\n\nLoki watched Thrym for long with his falcon eyes. He saw that the Giant\nwould not alter his demand. \"I will tell the Dwellers in Asgard of your\ndemand,\" he said at last, and he flew away.\n\nLoki knew that the Dwellers in Asgard would never let Freya be taken\nfrom them to become the wife of Thrym, the stupidest of the Giants. He\nflew back.\n\nBy this time all the Dwellers in Asgard had heard of the loss of\nMioelnir, the help of the Gods. Heimdall shouted to him as he crossed the\nRainbow Bridge to ask what tidings he brought back. But Loki did not\nstop to speak to the Warden of the Bridge but went straight to the hall\nwhere the Gods sat in Council.\n\nTo the AEsir and the Vanir he told Thrym's demand. None would agree to\nlet the beautiful Freya go live in Joetunheim as a wife to the stupidest\nof the Giants. All in the Council were cast down. The Gods would never\nagain be able to help mortal men, for now that Mioelnir was in the\nGiants' hands all their strength would have to be used in the defence of\nAsgard.\n\nSo they sat in the Council with looks downcast. But cunning Loki said,\n\"I have thought of a trick that may win back the hammer from stupid\nThrym. Let us pretend to send Freya to Joetunheim as a bride for him. But\nlet one of the Gods go in Freya's veil and dress.\"\n\n\"Which of the Gods would bring himself to do so shameful a thing?\" said\nthose in the Council.\n\n\"Oh, he who lost the hammer, Thor, should be prepared to do as much to\nwin it back,\" said Loki.\n\n\"Thor, Thor! Let Thor win back the hammer from Thrym by Loki's trick,\"\nsaid the AEsir and the Vanir. They left it to Loki to arrange how Thor\nshould go to Joetunheim as a bride for Thrym.\n\nLoki left the Council of the Gods and came to where he had left Thor.\n\"There is but one way to win the hammer back, Thor,\" he said, \"and the\nGods in Council have decreed that you shall take it.\"\n\n\"What is the way?\" said Thor. \"But no matter what it is, tell me of it\nand I shall do as thou dost say.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said laughing Loki, \"I am to take you to Joetunheim as a bride\nfor Thrym. Thou art to go in bridal dress and veil, in Freya's veil and\nbridal dress.\"\n\n\"What! I dress in woman's garb?\" shouted Thor.\n\n\"Yea, Thor, and wear a veil over your head and a garland of flowers upon\nit.\"\n\n\"I--I wear a garland of flowers?\"\n\n\"And rings upon thy fingers. And a bunch of housekeeper's keys in thy\ngirdle.\"\n\n\"Cease thy mockery, Loki,\" said Thor roughly, \"or I shall shake thee.\"\n\n\"It is no mockery. Thou wilt have to do this to win Mioelnir back for the\ndefence of Asgard. Thrym will take no other recompense than Freya. I\nwould mock him by bringing thee to him in Freya's veil and dress. When\nthou art in his hall and he asks thee to join hands with him, say thou\nwilt not until he puts Mioelnir into thy hands. Then when thy mighty\nhammer is in thy holding thou canst deal with him and with all in his\nhall. And I shall be with thee as thy bridesmaid! O sweet, sweet maiden\nThor!\"\n\n\"Loki,\" said Thor, \"thou didst devise all this to mock me. I in a bridal\ndress! I with a bride's veil upon me! The Dwellers in Asgard will never\ncease to laugh at me.\"\n\n\"Yea,\" said Loki, \"but there will never be laughter again in Asgard\nunless thou art able to bring back the hammer that thine unwatchfulness\nlost.\"\n\n\"True,\" said Thor unhappily, \"and is this, thinkst thou, Loki, the only\nway to win back Mioelnir from Thrym?\"\n\n\"It is the only way, O Thor,\" said the cunning Loki.\n\nSo Thor and Loki set out for Joetunheim and the dwelling of Thrym. A\nmessenger had gone before them to tell Thrym that Freya was coming with\nher bridesmaid; that the wedding-feast was to be prepared and the guests\ngathered and that Mioelnir was to be at hand so that it might be given\nover to the Dwellers in Asgard. Thrym and his Giant mother hastened to\nhave everything in readiness.\n\nThor and Loki came to the Giant's house in the dress of a bride and a\nbridesmaid. A veil was over Thor's head hiding his beard and his fierce\neyes. A red-embroidered robe he wore and at his side hung a girdle of\nhousekeeper's keys. Loki was veiled, too. The hall of Thrym's great\nhouse was swept and garnished and great tables were laid for the feast.\nAnd Thrym's mother was going from one guest to another, vaunting that\nher son was getting one of the beauteous Dwellers in Asgard for his\nbride, Freya, whom so many of the Giants had tried to win.\n\nWhen Thor and Loki stepped across the threshold Thrym went to welcome\nthem. He wanted to raise the veil of his bride and give her a kiss. Loki\nquickly laid his hand on the Giant's shoulder.\n\n\"Forbear,\" he whispered. \"Do not raise her veil. We Dwellers in Asgard\nare reserved and bashful. Freya would be much offended to be kissed\nbefore this company.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" said Thrym's old mother. \"Do not raise thy bride's veil,\nson. These Dwellers in Asgard are more refined in their ways than we,\nthe Giants.\" Then the old woman took Thor by the hand and led him to the\ntable.\n\nThe size and the girth of the bride did not surprise the huge Giants who\nwere in the wedding company. They stared at Thor and Loki, but they\ncould see nothing of their faces and little of their forms because of\ntheir veils.\n\nThor sat at the table with Thrym on one side of him and Loki on the\nother. Then the feast began. Thor, not noticing that what he did was\nunbecoming to a refined maiden, ate eight salmon right away. Loki nudged\nhim and pressed his foot, but he did not heed Loki. After the salmon he\nate a whole ox.\n\n\"These maids of Asgard,\" said the Giants to each other, \"they may be\nrefined, as Thrym's mother says, but their appetites are lusty enough.\"\n\n\"No wonder she eats, poor thing,\" said Loki to Thrym. \"It is eight days\nsince we left Asgard. And Freya never ate upon the way, so anxious was\nshe to see Thrym and to come to his house.\"\n\n\"Poor darling, poor darling,\" said the Giant. \"What she has eaten is\nlittle after all.\"\n\nThor nodded his head toward the mead vat. Thrym ordered his servants to\nbring a measure to his bride. The servants were kept coming with\nmeasures to Thor. While the Giants watched, and while Loki nudged and\nnodded, he drank three barrels of mead.\n\n\"Oh,\" said the Giants to Thrym's mother, \"we are not so sorry that we\nfailed to win a bride from Asgard.\"\n\nAnd now a piece of the veil slipped aside and Thor's eyes were seen for\nan instant. \"Oh, how does it come that Freya has such glaring eyes?\"\nsaid Thrym.\n\n\"Poor thing, poor thing,\" said Loki, \"no wonder her eyes are glaring and\nstaring. She has not slept for eight nights, so anxious was she to come\nto you and to your house, Thrym. But now the time has come for you to\njoin hands with your bride. First, put into her hands the hammer Mioelnir\nthat she may know the great recompense that the Giants have given for\nher coming.\"\n\nThen Thrym, the stupidest of the Giants, rose up and brought Mioelnir,\nthe defence of Asgard, into the feasting hall. Thor could hardly\nrestrain himself from springing up and seizing it from the Giant. But\nLoki was able to keep him still. Thrym brought over the hammer and put\nthe handle into the hands of her whom he thought was his bride. Thor's\nhands closed on his hammer. Instantly he stood up. The veil fell off\nhim. His countenance and his blazing eyes were seen by all. He struck\none blow on the wall of the house. Down it crashed. Then Thor went\nstriding out of the ruin with Loki beside him, while within the Giants\nbellowed as the roof and walls fell down on them. And so was Mioelnir,\nthe defence of Asgard, lost and won back.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAEGIR'S FEAST: HOW THOR TRIUMPHED\n\n\nThe time between midday and evening wore on while the AEsir and the Vanir\ngathered for the feast in old AEgir's hall listened to the stories that\nLoki told in mockery of Thor. The night came, but no banquet was made\nready for the Dwellers in Asgard. They called to AEgir's two\nunderservants, Fimaffenger and Elder, and they bade them bring them a\nsupper. Slight was what they got, but they went to bed saying, \"Great\nmust be the preparations that old AEgir is making to feast us tomorrow.\"\n\nThe morrow came and the midday of the morrow, and still the Dwellers in\nAsgard saw no preparations being made for the banquet. Then Frey rose up\nand went to seek old AEgir, the Giant King of the Sea. He found him\nsitting with bowed head in his inner hall. \"Ho, AEgir,\" he said, \"what of\nthe banquet that you have offered to the Dwellers in Asgard?\"\n\nOld AEgir mumbled and pulled at his beard. At last he looked his guest in\nthe face and told why the banquet was not being made ready. The mead for\nthe feast was not yet brewed. And there was little chance of being able\nto brew mead that would do for all, for AEgir's hall was lacking a mead\nkettle that would contain enough.\n\nWhen the AEsir and the Vanir heard this they were sorely disappointed.\nWho now, outside of Asgard, would give them a feast? AEgir was the only\none of the Giants who was friendly to them, and AEgir could not give them\nfull entertainment.\n\nThen a Giant youth who was there spoke up and said, \"My kinsman, the\nGiant Hrymer, has a mead kettle that is a mile wide. If we could bring\nHrymer's kettle here, what a feast we might have!\"\n\n\"One of us can go for that kettle,\" Frey said.\n\n\"Ah, but Hrymer's dwelling is beyond the deepest forest and behind the\nhighest mountain,\" the Giant youth said, \"and Hrymer himself is a rough\nand a churlish one to call on.\"\n\n\"Still, one of us should go,\" Frey said.\n\n\"I will go to Hrymer's dwelling,\" said Thor, standing up. \"I will go to\nHrymer's dwelling and get the mile-wide kettle from him by force or\ncunning.\" He had been sitting subdued under the mocking tales that Loki\ntold of him and he was pleased with this chance to make his prowess\nplain to the AEsir and the Vanir. He buckled on the belt that doubled his\nstrength. He drew on the iron gloves that enabled him to grasp Mioelnir.\nHe took his hammer in his hands, and he signed to the Giant youth to\ncome with him and be his guide.\n\nThe AEsir and the Vanir applauded Thor as he stepped out of old AEgir's\nhall. But Loki, mischievous Loki, threw a gibe after him. \"Do not let\nthe hammer out of your hands this time, bride of Thrym,\" he shouted.\n\nThor, with the Giant youth to guide him, went through the deepest forest\nand over the highest mountain. He came at last to the Giant's dwelling.\nOn a hillock before Hrymer's house was a dreadful warden; a Giant crone\nshe was, with heads a-many growing out of her shoulders. She was\nsquatting down on her ankles, and her heads, growing in bunches, were\nlooking in different directions. As Thor and the Giant youth came near\nscreams and yelps came from all her heads. Thor grasped his hammer and\nwould have flung it at her if a Giant woman, making a sign of peace, had\nnot come to the door of the dwelling. The youthful Giant who was with\nThor greeted her as his mother.\n\n\"Son, come within,\" said she, \"and you may bring your fellow farer with\nyou.\"\n\nThe Giant crone--she was Hrymer's grandmother--kept up her screaming and\nyelping. But Thor went past her and into the Giant's dwelling.\n\nWhen she saw that it was one of the Dwellers in Asgard who had come with\nher son the Giant woman grew fearful for them both. \"Hrymer,\" she said,\n\"will be in a rage to find one of the AEsir under his roof. He will\nstrive to slay you.\"\n\n\"It is not likely he will succeed,\" Thor said, grasping Mioelnir, the\nhammer that all the Giant race knew of and dreaded.\n\n\"Hide from him,\" said the Giant woman. \"He may injure my son in his rage\nto find you here.\"\n\n\"I am not wont to hide from the Giants,\" Thor said.\n\n\"Hide only for a little while! Hide until Hrymer has eaten,\" the Giant\nwoman pleaded. \"He comes back from the chase in a stormy temper. After\nhe has eaten he is easier to deal with. Hide until he has finished\nsupper.\"\n\nThor at last agreed to do this. He and the Giant youth hid behind a\npillar in the hall. They were barely hidden when they heard the clatter\nof the Giant's steps as he came through the courtyard. He came to the\ndoor. His beard was like a frozen forest around his mouth. And he\ndragged along with him a wild bull that he had captured in the chase. So\nproud was he of his capture that he dragged it into the hall.\n\n\"I have taken alive,\" he shouted, \"the bull with the mightiest head and\nhorns. 'Heaven-breaking' this bull is called. No Giant but me could\ncapture it.\" He tied the bull to the post of the door and then his eyes\nwent toward the pillar behind which Thor and the Giant youth were\nhiding. The pillar split up its whole length at that look from Hrymer's\neyes. He came nearer. The pillar of stone broke across. It fell with the\ncrossbeam it supported and all the kettles and cauldrons that were\nhanging on the beam came down with a terrible rattle.\n\nThen Thor stepped out and faced the wrathful Giant. \"It is I who am\nhere, friend Hrymer,\" he said, his hands resting on his hammer.\n\nThen Hrymer, who knew Thor and knew the force of Thor's hammer, drew\nback. \"Now that you are in my house, Asa Thor,\" he said, \"I will not\nquarrel with you. Make supper ready for Asa Thor and your son and\nmyself,\" said he to the Giant woman.\n\nA plentiful supper was spread and Hrymer and Thor and the Giant youth\nsat down to three whole roast oxen. Thor ate the whole of one ox.\nHrymer, who had eaten nearly two himself, leaving only small cuts for\nhis wife and his youthful kinsman, grumbled at Thor's appetite. \"You'll\nclear my fields, Asa Thor,\" he said, \"if you stay long with me.\"\n\n\"Do not grumble, Hrymer,\" Thor said. \"Tomorrow I'll go fishing and I'll\nbring you back the weight of what I ate.\"\n\n\"Then instead of hunting I'll go fishing with you tomorrow, Asa Thor,\"\nsaid Hrymer. \"And don't be frightened if I take you out on a rough sea.\"\n\nHrymer was first out of bed the next morning. He came with the pole and\nthe ropes in his hand to where Thor was sleeping. \"Time to start earning\nyour meal, Asa Thor,\" said he.\n\nThor got out of bed, and when they were both in the courtyard the Giant\nsaid, \"You'll have to provide a bait for yourself. Mind that you take a\nbait large enough. It is not where the little fishes are, the place\nwhere I'm going to take you. If you never saw monsters before you'll see\nthem now. I'm glad, Asa Thor, that you spoke of going fishing.\"\n\n\"Will this bait be big enough?\" said Thor, laying his hands on the horns\nof the bull that Hrymer had captured and brought home, the bull with the\nmighty head of horns that was called \"Heaven-breaking.\" \"Will this bait\nbe big enough, do you think?\"\n\n\"Yes, if you're big enough to handle it,\" said the Giant.\n\nThor said nothing, but he struck the bull full in the middle of the\nforehead with his fist. The great creature fell down dead. Thor then\ntwisted the bull's head off. \"I have my bait and I'm ready to go with\nyou, Hrymer,\" he said.\n\nHrymer had turned away to hide the rage he was in at seeing Thor do such\na feat. He walked down to the boat without speaking. \"You may row for\nthe first few strokes,\" said Hrymer, when they were in the boat, \"but\nwhen we come to where the ocean is rough, why I'll take the oars from\nyou.\"\n\nWithout saying a word Thor made a few strokes that took the boat out\ninto the middle of the ocean. Hrymer was in a rage to think that he\ncould not show himself greater than Thor. He let out his line and began\nto fish. Soon he felt something huge on his hook. The boat rocked and\nrocked till Thor steadied it. Then Hrymer drew into the boat the largest\nwhale that was in these seas.\n\n\"Good fishing,\" said Thor, as he put his own bait on the line.\n\n\"It's something for you to tell the AEsir,\" said Hrymer.\n\n\"I thought as you were here I'd show you something bigger than\nsalmon-fishing.\"\n\n\"I'll try my luck now,\" said Thor.\n\nHe threw out a line that had at the end of it the mighty-horned head of\nthe great bull. Down, down the head went. It passed where the whales\nswim, and the whales were afraid to gulp at the mighty horns. Down, down\nit went till it came near where the monster serpent that coils itself\nround the world abides. It reared its head up from its serpent coils as\nThor's bait came down through the depths of the ocean. It gulped at the\nhead and drew it into its gullet. There the great hook stuck. Terribly\nsurprised was the serpent monster. It lashed the ocean into a fury. But\nstill the hook stayed. Then it strove to draw down to the depths of the\nocean the boat of those who had hooked it. Thor put his legs across the\nboat and stretched them till they touched the bottom bed of the ocean.\nOn the bottom bed of the ocean Thor stood and he pulled and he pulled on\nhis line. The serpent monster lashed the ocean into fiercer and fiercer\nstorms and all the world's ships were hurled against each other and\nwrecked and tossed. But it had to loosen coil after coil of the coils it\nmakes around the world. Thor pulled and pulled. Then the terrible head\nof the serpent monster appeared above the waters. It reared over the\nboat that Hrymer sat in and that Thor straddled across. Thor dropped the\nline and took up Mioelnir, his mighty hammer. He raised it to strike the\nhead of the serpent monster whose coils go round the world. But Hrymer\nwould not have that happen. Rather than have Thor pass him by such a\nfeat he cut the line, and the head of the serpent monster sank back into\nthe sea. Thor's hammer was raised. He hurled it, hurled that hammer that\nalways came back to his hand. It followed the sinking head through\nfathom after fathom of the ocean depth. It struck the serpent monster a\nblow, but not such a deadly blow as would have been struck if the water\nhad not come between. A bellow of pain came up from the depths of the\nocean, such a bellow of pain that all in Joetunheim were affrighted.\n\n\"This surely is something to tell the AEsir of,\" said Thor, \"something to\nmake them forget Loki's mockeries.\"\n\nWithout speaking Hrymer turned the boat and rowed toward the shore,\ndragging the whale in the wake. He was in such a rage to think that one\nof the AEsir had done a feat surpassing his that he would not speak. At\nsupper, too, he remained silent, but Thor talked for two, boasting\nloudly of his triumph over the monster serpent.\n\n\"No doubt you think yourself very powerful, Asa Thor,\" Hrymer said at\nlast. \"Well, do you think you are powerful enough to break the cup that\nis before you?\"\n\nThor took up the cup and with a laugh he hurled it against the stone\npillar of the house. The cup fell down on the floor without a crack or a\ndint in it. But the pillar was shattered with the blow.\n\nThe Giant laughed. \"So feeble are the folk of Asgard!\" he said.\n\nThor took up the cup again and flung it with greater force against the\nstone pillar. And again the cup fell to the ground without a crack or a\ndint.\n\nThen he heard the woman who was the mother of the Giant youth sing\nsoftly, as she plied her wheel behind him:\n\n     Not at the pillar of the stead,\n     But at Hrymer's massy head:\n     When you next the goblet throw,\n     Let his head receive the blow.\n\nThor took the cup up again. He flung it, not at the pillar this time,\nbut at Hrymer's head. It struck the Giant full on the forehead and fell\ndown on the floor in pieces. And Hrymer's head was left without a dint\nor a crack.\n\n\"Ha, so you can break a cup, but can you lift up my mile-wide kettle?\"\ncried the Giant.\n\n\"Show me where your mile-wide kettle is and I shall try to lift it,\"\ncried Thor.\n\nThe Giant took up the flooring and showed him the mile-wide kettle down\nin the cellar. Thor stooped down and took the kettle by the brim. He\nlifted it slowly as if with a mighty effort.\n\n\"You can lift, but can you carry it?\" said the Giant.\n\n\"I will try to do that,\" said Thor. He lifted the kettle up and placed\nit on his head. He strode to the door and out of the house before the\nGiant could lay hands on him. Then when he was outside he started to\nrun. He was across the mountain before he looked behind him. He heard a\nyelping and a screaming and he saw the Giant crone with the bunch of\nheads running, running after him. Up hill and down dale Thor raced, the\nmile-wide kettle on his head and the Giant crone in chase of him.\nThrough the deep forest he ran and over the high mountain, but still\nBunch-of-Heads kept him in chase. But at last, jumping over a lake, she\nfell in and Thor was free of his pursuer.\n\nAnd so back to the AEsir and the Vanir Thor came in triumph, carrying on\nhis head the mile-wide kettle. And those of the AEsir and the Vanir who\nhad laughed most at Loki's mockeries rose up and cheered for him as he\ncame in. The mead was brewed, the feast was spread, and the greatest\nbanquet that ever the Kings of the Giants gave to the Dwellers in Asgard\nwas eaten in gladness.\n\nA strange and silent figure sat at the banquet. It was the figure of a\nGiant and no one knew who he was nor where he had come from. But when\nthe banquet was ended Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, turned toward this\nfigure and said, \"O Skyrmir, Giant King of Utgard, rise up now and tell\nThor of all you practiced upon him when he and Loki came to your City.\"\n\nThen the stranger at the banquet stood up, and Thor and Loki saw he was\nthe Giant King in whose halls they had had the contests. Skyrmir turned\ntoward them and said:\n\n\"O Thor and O Loki, I will reveal to you now the deceits I practiced on\nyou both. It was I whom ye met on the moorland on the day before ye came\ninto Utgard. I gave you my name as Skyrmir and I did all I might do to\nprevent your entering our City, for the Giants dreaded a contest of\nstrength with Asa Thor. Now hear me, O Thor. The wallet I gave for you\nto take provisions out of was tied with magic knots. No one could undo\nthem by strength or cleverness. And while you were striving to undo them\nI placed a mountain of rock between myself and you. The hammer blows,\nwhich as you thought struck me, struck the mountain and made great\nclefts and gaps in it. When I knew the strength of your tremendous blows\nI was more and more in dread of your coming into our City.\n\n\"I saw you would have to be deceived by magic. Your lad Thialfi was the\none whom I first deceived. For it was not a Giant youth who raced\nagainst him, but Thought itself. And even you, O Loki, I deceived. For\nwhen you tried to make yourself out the greatest of eaters I pitted\nagainst you, not a Giant, but Fire that devours everything.\n\n\"You, Thor, were deceived in all the contests. After you had taken the\ndrinking horn in your hands we were all affrighted to see how much you\nwere able to gulp down. For the end of that horn was in the sea, and\nAEgir, who is here, can tell you that after you had drunk from it, the\nlevel of the sea went down.\n\n\"The cat whom you strove to lift was Nidhoegg, the dragon that gnaws at\nthe roots of Ygdrassil, the Tree of Trees. Truly we were terrified when\nwe saw that you made Nidhoegg budge. When you made the back of the cat\nreach the roof of our palace we said to ourselves, 'Thor is the\nmightiest of all the beings we have known.'\n\n\"Lastly you strove with the hag Ellie. Her strength seemed marvelous to\nyou, and you thought yourself disgraced because you could not throw her.\nBut know, Thor, that Ellie whom you wrestled with was Old Age herself.\nWe were terrified again to see that she who can overthrow all was not\nable to force you prone upon the ground.\"\n\nSo Skyrmir spoke and then left the hall. And once more the AEsir and the\nVanir stood up and cheered for Thor, the strongest of all who guarded\nAsgard.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DWARF'S HOARD, AND THE CURSE THAT IT BROUGHT\n\n\nNow old AEgir's feast was over and all the AEsir and the Vanir made ready\nfor their return to Asgard. Two only went on another way--Odin, the\nEldest of the Gods, and Loki the Mischievous.\n\nLoki and Odin laid aside all that they had kept of the divine power and\nthe divine strength. They were going into the World of Men, and they\nwould be as men merely. Together they went through Midgard, mingling\nwith men of all sorts, kings and farmers, outlaws and true men, warriors\nand householders, thralls and councillors, courteous men and men who\nwere ill-mannered. One day they came to the bank of a mighty river and\nthere they rested, listening to the beat of iron upon iron in a place\nnear by.\n\nPresently, on a rock in the middle of the river, they saw an otter\ncome. The otter went into the water and came back to the rock with a\ncatch of salmon. He devoured it there. Then Odin saw Loki do a senseless\nand an evil thing. Taking up a great stone he flung it at the otter. The\nstone struck the beast on the skull and knocked him over dead.\n\n\"Loki, Loki, why hast thou done a thing so senseless and so evil?\" Odin\nsaid. Loki only laughed. He swam across the water and came back with the\ncreature of the river. \"Why didst thou take the life of the beast?\" Odin\nsaid.\n\n\"The mischief in me made me do it,\" said Loki. He drew out his knife and\nripping the otter up he began to flay him. When the skin was off the\nbeast he folded it up and stuck it in his belt. Then Odin and he left\nthat place by the river.\n\nThey came to a house with two smithies beside it, and from the smithies\ncame the sound of iron beating upon iron. They went within the house and\nthey asked that they might eat there and rest themselves.\n\nAn old man who was cooking fish over a fire pointed out a bench to them.\n\"Rest there,\" said he, \"and when the fish is cooked I will give you\nsomething good to eat. My son is a fine fisher and he brings me salmon\nof the best.\"\n\nOdin and Loki sat on the bench and the old man went on with his cooking.\n\"My name is Hreidmar,\" he said, \"and I have two sons who work in the\nsmithies without. I have a third son also. It is he who does the fishing\nfor us. And who may ye be, O wayfaring men?\"\n\nLoki and Odin gave names to Hreidmar that were not the names by which\nthey were known in Asgard or on Midgard. Hreidmar served fish to them\nand they ate. \"And what adventures have ye met upon your travels?\"\nHreidmar asked. \"Few folk come this way to tell me of happenings.\"\n\n\"I killed an otter with a cast of a stone,\" Loki said with a laugh.\n\n\"You killed an otter!\" Hreidmar cried. \"Where did you kill one?\"\n\n\"Where I killed him is of no import to you, old man,\" said Loki. \"His\nskin is a good one, however. I have it at my belt.\"\n\nHreidmar snatched the skin out of Loki's belt. As soon as he held the\nskin before his eyes he shrieked out, \"Fafnir, Regin, my sons, come here\nand bring the thralls of your smithies. Come, come, come!\"\n\n\"Why dost thou make such an outcry, old man?\" said Odin.\n\n\"Ye have slain my son Otter,\" shrieked the old man. \"This in my hands is\nthe skin of my son.\"\n\nAs Hreidmar said this two young men bearing the forehammers of the\nsmithies came in followed by the thralls. \"Strike these men dead with\nyour forehammers, O Fafnir, O Regin,\" their father cried. \"Otter, who\nused to stay in the river, and whom I changed by enchantment into a\nriver beast that he might fish for me, has been slain by these men.\"\n\n\"Peace,\" said Odin. \"We have slain thy son, it would seem, but it was\nunwittingly that we did the deed. We will give a recompense for the\ndeath of thy son.\"\n\n\"What recompense will ye give?\" said Hreidmar, looking at Odin with eyes\nthat were small and sharp.\n\nThen did Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, say a word that was unworthy of\nhis wisdom and his power. He might have said, \"I will bring thee a\ndraught of Mimir's well water as a recompense for thy son's death.\" But\ninstead of thinking of wisdom, Odin All-Father thought of gold. \"Set a\nprice on the life of thy son and we will pay that price in gold,\" he\nsaid.\n\n\"Maybe ye are great kings traveling through the world,\" Hreidmar said.\n\"If ye are ye will have to find gold that will cover every hair upon the\nskin of him whom ye have killed.\"\n\nThen did Odin, his mind being fixed upon the gold, think upon a certain\ntreasure, a treasure that was guarded by a Dwarf. No other treasure in\nthe nine worlds would be great enough to make the recompense that\nHreidmar claimed. He thought upon this treasure and he thought on how it\nmight be taken and yet he was ashamed of his thought.\n\n\"Dost thou, Loki, know of Andvari's hoard?\" he said.\n\n\"I know of it,\" said Loki sharply, \"and I know where it is hidden. Wilt\nthou, Odin, win leave for me to fetch Andvari's hoard?\"\n\nOdin spoke to Hreidmar. \"I will stay with thee as a hostage,\" he said,\n\"if thou wilt let this one go to fetch a treasure that will cover the\notter's skin hair by hair.\"\n\n\"I will let this be done,\" said old Hreidmar with the sharp and cunning\neyes. \"Go now,\" said he to Loki. Then Loki went from the house.\n\nAndvari was a Dwarf who, in the early days, had gained for himself the\ngreatest treasure in the nine worlds. So that he might guard this\ntreasure unceasingly he changed himself into a fish--into a pike--and he\nswam in the water before the cave where the hoard was hidden.\n\nAll in Asgard knew of the Dwarf and of the hoard he guarded. And there\nwas a thought amongst all that this hoard was not to be meddled with and\nthat some evil was joined to it. But now Odin had given the word that it\nwas to be taken from the Dwarf. Loki set out for Andvari's cave\nrejoicingly. He came to the pool before the cave and he watched for a\nsight of Andvari. Soon he saw the pike swimming cautiously before the\ncave.\n\nHe would have to catch the pike and hold him till the treasure was given\nfor ransom. As he watched the pike became aware of him. Suddenly he\nflung himself forward in the water and went with speed down the stream.\n\nNot with his hands and not with any hook and line could Loki catch that\npike. How, then, could he take him? Only with a net that was woven by\nmagic. Then Loki thought of where he might get such a net.\n\nRan, the wife of old AEgir, the Giant King of the Sea, had a net that was\nwoven by magic. In it she took all that was wrecked on the sea. Loki\nthought of Ran's net and he turned and went back to AEgir's hall to ask\nfor the Queen. But Ran was seldom in her husband's dwelling. She was now\ndown by the rocks of the sea.\n\nHe found Ran, the cold Queen, standing in the flow of the sea, drawing\nout of the depths with the net that she held in her hands every piece\nof treasure that was washed that way. She had made a heap of the things\nshe had drawn out of the sea, corals and amber, and bits of gold and\nsilver, but still she was plying her net greedily.\n\n\"Thou knowst me, AEgir's wife,\" said Loki to her.\n\n\"I know thee, Loki,\" said Queen Ran.\n\n\"Lend me thy net,\" said Loki.\n\n\"That I will not do,\" said Queen Ran.\n\n\"Lend me thy net that I may catch Andvari the Dwarf who boasts that he\nhas a greater treasure than ever thou wilt take out of the sea,\" said\nLoki.\n\nThe cold Queen of the sea ceased plying her net. She looked at Loki\nsteadily. Yes, if he were going to catch Andvari she would lend her net\nto him. She hated all the Dwarfs because this one and that one had told\nher they had greater treasures than ever she would be mistress of. But\nespecially she hated Andvari, the Dwarf who had the greatest treasure in\nthe nine worlds.\n\n\"There is nothing more to gather here,\" she said, \"and if thou wilt\nswear to bring me back my net by tomorrow I shall lend it to you.\"\n\n\"I swear by the sparks of Muspelheim that I will bring thy net back to\nthee by tomorrow, O Queen of AEgir,\" Loki cried. Then Ran put into his\nhands the Magic Net. Back then he went to where the Dwarf, transformed,\nwas guarding his wondrous hoard.\n\nDark was the pool in which Andvari floated as a pike; dark it was, but\nto him it was all golden with the light of his wondrous treasure. For\nthe sake of this hoard he had given up his companionship with the\nDwarfs and his delight in making and shaping the things of their\nworkmanship. For the sake of his hoard he had taken on himself the\ndumbness and deafness of a fish.\n\nNow as he swam about before the cave he was aware again of a shadow\nabove him. He slipped toward the shadow of the bank. Then as he turned\nround he saw a net sweeping toward him. He sank down in the water. But\nthe Magic Net had spread out and he sank into its meshes.\n\nSuddenly he was out of the water and was left gasping on the bank. He\nwould have died had he not undone his transformation.\n\nSoon he appeared as a Dwarf. \"Andvari, you are caught; it is one of the\nAEsir who has taken you,\" he heard his captor say.\n\n\"Loki,\" he gasped.\n\n\"Thou art caught and thou shalt be held,\" Loki said to him. \"It is the\nwill of the AEsir that thou give up thy hoard to me.\"\n\n\"My hoard, my hoard!\" the Dwarf shouted. \"Never will I give up my\nhoard.\"\n\n\"I hold thee till thou givest it to me,\" said Loki.\n\n\"Unjust, unjust,\" shouted Andvari. \"It is only thou, Loki, who art\nunjust. I will go to the throne of Odin and I will have Odin punish thee\nfor striving to rob me of my treasure.\"\n\n\"Odin has sent me to fetch thy hoard to him,\" said Loki.\n\n\"Can it be that all the AEsir are unjust? Ah, yes. In the beginning of\nthings they cheated the Giant who built the wall round their City. The\nAEsir are unjust.\"\n\nLoki had Andvari in his power. And after the Dwarf had raged against him\nand defied him, he tormented him; at last, trembling with rage and with\nhis face covered with tears, Andvari took Loki into his cavern, and,\nturning a rock aside, showed him the mass of gold and gems that was his\nhoard.\n\nAt once Loki began to gather into the Magic Net lumps and ingots and\ncirclets of gold with gems that were rubies and sapphires and emeralds.\nHe saw Andvari snatch at something on the heap, but he made no sign of\nmarking it. At last all was gathered into the net, and Loki stood there\nready to bear the Dwarf's hoard away.\n\n\"There is one thing more to be given,\" said Loki, \"the ring that you,\nAndvari, snatched from the heap.\"\n\n\"I snatched nothing,\" said the Dwarf. But he shook with anger and his\nteeth gnashed together and froth came on his lips. \"I snatched nothing\nfrom the heap.\"\n\nBut Loki pulled up his arm and there fell to the ground the ring that\nAndvari had hidden under his armpit.\n\nIt was the most precious thing in all the hoard. Had it been left with\nhim Andvari would have thought that he still possessed a treasure, for\nthis ring of itself could make gold. It was made out of gold that was\nrefined of all impurities and it was engraven with a rune of power.\n\nLoki took up this most precious ring and put it on his finger. Then the\nDwarf screamed at him, turning his thumbs toward him in a curse:\n\n     The ring with the rune\n     Of power upon it:\n     May it weigh down your fortune,\n     And load you with evil,\n     You, Loki, and all\n     Who lust to possess\n     The ring I have cherished.\n\nAs Andvari uttered this curse Loki saw a figure rise up in the cave and\nmove toward him. As this figure came near he knew who it was: Gulveig, a\nGiant woman who had once been in Asgard.\n\nFar back in the early days, when the Gods had come to their holy hill\nand before Asgard was built, three women of the Giants had come amongst\nthe AEsir. After the Three had been with them for a time, the lives of\nthe AEsir changed. Then did they begin to value and to hoard the gold\nthat they had played with. Then did they think of war. Odin hurled his\nspear amongst the messengers that came from the Vanir, and war came into\nthe world.\n\nThe Three were driven out of Asgard. Peace was made with the Vanir. The\nApples of Lasting Youth were grown in Asgard. The eagerness for gold was\ncurbed. But never again were the AEsir as happy as they were before the\nwomen came to them from the Giants.\n\nGulveig was one of the Three who had blighted the early happiness of the\nGods. And, behold, she was in the cave where Andvari had hoarded his\ntreasure and with a smile upon her face she was advancing toward Loki.\n\n\"So, Loki,\" she said, \"thou seest me again. And Odin who sent thee to\nthis cave will see me again. Lo, Loki! I go to Odin to be thy messenger\nand to tell him that thou comest with Andvari's hoard.\"\n\nAnd speaking so, and smiling into his face, Gulveig went out of the cave\nwith swift and light steps. Loki drew the ends of the Magic Net together\nand gathering all the treasures in its meshes he, too, went out.\n\nOdin, the Eldest of the Gods, stood leaning on his spear and looking at\nthe skin of the otter that was spread out before him. One came into the\ndwelling swiftly. Odin looked and saw that she who had come in on such\nswift, glad feet was Gulveig who, once with her two companions, had\ntroubled the happiness of the Gods. Odin raised his spear to cast it at\nher.\n\n\"Lay thy spear down, Odin,\" she said. \"I dwelt for long in the Dwarf's\ncave. But thy word unloosed me, and the curse said over Andvari's ring\nhas sent me here. Lay thy spear down, and look on me, O Eldest of the\nGods.\n\n\"Thou didst cast me out of Asgard, but thy word has brought me to come\nback to thee. And if ye two, Odin and Loki, have bought yourselves free\nwith gold and may enter Asgard, surely I, Gulveig, am free to enter\nAsgard also.\"\n\nOdin lowered his spear, sighing deeply. \"Surely it is so, Gulveig,\" he\nsaid. \"I may not forbid thee to enter Asgard. Would I had thought of\ngiving the man Kvasir's Mead or Mimir's well water rather than this gold\nas a recompense.\"\n\nAs they spoke Loki came into Hreidmar's dwelling. He laid on the floor\nthe Magic Net. Old Hreidmar with his sharp eyes, and huge Fafnir, and\nlean and hungry-looking Regin came in to gaze on the gold and gems that\nshone through the meshes. They began to push each other away from gazing\nat the gold. Then Hreidmar cried out, \"No one may be here but these two\nkings and I while we measure out the gold and gems and see whether the\nrecompense be sufficient. Go without, go without, sons of mine.\"\n\nThen Fafnir and Regin were forced to go out of the dwelling. They went\nout slowly, and Gulveig went with them, whispering to both.\n\nWith shaking hands old Hreidmar spread out the skin that once covered\nhis son. He drew out the ears and the tail and the paws so that every\nsingle hair could be shown. For long he was on his hands and knees, his\nsharp eyes searching, searching over every line of the skin. And still\non his knees he said, \"Begin now, O kings, and cover with a gem or a\npiece of gold every hair on the skin that was my son's.\"\n\nOdin stood leaning on his spear, watching the gold and gems being paid\nout. Loki took the gold--the ingots, and the lumps and the circlets; he\ntook the gems--the rubies, and the emeralds and the sapphires, and he\nbegan to place them over each hair. Soon the middle of the skin was all\ncovered. Then he put the gems and the gold over the paws and the tail.\nSoon the otter-skin was so glittering that one would think it could\nlight up the world. And still Loki went on finding a place where a gem\nor a piece of gold might be put.\n\nAt last he stood up. Every gem and every piece of gold had been taken\nout of the net. And every hair on the otter's skin had been covered with\na gem or a piece of gold.\n\nAnd still old Hreidmar on his hands and knees was peering over the skin,\nsearching, searching for a hair that was not covered. At last he lifted\nhimself up on his knees. His mouth was open, but he was speechless. He\ntouched Odin on the knees, and when Odin bent down he showed him a hair\nupon the lip that was left uncovered.\n\n\"What meanest thou?\" Loki cried, turning upon the crouching man.\n\n\"Your ransom is not paid yet--look, here is still a hair uncovered. You\nmay not go until every hair is covered with gold or a gem.\"\n\n\"Peace, old man,\" said Loki roughly. \"All the Dwarf's hoard has been\ngiven thee.\"\n\n\"Ye may not go until every hair has been covered,\" Hreidmar said again.\n\n\"There is no more gold or gems,\" Loki answered.\n\n\"Then ye may not go,\" cried Hreidmar, springing up.\n\nIt was true. Odin and Loki might not leave that dwelling until the\nrecompense they had agreed to was paid in full. Where now would the AEsir\ngo for gold?\n\nAnd then Odin saw the gleam of gold on Loki's finger: it was the ring he\nhad forced from Andvari. \"Thy fingerring,\" said Odin. \"Put thy\nfingerring over the hair on the otter's skin.\"\n\nLoki took off the ring that was engraved with the rune of power, and he\nput it on the lip-hair of the otter's skin. Then Hreidmar clapped his\nhands and screamed aloud. Huge Fafnir and lean and hungry-looking Regin\ncame within, and Gulveig came behind them. They stood around the skin of\nthe son and the brother that was all glittering with gold and gems. But\nthey looked at each other more than they looked on the glittering mass,\nand very deadly were the looks that Fafnir and Regin cast upon their\nfather and cast upon each other.\n\nOver Bifroest, the Rainbow Bridge, went all of the AEsir and the Vanir\nthat had been at old AEgir's feast--Frey and Freya, Frigga, Iduna, and\nSif; Tyr with his sword and Thor in his chariot drawn by the goats. Loki\ncame behind them, and behind them all came Odin, the Father of the Gods.\nHe went slowly with his head bent, for he knew that an unwelcome one was\nfollowing--Gulveig, who once had been cast out of Asgard and whose\nreturn now the Gods might not gainsay.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nTHE WITCH'S HEART\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFOREBODING IN ASGARD\n\n\nWhat happened afterwards is to the shame of the Gods, and mortals may\nhardly speak of it. Gulveig the Witch came into Asgard, for Heimdall\nmight not forbid her entrance. She came within and she had her seat\namongst the AEsir and the Vanir. She walked through Asgard with a smile\nupon her face, and where she walked and where she smiled Care and dire\nForeboding came.\n\nThose who felt the care and the foreboding most deeply were Bragi the\nPoet and his wife, the fair and simple Iduna, she who gathered the\napples that kept age from the Dwellers in Asgard. Bragi ceased to tell\nhis never-ending tale. Then one day, overcome by the fear and the\nforeboding that was creeping through Asgard, Iduna slipped down\nYgdrassil, the World Tree, and no one was left to pluck the apples with\nwhich the AEsir and the Vanir stayed their youth.\n\nThen were all the Dwellers in Asgard in sore dismay. Strength and beauty\nbegan to fade from all. Thor found it hard to lift Mioelnir, his great\nhammer, and the flesh under Freya's necklace lost its white radiance.\nAnd still Gulveig the Witch walked smiling through Asgard, although now\nshe was hated by all.\n\nIt was Odin and Frey who went in search of Iduna. She would have been\nfound and brought back without delay if Frey had had with him the magic\nsword that he had bartered for Gerda. In his search he had to strive\nwith one who guarded the lake wherein Iduna had hidden herself. Beli was\nthe one he strove against. He overcame him in the end with a weapon made\nof stags' antlers. Ah, it was not then but later that Frey lamented the\nloss of his sword: it was when the Riders of Muspell came against\nAsgard, and the Vanir, who might have prevailed, prevailed not because\nof the loss of Frey's sword.\n\nThey found Iduna and they brought her back. But still Care and\nForeboding crept through Asgard. And it was known, too, that the witch\nGulveig was changing the thoughts of the Gods.\n\nAt last Odin had to judge Gulveig. He judged her and decreed her death.\nAnd only Gungnir, the spear of Odin, might slay Gulveig, who was not of\nmortal race.\n\nOdin hurled Gungnir. The spear went through Gulveig. But still she stood\nsmiling at the Gods. A second time Odin hurled his spear. A second time\nGungnir pierced the witch. She stood livid as one dead but fell not\ndown. A third time Odin hurled his spear. And now, pierced for the third\ntime, the witch gave a scream that made all Asgard shudder and she fell\nin death on the ground.\n\n\"I have slain in these halls where slaying is forbidden,\" Odin said.\n\"Take now the corpse of Gulveig and burn it on the ramparts, so that no\ntrace of the witch who has troubled us will remain in Asgard.\"\n\nThey brought the corpse of Gulveig the witch out on the ramparts and\nthey lighted fires under the pile on which they laid her and they called\nupon Hraesvelgur to fan up the flame:\n\n     Hraesvelgur is the Giant,\n     Who on heaven's edge sits\n     In the guise of an eagle;\n     And the winds, it is said,\n     Rush down on the earth\n     From his outspreading pinions.\n\nFar away was Loki when all this was being done. Often now he went from\nAsgard, and his journeys were to look upon that wondrous treasure that\nhad passed from the keeping of the Dwarf Andvari. It was Gulveig who had\nkept the imagination of that treasure within his mind. Now, when he came\nback and heard the whispers of what had been done, a rage flamed up\nwithin him. For Loki was one of those whose minds were being changed by\nthe presence and the whispers of the witch Gulveig. His mind was being\nchanged to hatred of the Gods. Now he went to the place of Gulveig's\nburning. All her body was in ashes, but her heart had not been devoured\nby the flames. And Loki in his rage took the heart of the witch and ate\nit. Oh, black and direful was it in Asgard, the day that Loki ate the\nheart that the flames would not devour!\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLOKI THE BETRAYER\n\n\nHe stole Frigga's dress of falcon feathers. Then as a falcon he flew out\nof Asgard. Joetunheim was the place that he flew toward.\n\nThe anger and the fierceness of the hawk was within Loki as he flew\nthrough the Giants' Realm. The heights and the chasms of that dread land\nmade his spirits mount up like fire. He saw the whirlpools and the\nsmoking mountains and had joy of these sights. Higher and higher he\nsoared until, looking toward the South, he saw the flaming land of\nMuspelheim. Higher and higher still he soared. With his falcon's eyes he\nsaw the gleam of Surtur's flaming sword. All the fire of Muspelheim and\nall the gloom of Joetunheim would one day be brought against Asgard and\nagainst Midgard. But Loki was no longer dismayed to think of the ruin of\nAsgard's beauty and the ruin of Midgard's promise.\n\nHe hovered around one of the dwellings in Joetunheim. Why had he come to\nit? Because he had seen two of the women of that dwelling, and his rage\nagainst the Asyniur and the Vanir was such that the ugliness and the\nevil of these women was pleasing to him.\n\nHe hovered before the open door of the Giant's house and he looked upon\nthose who were within. Gerrioed, the most savage of all the Giants, was\nthere. And beside him, squatting on the ground, were his two evil and\nugly daughters, Gialp and Greip.\n\nThey were big and bulky, black and rugged, with horses' teeth and hair\nthat was like horses' manes. Gialp was the uglier of the two, if one\ncould be said to be uglier than the other, for her nose was a yard long\nand her eyes were crooked.\n\nWhat were they talking about as they sat there, one scratching the\nother? Of Asgard and the Dwellers in Asgard whom they hated. Thor was\nthe one whom they hated most of all, and they were speaking of all they\nwould like to do to him.\n\n\"I would keep Thor bound in chains,\" said Gerrioed the Giant, \"and I\nwould beat him to death with my iron club.\"\n\n\"I would grind his bones to powder,\" said Greip.\n\n\"I would tear the flesh off his bones,\" said Gialp. \"Father, can you not\ncatch this Thor and bring him to us alive?\"\n\n\"Not so long as he has his hammer Mioelnir, and the gloves with which he\ngrasps his hammer, and the belt that doubles his strength.\"\n\n\"Oh, if we could catch him without his hammer and his belt and his\ngloves,\" cried Gialp and Greip together.\n\nAt that moment they saw the falcon hovering before the door. They were\neager now for something to hold and torment and so the hearts of the\nthree became set upon catching the falcon. They did not stir from the\nplace where they were sitting, but they called the child Glapp, who was\nswinging from the roof-tree, and they bade him go out and try to catch\nthe falcon.\n\nAll concealed by the great leaves the child Glapp climbed up the ivy\nthat was around the door. The falcon came hovering near. Then Glapp\ncaught it by the wings and fell down through the ivy, screaming and\nstruggling as he was being beaten, and clawed, and torn by the wings and\nthe talons and the beak of the falcon.\n\nGerrioed and Greip and Gialp rushed out and kept hold of the falcon. As\nthe Giant held him in his hands and looked him over he knew that this\nwas no bird-creature. The eyes showed him to be of Alfheim or Asgard.\nThe Giant took him and shut him in a box till he would speak.\n\nSoon he tapped at the closed box and when Gerrioed opened it Loki spoke\nto him. So glad was the savage Giant to have one of the Dwellers in\nAsgard in his power that he and his daughters did nothing but laugh and\nchuckle to each other for days. And all this time they left Loki in the\nclosed box to waste with hunger.\n\nWhen they opened the box again Loki spoke to them. He told them he\nwould do any injury to the Dwellers in Asgard that would please them if\nthey would let him go.\n\n\"Will you bring Thor to us?\" said Greip.\n\n\"Will you bring Thor to us without his hammer, and without the gloves\nwith which he grasps his hammer, and without his belt?\" said Gialp.\n\n\"I will bring him to you if you will let me go,\" Loki said. \"Thor is\neasily deceived and I can bring him to you without his hammer and his\nbelt and his gloves.\"\n\n\"We will let you go, Loki,\" said the Giant, \"if you will swear by the\ngloom of Joetunheim that you will bring Thor to us as you say.\"\n\nLoki swore that he would do so by the gloom of Joetunheim--\"Yea, and by\nthe fires of Muspelheim,\" he added. The Giant and his daughters let him\ngo, and he flew back to Asgard.\n\nHe restored to Frigga her falcon dress. All blamed him for having stolen\nit, but when he told how he had been shut up without food in Gerrioed's\ndwelling those who judged him thought he had been punished enough for\nthe theft. He spoke as before to the Dwellers in Asgard, and the rage\nand hatred he had against them since he had eaten Gulveig's heart he\nkept from bursting forth.\n\nHe talked to Thor of the adventures they had together in Joetunheim. Thor\nwould now roar with laughter when he talked of the time when he went as\na bride to Thrym the Giant.\n\nLoki was able to persuade him to make another journey to Joetunheim. \"And\nI want to speak to you of what I saw in Gerrioed's dwelling,\" he said.\n\"I saw there the hair of Sif, your wife.\"\n\n\"The hair of Sif, my wife,\" said Thor in surprise.\n\n\"Yes, the hair I once cut off from Sif's head,\" said Loki. \"Gerrioed was\nthe one who found it when I cast it away. They light their hall with\nSif's hair. Oh, yes, they don't need torches where Sif's hair is.\"\n\n\"I should like to see it,\" said Thor.\n\n\"Then pay Gerrioed a visit,\" Loki replied. \"But if you go to his house\nyou will have to go without your hammer Mioelnir, and without your gloves\nand your belt.\"\n\n\"Where will I leave Mioelnir, and my gloves and my belt?\" Thor asked.\n\n\"Leave them in Valaskjalf, Odin's own dwelling,\" said cunning Loki.\n\"Leave them there and come to Gerrioed's dwelling. Surely you will be\nwell treated there.\"\n\n\"Yes, I will leave them in Valaskjalf and go with you to Gerrioed's\ndwelling,\" Thor said.\n\nThor left his hammer, his gloves, and his belt in Valaskjalf. Then he\nand Loki went toward Joetunheim. When they were near the end of their\njourney, they came to a wide river, and with a young Giant whom they met\non the bank they began to ford it.\n\nSuddenly the river began to rise. Loki and the young Giant would have\nbeen swept away only Thor gripped both of them. Higher and higher the\nriver rose, and rougher and rougher it became. Thor had to plant his\nfeet firmly on the bottom or he and the two he held would have been\nswept down by the flood. He struggled across, holding Loki and the\nyoung Giant. A mountain ash grew out of the bank, and, while the two\nheld to him, he grasped it with his hands. The river rose still higher,\nbut Thor was able to draw Loki and the young Giant to the bank, and then\nhe himself scrambled up on it.\n\nNow looking up the river he saw a sight that filled him with rage. A\nGiantess was pouring a flood into it. This it was that was making the\nriver rise and seethe. Thor pulled a rock out of the bank and hurled it\nat her. It struck her and flung her into the flood. Then she struggled\nout of the water and went yelping away. This Giantess was Gialp,\nGerrioed's ugly and evil daughter.\n\nNothing would do the young Giant whom Thor had helped across but that\nthe pair would go and visit Grid, his mother, who lived in a cave in the\nhillside. Loki would not go and was angered to hear that Thor thought of\ngoing. But Thor, seeing that the Giant youth was friendly, was willing\nenough to go to Grid's dwelling.\n\n\"Go then, but get soon to Gerrioed's dwelling yonder. I will wait for you\nthere,\" said Loki. He watched Thor go up the hillside to Grid's cave. He\nwaited until he saw Thor come back down the hillside and go toward\nGerrioed's dwelling. He watched Thor go into the house where, as he\nthought, death awaited him. Then in a madness for what he had done,\nLoki, with his head drawn down on his shoulders, started running like a\nbird along the ground.\n\nGrid, the old Giantess, was seated on the floor of the cave grinding\ncorn between two stones. \"Who is it?\" she said, as her son led Thor\nwithin. \"One of the AEsir! What Giant do you go to injure now, Asa Thor?\"\n\n\"I go to injure no Giant, old Grid,\" Thor replied. \"Look upon me! Cannot\nyou see that I have not Mioelnir, my mighty hammer, with me, nor my belt,\nnor my gloves of iron?\"\n\n\"But where in Joetunheim do you go?\"\n\n\"To the house of a friendly Giant, old Grid--to the house of Gerrioed.\"\n\n\"Gerrioed a friendly Giant! You are out of your wits, Asa Thor. Is he not\nout of his wits, my son--this one who saved you from the flood, as you\nsay?\"\n\n\"Tell him of Gerrioed, old mother,\" said the Giant youth.\n\n\"Do not go to his house, Asa Thor. Do not go to his house.\"\n\n\"My word has been given, and I should be a craven if I stayed away now,\njust because an old crone sitting at a quernstone tells me I am going\ninto a trap.\"\n\n\"I will give you something that will help you, Asa Thor. Lucky for you I\nam mistress of magical things. Take this staff in your hands. It is a\nstaff of power and will stand you instead of Mioelnir.\"\n\n\"I will take it since you offer it in kindness, old dame, this\nworm-eaten staff.\"\n\n\"And take these mittens, too. They will serve you for your gauntlets of\niron.\"\n\n\"I will take them since you offer them in kindness, old dame, these worn\nold mittens.\"\n\n\"And take this length of string. It will serve you for your belt of\nprowess.\"\n\n\"I will take it since you offer it in kindness, old dame, this ragged\nlength of string.\"\n\n\"'Tis well indeed for you, Asa Thor, that I am mistress of magical\nthings.\"\n\nThor put the worn length of string around his waist, and as he did he\nknew that Grid, the old Giantess, was indeed the mistress of magical\nthings. For immediately he felt his strength augmented as when he put on\nhis own belt of strength. He then drew on the mittens and took the staff\nthat she gave him in his hands.\n\nHe left the cave of Grid, the old Giantess, and went to Gerrioed's\ndwelling. Loki was not there. It was then that Thor began to think that\nperhaps old Grid was right and that a trap was being laid for him.\n\nNo one was in the hall. He came out of the hall and into a great stone\nchamber and he saw no one there either. But in the center of the stone\nchamber there was a stone seat, and Thor went to it and seated himself\nupon it.\n\nNo sooner was he seated than the chair flew upwards. Thor would have\nbeen crushed against the stone roof only that he held his staff up. So\ngreat was the power in the staff, so great was the strength that the\nstring around him gave, that the chair was thrust downward. The stone\nchair crashed down upon the stone floor.\n\nThere were horrible screams from under it. Thor lifted up the seat and\nsaw two ugly, broken bodies there. The Giant's daughters, Gialp and\nGreip, had hidden themselves under the chair to watch his death. But\nthe stone that was to have crushed him against the ceiling had crushed\nthem against the floor.\n\nThor strode out of that chamber with his teeth set hard. A great fire\nwas blazing in the hall, and standing beside that fire he saw Gerrioed,\nthe long-armed Giant.\n\nHe held a tongs into the fire. As Thor came toward him he lifted up the\ntongs and flung from it a blazing wedge of iron. It whizzed straight\ntoward Thor's forehead. Thor put up his hands and caught the blazing\nwedge of iron between the mittens that old Grid had given him. Quickly\nhe hurled it back at Gerrioed. It struck the Giant on the forehead and\nwent blazing through him.\n\nGerrioed crashed down into the fire, and the burning iron made a blaze\nall around him. And when Thor reached Grid's cave (he went there to\nrestore to the old Giantess the string, the mittens, and the staff of\npower she had given him) he saw the Giant's dwelling in such a blaze\nthat one would think the fires of Muspelheim were all around it.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLOKI AGAINST THE AESIR\n\n\nThe AEsir were the guests of the Vanir: in Frey's palace the Dwellers in\nAsgard met and feasted in friendship. Odin and Tyr were there, Vidar and\nVali, Nioerd, Frey, Heimdall, and Bragi. The Asyniur and the Vana were\nalso--Frigga, Freya, Iduna, Gerda, Skadi, Sif, and Nanna. Thor and Loki\nwere not at the feast, for they had left Asgard together.\n\nIn Frey's palace the vessels were of shining gold; they made light for\nthe table and they moved of their own accord to serve those who were\nfeasting. All was peace and friendship there until Loki entered the\nfeast hall.\n\nFrey, smiling a welcome, showed a bench to Loki. It was beside Bragi's\nand next to Freya's. Loki did not take the place; instead he shouted\nout, \"Not beside Bragi will I sit; not beside Bragi, the most craven of\nall the Dwellers in Asgard.\"\n\nBragi sprang up at that affront, but his wife, the mild Iduna, quieted\nhis anger. Freya turned to Loki and reproved him for speaking injurious\nwords at a feast.\n\n\"Freya,\" said Loki, \"why were you not so mild when Odur was with you?\nWould it not have been well to have been wifely with your husband\ninstead of breaking faith with him for the sake of a necklace that you\ncraved of the Giant women?\"\n\nAmazement fell on all at the bitterness that was in Loki's words and\nlooks. Tyr and Nioerd stood up from their seats. But then the voice of\nOdin was heard and all was still for the words of the All-Father.\n\n\"Take the place beside Vidar, my silent son, O Loki,\" said Odin, \"and\nlet thy tongue which drips bitterness be silent.\"\n\n\"All the AEsir and the Vanir listen to thy words, O Odin, as if thou wert\nalways wise and just,\" Loki said. \"But must we forget that thou didst\nbring war into the world when thou didst fling thy spear at the envoys\nof the Vanir? And didst thou not permit me to work craftily on the one\nwho built the wall around Asgard for a price? Thou dost speak, O Odin,\nand all the AEsir and the Vanir listen to thee! But was it not thou who,\nthinking not of wisdom but of gold when a ransom had to be made, brought\nthe witch Gulveig out of the cave where she stayed with the Dwarf's\ntreasure? Thou wert not always wise nor always just, O Odin, and we at\nthe table here need not listen to thee as if always thou wert.\"\n\nThen Skadi, the wife of Nioerd, flung words at Loki. She spoke with all\nthe fierceness of her Giant blood. \"Why should we not rise up and chase\nfrom the hall this chattering crow?\" she said.\n\n\"Skadi,\" said Loki, \"remember that the ransom for thy father's death has\nnot yet been paid. Thou wert glad to snatch a husband instead of it.\nRemember who it was that killed thy Giant father. It was I, Loki. And no\nransom have I paid thee for it, although thou hast come amongst us in\nAsgard.\"\n\nThen Loki fixed his eyes on Frey, the giver of the feast, and all knew\nthat with bitter words he was about to assail him. But Tyr, the brave\nswordsman, rose up and said, \"Not against Frey mayst thou speak, O Loki.\nFrey is generous; he is the one amongst us who spares the vanquished and\nfrees the captive.\"\n\n\"Cease speaking, Tyr,\" said Loki. \"Thou mayst not always have a hand to\nhold that sword of thine. Remember this saying of mine in days to come.\n\n\"Frey,\" said he, \"because thou art the giver of the feast they think I\nwill not speak the truth about thee. But I am not to be bribed by a\nfeast. Didst thou not send Skirnir to Gymer's dwelling to befool Gymer's\nflighty daughter? Didst thou not bribe him into frightening her into a\nmarriage with thee, who, men say, wert the slayer of her brother? Yea,\nFrey. Thou didst part with a charge, with the magic sword that thou\nshouldst have kept for the battle. Thou hadst cause to grieve when thou\ndidst meet Beli by the lake.\"\n\nWhen he said this all who were there of the Vanir rose up, their faces\nthreatening Loki.\n\n\"Sit still, ye Vanir,\" Loki railed. \"If the AEsir are to bear the brunt\nof Joetunheim's and Muspelheim's war upon Asgard it was your part to be\nthe first or the last on Vigard's plain. But already ye have lost the\nbattle for Asgard, for the weapon that was put into Frey's hands he\nbartered for Gerda the Giantess. Ha! Surtur shall triumph over you\nbecause of Frey's bewitchment.\"\n\nIn horror they looked at the one who could let his hatred speak of\nSurtur's triumph. All would have laid hands on Loki only Odin's voice\nrang out. Then another appeared at the entrance of the feasting hall. It\nwas Thor. With his hammer upon his shoulder, his gloves of iron on his\nhands, and his belt of prowess around him, he stood marking Loki with\nwrathful eyes.\n\n\"Ha, Loki, betrayer,\" he shouted. \"Thou didst plan to leave me dead in\nGerrioed's house, but now thou wilt meet death by the stroke of this\nhammer.\"\n\nHis hands were raised to hurl Mioelnir. But the words that Odin spoke\nwere heard. \"Not in this hall may slaying be done, son Thor. Keep thy\nhands upon thy hammer.\"\n\nThen shrinking from the wrath in the eyes of Thor, Loki passed out of\nthe feast hall. He went beyond the walls of Asgard and crossed Bifroest,\nthe Rainbow Bridge. And he cursed Bifroest, and longed to see the day\nwhen the armies of Muspelheim would break it down in their rush against\nAsgard.\n\nEast of Midgard there was a place more evil than any region in\nJoetunheim. It was Jarnvid, the Iron Wood. There dwelt witches who were\nthe most foul of all witches. And they had a queen over them, a hag,\nmother of many sons who took upon themselves the shapes of wolves. Two\nof her sons were Skoll and Hati, who pursued Sol, the Sun, and Mani, the\nMoon. She had a third son, who was Managarm, the wolf who was to be\nfilled with the life-blood of men, who was to swallow up the Moon, and\nstain the heavens and earth with blood. To Jarnvid, the Iron Wood, Loki\nmade his way. And he wed one of the witches there, Angerboda, and they\nhad children that took on dread shapes. Loki's offspring were the most\nterrible of the foes that were to come against the AEsir and the Vanir in\nthe time that was called the Twilight of the Gods.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE VALKYRIE\n\n\nAgainst the time when the riders of Muspelheim, with the Giants and the\nevil powers of the Underworld, would bring on battle, Odin All-Father\nwas preparing a host of defenders for Asgard. They were not of the AEsir\nnor of the Vanir; they were of the race of mortal men, heroes chosen\nfrom amongst the slain on fields of battle in Midgard.\n\nTo choose the heroes, and to give victory to those whom he willed to\nhave victory, Odin had battle-maidens that went to the fields of war.\nBeautiful were those battle-maidens and fearless; wise were they also,\nfor to them Odin showed the Runes of Wisdom. Valkyries, Choosers of the\nSlain, they were named.\n\nThose who were chosen on the fields of the slain were called in Asgard\nthe Einherjar. For them Odin made ready a great Hall. Valhalla, the Hall\nof the Slain, it was called. Five hundred and forty doors had Valhalla,\nand out of each door eight hundred Champions might pass. Every day the\nChampions put on their armor and took their weapons down from the walls,\nand went forth and battled with each other. All who were wounded were\nmade whole again, and in peace and goodly fellowship they sat down to\nthe feast that Odin prepared for them. Odin himself sat with his\nChampions, drinking wine but eating no meat.\n\nFor meat the Champions ate the flesh of the boar Saehrimnir; every day\nthe boar was killed and cooked, and every morning it was whole again.\nFor drink they had the mead that was made from the milk of the goat\nHeidrun, the goat that browsed on the leaves of the tree Laeradir. And\nthe Valkyries, the wise and fearless battle-maidens, went amongst them,\nfilling up the drinking-horns with the heady mead.\n\nYoungest of all the battle-maidens was Brynhild. Nevertheless, to her\nOdin All-Father had shown more of the Runes of Wisdom than he had shown\nto any of her sisters. And when the time came for Brynhild to journey\ndown into Midgard he gave her a swan-feather dress such as he had given\nbefore to the three Valkyrie sisters--Alvit, Olrun, and Hladgrun.\n\nIn the dazzling plumage of a swan the young battle-maiden flew down from\nAsgard. Not yet had she to go to the battlefields. Waters drew her, and\nas she waited on the will of the All-Father she sought out a lake that\nhad golden sands for its shore, and as a maiden bathed in it.\n\nNow there dwelt near this lake a young hero whose name was Agnar. And\none day as Agnar lay by the lake he saw a swan with dazzling plumage fly\ndown to it. And while she was in the reeds the swan-feather dress\nslipped off her, and Agnar beheld the swan change to a maiden.\n\nSo bright was her hair, so strong and swift were all her movements, that\nhe knew her for one of Odin's battle-maidens; for one of those who give\nvictory and choose the slain. Very daring was Agnar, and he set his mind\nupon capturing this battle-maiden even though he should bring on himself\nthe wrath of Odin by doing it.\n\nHe hid the swan-feather dress that she had left in the reeds. When she\ncame out of the water she might not fly away. Agnar gave back to her the\nswan-feather dress, but she had to promise that she would be his\nbattle-maiden.\n\nAnd as they talked together the young Valkyrie saw in him a hero that\none from Asgard might help. Very brave and very noble was Agnar.\nBrynhild went with him as his battle-maiden, and she told him much from\nthe Runes of Wisdom that she knew, and she showed him that the\nAll-Father's last hope was in the bravery of the heroes of the earth;\nwith the Chosen from the Slain for his Champions he would make battle in\ndefence of Asgard.\n\nAlways Brynhild was with Agnar's battalions; above the battles she\nhovered, her bright hair and flashing battle-dress outshining the spears\nand swords and shields of the warriors.\n\nBut the gray-beard King Helmgunnar made war on the young Agnar. Odin\nfavored the gray-beard King, and to him he promised the victory.\nBrynhild knew the will of the All-Father. But to Agnar, not to\nHelmgunnar, she gave the victory.\n\nDoomed was Brynhild on the instant she went against Odin's will. Never\nagain might she come into Asgard. A mortal woman she was now, and the\nNorns began to spin the thread of her mortal destiny.\n\nSorrowful was Odin All-Father that the wisest of his battle-maidens\nmight never appear in Asgard nor walk by the benches at the feasts of\nhis Champions in Valhalla. He rode down on Sleipner to where Brynhild\nwas. And when he came before her it was his, and not her head that was\nbowed down.\n\nFor she knew now that the World of Men was paying a bitter price for the\nstrength that Asgard would have in the last battle. The bravest and\nnoblest were being taken from Midgard to fill up the ranks of Odin's\nChampions. And Brynhild's heart was full of anger against the rulers of\nAsgard, and she cared no more to be of them.\n\nOdin looked on his unflinching battle-maiden, and he said, \"Is there\naught thou wouldst have me bestow on thee in thy mortal life, Brynhild?\"\n\n\"Naught save this,\" Brynhild answered, \"that in my mortal life no one\nbut a man without fear, the bravest hero in the world, may claim me for\nwife.\"\n\nAll-Father bowed his head in thought. \"It shall be as thou hast asked,\"\nhe said. \"Only he who is without fear shall come near thee.\"\n\nThen on the top of the mountain that is called Hindfell he had a Hall\nbuilt that faced the south. Ten Dwarfs built it of black stone. And when\nthe Hall was built he put round it a wall of mounting and circling fire.\n\nMore did Odin All-Father: he took a thorn of the Tree of Sleep and he\nput it into the flesh of the battle-maiden. Then, with her helmet on her\nhead and the breast-mail of the Valkyrie upon her, he lifted Brynhild in\nhis arms and carried her through the wall of mounting and circling fire.\nHe laid her upon the couch that was within the Hall. There she would lie\nin slumber until the hero who was without fear should ride through the\nflame and waken her to the life of a mortal woman.\n\nHe took farewell of her and he rode back to Asgard on Sleipner. He might\nnot foresee what fate would be hers as a mortal woman. But the fire he\nhad left went mounting and circling around the Hall that the Dwarfs had\nbuilt. For ages that fire would be a fence around where Brynhild, once a\nValkyrie, lay in sleep.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE CHILDREN OF LOKI\n\n\nThe children of Loki and the witch Angerboda were not as the children of\nmen: they were formless as water, or air, or fire is formless, but it\nwas given to each of them to take on the form that was most like to\ntheir own greed.\n\nNow the Dwellers in Asgard knew that these powers of evil had been born\ninto the world and they thought it well that they should take on forms\nand appear before them in Asgard. So they sent one to Jarnvid, the Iron\nWood, bidding Loki bring before the Gods the powers born of him and the\nwitch Angerboda. So Loki came into Asgard once more. And his offspring\ntook on forms and showed themselves to the Gods. The first, whose greed\nwas destruction, showed himself as a fearful Wolf. Fenrir he was named.\nAnd the second, whose greed was slow destruction, showed itself as a\nSerpent. Joermungand it was called. The third, whose greed was for\nwithering of all life, took on a form also. When the Gods saw it they\nwere affrighted. For this had the form of a woman, and one side of her\nwas that of a living woman and the other side of her was that of a\ncorpse. Fear ran through Asgard as this form was revealed and as the\nname that went with it, Hela, was uttered.\n\nFar out of sight of the Gods Hela was thrust. Odin took her and hurled\nher down to the deeps that are below the world. He cast her down to\nNiflheim, where she took to herself power over the nine regions. There,\nin the place that is lowest of all, Hela reigns. Her hall is Elvidnir;\nit is set round with high walls and it has barred gates; Precipice is\nthe threshold of that hall; Hunger is the table within it; Care is the\nbed, and Burning Anguish is the hanging of the chamber.\n\nThor laid hold upon Joermungand. He flung the serpent into the ocean that\nengirdles the world. But in the depths of the ocean Joermungand\nflourished. It grew and grew until it encircled the whole world. And men\nknew it as the Midgard Serpent.\n\nFenrir the Wolf might not be seized upon by any of the AEsir. Fearfully\nhe ranged through Asgard and they were only able to bring him to the\nouter courts by promising to give him all the food he was able to eat.\n\nThe AEsir shrank from feeding Fenrir. But Tyr, the brave swordsman, was\nwilling to bring food to the Wolf's lair. Every day he brought him huge\nprovision and fed him with the point of his sword. The Wolf grew and\ngrew until he became monstrous and a terror in the minds of the Dwellers\nin Asgard.\n\nAt last the Gods in council considered it and decided that Fenrir must\nbe bound. The chain that they would bind him with was called Laeding. In\ntheir own smithy the Gods made it and its weight was greater than Thor's\nhammer.\n\nNot by force could the Gods get the fetter upon Fenrir, so they sent\nSkirnir, the servant of Frey, to beguile the Wolf into letting it go\nupon him. Skirnir came to his lair and stood near him, and he was\ndwarfed by the Wolf's monstrous size.\n\n\"How great may thy strength be, Mighty One?\" Skirnir asked. \"Couldst\nthou break this chain easily? The Gods would try thee.\"\n\nIn scorn Fenrir looked down on the fetter Skirnir dragged. In scorn he\nstood still allowing Laeding to be placed upon him. Then, with an effort\nthat was the least part of his strength, he stretched himself and broke\nthe chain in two.\n\nThe Gods were dismayed. But they took more iron, and with greater fires\nand mightier hammer blows they forged another fetter. Dromi, this one\nwas called, and it was half again as strong as Laeding was. Skirnir the\nVenturesome brought it to the Wolf's lair, and in scorn Fenrir let the\nmightier chain be placed upon him.\n\nHe shook himself and the chain held. Then his eyes became fiery and he\nstretched himself with a growl and a snarl. Dromi broke across, and\nFenrir stood looking balefully at Skirnir.\n\nThe Gods saw that no chain they could forge would bind Fenrir and they\nfell more and more into fear of him. They took council again and they\nbethought them of the wonder-work the Dwarfs had made for them, the\nspear Gungnir, the ship Skidbladnir, the hammer Mioelnir. Could the\nDwarfs be got to make the fetter to bind Fenrir? If they would do it the\nGods would add to their domain.\n\nSkirnir went down to Svartheim with the message from Asgard. The Dwarf\nChief swelled with pride to think that it was left to them to make the\nfetter that would bind Fenrir.\n\n\"We Dwarfs can make a fetter that will bind the Wolf,\" he said. \"Out of\nsix things we will make it.\"\n\n\"What are these six things?\" Skirnir asked.\n\n\"The roots of stones, the breath of a fish, the beards of women, the\nnoise made by the footfalls of cats, the sinews of bears, the spittle of\na bird.\"\n\n\"I have never heard the noise made by a cat's footfall, nor have I seen\nthe roots of stones nor the beards of women. But use what things you\nwill, O Helper of the Gods.\"\n\nThe Chief brought his six things together and the Dwarfs in their smithy\nworked for days and nights. They forged a fetter that was named\nGleipnir. Smooth and soft as a silken string it was. Skirnir brought it\nto Asgard and put it into the hands of the Gods.\n\nThen a day came when the Gods said that once again they should try to\nput a fetter upon Fenrir. But if he was to be bound they would bind him\nfar from Asgard. Lyngvi was an island that they often went to to make\nsport, and they spoke of going there. Fenrir growled that he would go\nwith them. He came and he sported in his own terrible way. And then as\nif it were to make more sport, one of the AEsir shook out the smooth cord\nand showed it to Fenrir.\n\n\"It is stronger than you might think, Mighty One,\" they said. \"Will you\nnot let it go upon you that we may see you break it?\"\n\nFenrir out of his fiery eyes looked scorn upon them. \"What fame would\nthere be for me,\" he said, \"in breaking such a binding?\"\n\nThey showed him that none in their company could break it, slender as it\nwas. \"Thou only art able to break it, Mighty One,\" they said.\n\n\"The cord is slender, but there may be an enchantment in it,\" Fenrir\nsaid.\n\n\"Thou canst not break it, Fenrir, and we need not dread thee any more,\"\nthe Gods said.\n\nThen was the Wolf ravenous wroth, for he lived on the fear that he made\nin the minds of the Gods. \"I am loth to have this binding upon me,\" he\nsaid, \"but if one of the AEsir will put his hand in my mouth as a pledge\nthat I shall be freed of it, I will let ye put it on me.\"\n\nThe Gods looked wistfully on one another. It would be health to them all\nto have Fenrir bound, but who would lose his hand to have it done? One\nand then another of the AEsir stepped backward. But not Tyr, the brave\nswordsman. He stepped to Fenrir and laid his left hand before those\ntremendous jaws.\n\n\"Not thy left hand--thy swordhand, O Tyr,\" growled Fenrir, and Tyr put\nhis swordhand into that terrible mouth.\n\nThen the cord Gleipnir was put upon Fenrir. With fiery eyes he watched\nthe Gods bind him. When the binding was on him he stretched himself as\nbefore. He stretched himself to a monstrous size but the binding did not\nbreak off him. Then with fury he snapped his jaws upon the hand, and\nTyr's hand, the swordsman's hand, was torn off.\n\nBut Fenrir was bound. They fixed a mighty chain to the fetter, and they\npassed the chain through a hole they bored through a great rock. The\nmonstrous Wolf made terrible efforts to break loose, but the rock and\nthe chain and the fetter held. Then seeing him secured, and to avenge\nthe loss of Tyr's hand, the Gods took Tyr's sword and drove it to the\nhilt through his underjaw. Horribly the Wolf howled. Mightily the foam\nflowed down from his jaws. That foam flowing made a river that is called\nVon--a river of fury that flowed on until Ragnaroek came, the Twilight of\nthe Gods.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBALDUR'S DOOM\n\n\nIn Asgard there were two places that meant strength and joy to the AEsir\nand the Vanir: one was the garden where grew the apples that Iduna\ngathered, and the other was the Peace Stead, where, in a palace called\nBreidablik, Baldur the Well-Beloved dwelt.\n\nIn the Peace Stead no crime had ever been committed, no blood had ever\nbeen shed, no falseness had ever been spoken. Contentment came into the\nminds of all in Asgard when they thought upon this place. Ah! Were it\nnot that the Peace Stead was there, happy with Baldur's presence, the\nminds of the AEsir and the Vanir might have become gloomy and stern from\nthinking on the direful things that were arrayed against them.\n\nBaldur was beautiful. So beautiful was he that all the white blossoms on\nthe earth were called by his name. Baldur was happy. So happy was he\nthat all the birds on the earth sang his name. So just and so wise was\nBaldur that the judgment he pronounced might never be altered. Nothing\nfoul or unclean had ever come near where he had his dwelling:\n\n     'Tis Breidablik called,\n     Where Baldur the Fair\n     Hath built him a bower,\n     In the land where I know\n     Least loathliness lies.\n\nHealing things were done in Baldur's Stead. Tyr's wrist was healed of\nthe wounds that Fenrir's fangs had made. And there Frey's mind became\nless troubled with the foreboding that Loki had filled it with when he\nrailed at him about the bartering of his sword.\n\nNow after Fenrir had been bound to the rock in the faraway island the\nAEsir and the Vanir knew a while of contentment. They passed bright days\nin Baldur's Stead, listening to the birds that made music there. And it\nwas there that Bragi the Poet wove into his never-ending story the tale\nof Thor's adventures amongst the Giants.\n\nBut even into Baldur's Stead foreboding came. One day little Hnossa, the\nchild of Freya and the lost Odur, was brought there in such sorrow that\nno one outside could comfort her. Nanna, Baldur's gentle wife, took the\nchild upon her lap and found ways of soothing her. Then Hnossa told of\na dream that had filled her with fright.\n\nShe had dreamt of Hela, the Queen that is half living woman and half\ncorpse. In her dream Hela had come into Asgard saying, \"A lord of the\nAEsir I must have to dwell with me in my realm beneath the earth.\" Hnossa\nhad such fear from this dream that she had fallen into a deep sorrow.\n\nA silence fell upon all when the dream of Hnossa was told. Nanna looked\nwistfully at Odin All-Father. And Odin, looking at Frigga, saw that a\nfear had entered her breast.\n\nHe left the Peace Stead and went to his watchtower Hlidskjalf. He waited\nthere till Hugin and Munin should come to him. Every day his two ravens\nflew through the world, and coming back to him told him of all that was\nhappening. And now they might tell him of happenings that would let him\nguess if Hela had indeed turned her thoughts toward Asgard, or if she\nhad the power to draw one down to her dismal abode.\n\nThe ravens flew to him, and lighting one on each of his shoulders, told\nhim of things that were being said up and down Ygdrassil, the World\nTree. Ratatoesk the Squirrel was saying them. And Ratatoesk had heard them\nfrom the brood of serpents that with Nidhoegg, the great dragon, gnawed\never at the root of Ygdrassil. He told it to the Eagle that sat ever on\nthe topmost bough, that in Hela's habitation a bed was spread and a\nchair was left empty for some lordly comer.\n\nAnd hearing this, Odin thought that it were better that Fenrir the Wolf\nshould range ravenously through Asgard than that Hela should win one\nfrom amongst them to fill that chair and lie in that bed.\n\nHe mounted Sleipner, his eight-legged steed, and rode down toward the\nabodes of the Dead. For three days and three nights of silence and\ndarkness he journeyed on. Once one of the hounds of Helheim broke loose\nand bayed upon Sleipner's tracks. For a day and a night Garm, the hound,\npursued them, and Odin smelled the blood that dripped from his monstrous\njaws.\n\nAt last he came to where, wrapped in their shrouds, a field of the Dead\nlay. He dismounted from Sleipner and called upon one to rise and speak\nwith him. It was on Volva, a dead prophetess, he called. And when he\npronounced her name he uttered a rune that had the power to break the\nsleep of the Dead.\n\nThere was a groaning in the middle of where the shrouded ones lay. Then\nOdin cried, out, \"Arise, Volva, prophetess.\" There was a stir in the\nmiddle of where the shrouded ones lay, and a head and shoulders were\nthrust up from amongst the Dead.\n\n\"Who calls on Volva the Prophetess? The rains have drenched my flesh and\nthe storms have shaken my bones for more seasons than the living know.\nNo living voice has a right to call me from my sleep with the Dead.\"\n\n\"It is Vegtam the Wanderer who calls. For whom is the bed prepared and\nthe seat left empty in Hela's habitation?\"\n\n\"For Baldur, Odin's son, is the bed prepared and the seat left empty.\nNow let me go back to my sleep with the Dead.\"\n\nBut now Odin saw beyond Volva's prophecy. \"Who is it,\" he cried out,\n\"that stands with unbowed head and that will not lament for Baldur?\nAnswer, Volva, prophetess!\"\n\n\"Thou seest far, but thou canst not see clearly. Thou art Odin. I can\nsee clearly but I cannot see far. Now let me go back to my sleep with\nthe Dead.\"\n\n\"Volva, prophetess!\" Odin cried out again.\n\nBut the voice from amongst the shrouded ones said, \"Thou canst not wake\nme any more until the fires of Muspelheim blaze above my head.\"\n\nThen there was silence in the field of the Dead, and Odin turned\nSleipner, his steed, and for four days, through the gloom and silence,\nhe journeyed back to Asgard.\n\nFrigga had felt the fear that Odin had felt. She looked toward Baldur,\nand the shade of Hela came between her and her son. But then she heard\nthe birds sing in the Peace Stead and she knew that none of all the\nthings in the world would injure Baldur.\n\nAnd to make it sure she went to all the things that could hurt him and\nfrom each of them she took an oath that it would not injure Baldur, the\nWell-Beloved. She took an oath from fire and from water, from iron and\nfrom all metals, from earths and stones and great trees, from birds and\nbeasts and creeping things, from poisons and diseases. Very readily they\nall gave the oath that they would work no injury on Baldur.\n\nThen when Frigga went back and told what she had accomplished the gloom\nthat had lain on Asgard lifted. Baldur would be spared to them. Hela\nmight have a place prepared in her dark habitation, but neither fire\nnor water, nor iron nor any metals, nor earths nor stones nor great\nwoods, nor birds nor beasts nor creeping things, nor poisons nor\ndiseases, would help her to bring him down. \"Hela has no arms to draw\nyou to her,\" the AEsir and the Vanir cried to Baldur.\n\nHope was renewed for them and they made games to honor Baldur. They had\nhim stand in the Peace Stead and they brought against him all the things\nthat had sworn to leave him hurtless. And neither the battle-axe flung\nfull at him, nor the stone out of the sling, nor the burning brand, nor\nthe deluge of water would injure the beloved of Asgard. The AEsir and the\nVanir laughed joyously to see these things fall harmlessly from him\nwhile a throng came to join them in the games; Dwarfs and friendly\nGiants.\n\nBut Loki the Hater came in with that throng. He watched the games from\nafar. He saw the missiles and the weapons being flung and he saw Baldur\nstand smiling and happy under the strokes of metal and stones and great\nwoods. He wondered at the sight, but he knew that he might not ask the\nmeaning of it from the ones who knew him.\n\nHe changed his shape into that of an old woman and he went amongst those\nwho were making sport for Baldur. He spoke to Dwarfs and friendly\nGiants. \"Go to Frigga and ask. Go to Frigga and ask,\" was all the answer\nLoki got from any of them.\n\nThen to Fensalir, Frigga's mansion, Loki went. He told those in the\nmansion that he was Groa, the old Enchantress who was drawing out of\nThor's head the fragments of a grindstone that a Giant's throw had\nembedded in it. Frigga knew about Groa and she praised the Enchantress\nfor what she had done.\n\n\"Many fragments of the great grindstone have I taken out of Thor's head\nby the charms I know,\" said the pretended Groa. \"Thor was so grateful\nthat he brought back to me the husband that he once had carried off to\nthe end of the earth. So overjoyed was I to find my husband restored\nthat I forgot the rest of the charms. And I left some fragments of the\nstone in Thor's head.\"\n\nSo Loki said, repeating a story that was true. \"Now I remember the rest\nof the charm,\" he said, \"and I can draw out the fragments of the stone\nthat are left. But will you not tell me, O Queen, what is the meaning of\nthe extraordinary things I saw the AEsir and the Vanir doing?\"\n\n\"I will tell you,\" said Frigga, looking kindly and happily at the\npretended old woman. \"They are hurling all manner of heavy and dangerous\nthings at Baldur, my beloved son. And all Asgard cheers to see that\nneither metal nor stone nor great wood will hurt him.\"\n\n\"But why will they not hurt him?\" said the pretended Enchantress.\n\n\"Because I have drawn an oath from all dangerous and threatening things\nto leave Baldur hurtless,\" said Frigga.\n\n\"From all things, lady? Is there no thing in all the world that has not\ntaken an oath to leave Baldur hurtless?\"\n\n\"Well, indeed, there is one thing that has not taken the oath. But that\nthing is so small and weak that I passed it by without taking thought of\nit.\"\n\n\"What can it be, lady?\"\n\n\"The Mistletoe that is without root or strength. It grows on the eastern\nside of Valhalla. I passed it by without drawing an oath from it.\"\n\n\"Surely you were not wrong to pass it by. What could the Mistletoe--the\nrootless Mistletoe--do against Baldur?\"\n\nSaying this the pretended Enchantress hobbled off.\n\nBut not far did the pretender go hobbling. He changed his gait and\nhurried to the eastern side of Valhalla. There a great oak tree\nflourished and out of a branch of it a little bush of Mistletoe grew.\nLoki broke off a spray and with it in his hand he went to where the AEsir\nand the Vanir were still playing games to honor Baldur.\n\nAll were laughing as Loki drew near, for the Giants and the Dwarfs, the\nAsyniur and the Vana, were all casting missiles. The Giants threw too\nfar and the Dwarfs could not throw far enough, while the Asyniur and the\nVana threw far and wide of the mark. In the midst of all that glee and\ngamesomeness it was strange to see one standing joyless. But one stood\nso, and he was of the AEsir--Hoedur, Baldur's blind brother.\n\n\"Why do you not enter the game?\" said Loki to him in his changed voice.\n\n\"I have no missile to throw at Baldur,\" Hoedur said.\n\n\"Take this and throw it,\" said Loki. \"It is a twig of the Mistletoe.\"\n\n\"I cannot see to throw it,\" said Hoedur.\n\n\"I will guide your hand,\" said Loki. He put the twig of Mistletoe in\nHoedur's hand and he guided the hand for the throw. The twig flew toward\nBaldur. It struck him on the breast and it pierced him. Then Baldur fell\ndown with a deep groan.\n\nThe AEsir and the Vanir, the Dwarfs and the friendly Giants, stood still\nin doubt and fear and amazement. Loki slipped away. And blind Hoedur,\nfrom whose hand the twig of Mistletoe had gone, stood quiet, not knowing\nthat his throw had bereft Baldur of life.\n\nThen a wailing rose around the Peace Stead. It was from the Asyniur and\nthe Vana. Baldur was dead, and they began to lament him. And while they\nwere lamenting him, the beloved of Asgard, Odin came amongst them.\n\n\"Hela has won our Baldur from us,\" Odin said to Frigga as they both bent\nover the body of their beloved son.\n\n\"Nay, I will not say it,\" Frigga said.\n\nWhen the AEsir and the Vanir had won their senses back the mother of\nBaldur went amongst them. \"Who amongst you would win my love and\ngoodwill?\" she said. \"Whoever would let him ride down to Hela's dark\nrealm and ask the Queen to take ransom for Baldur. It may be she will\ntake it and let Baldur come back to us. Who amongst you will go? Odin's\nsteed is ready for the journey.\"\n\nThen forth stepped Hermod the Nimble, the brother of Baldur. He mounted\nSleipner and turned the eight-legged steed down toward Hela's dark\nrealm.\n\nFor nine days and nine nights Hermod rode on. His way was through rugged\nglens, one deeper and darker than the other. He came to the river that\nis called Gioell and to the bridge across it that is all glittering with\ngold. The pale maid who guards the bridge spoke to him.\n\n\"The hue of life is still on thee,\" said Modgudur, the pale maid. \"Why\ndost thou journey down to Hela's deathly realm?\"\n\n\"I am Hermod,\" he said, \"and I go to see if Hela will take ransom for\nBaldur.\"\n\n\"Fearful is Hela's habitation for one to come to,\" said Modgudur, the\npale maid. \"All round it is a steep wall that even thy steed might\nhardly leap. Its threshold is Precipice. The bed therein is Care, the\ntable is Hunger, the hanging of the chamber is Burning Anguish.\"\n\n\"It may be that Hela will take ransom for Baldur.\"\n\n\"If all things in the world still lament for Baldur, Hela will have to\ntake ransom and let him go from her,\" said Modgudur, the pale maid that\nguards the glittering bridge.\n\n\"It is well, then, for all things lament Baldur. I will go to her and\nmake her take ransom.\"\n\n\"Thou mayst not pass until it is of a surety that all things still\nlament him. Go back to the world and make sure. If thou dost come to\nthis glittering bridge and tell me that all things still lament Baldur,\nI will let thee pass and Hela will have to hearken to thee.\"\n\n\"I will come back to thee, and thou, Modgudur, pale maid, wilt have to\nlet me pass.\"\n\n\"Then I will let thee pass,\" said Modgudur.\n\nJoyously Hermod turned Sleipner and rode back through the rugged glens,\neach one less gloomy than the other. He reached the upper world, and\nsaw that all things were still lamenting for Baldur. Joyously Hermod\nrode onward. He met the Vanir in the middle of the world and he told\nthem the happy tidings.\n\nThen Hermod and the Vanir went through the world seeking out each thing\nand finding that each thing still wept for Baldur. But one day Hermod\ncame upon a crow that was sitting on the dead branch of a tree. The crow\nmade no lament as he came near. She rose up and flew away and Hermod\nfollowed her to make sure that she lamented for Baldur.\n\nHe lost sight of her near a cave. And then before the cave he saw a hag\nwith blackened teeth who raised no voice of lament. \"If thou art the\ncrow that came flying here, make lament for Baldur,\" Hermod said.\n\n\"I, Thaukt, will make no lament for Baldur,\" the hag said, \"let Hela\nkeep what she holds.\"\n\n\"All things weep tears for Baldur,\" Hermod said.\n\n\"I will weep dry tears for him,\" said the hag.\n\nShe hobbled into her cave, and as Hermod followed a crow fluttered out.\nHe knew that this was Thaukt, the evil hag, transformed. He followed\nher, and she went through the world croaking, \"Let Hela keep what she\nholds. Let Hela keep what she holds.\"\n\nThen Hermod knew that he might not ride to Hela's habitation. All things\nknew that there was one thing in the world that would not lament for\nBaldur. The Vanir came back to him, and with head bowed over Sleipner's\nmane, Hermod rode into Asgard.\n\nNow the AEsir and the Vanir, knowing that no ransom would be taken for\nBaldur and that the joy and content of Asgard were gone indeed, made\nready his body for the burning. First they covered Baldur's body with a\nrich robe, and each left beside it his most precious possession. Then\nthey all took leave of him, kissing him upon the brow. But Nanna, his\ngentle wife, flung herself on his dead breast and her heart broke and\nshe died of her grief. Then did the AEsir and the Vanir weep afresh. And\nthey took the body of Nanna and they placed it side by side with\nBaldur's.\n\nOn his own great ship, Ringhorn, would Baldur be placed with Nanna\nbeside him. Then the ship would be launched on the water and all would\nbe burned with fire.\n\nBut it was found that none of the AEsir or the Vanir were able to launch\nBaldur's great ship. Hyrroken, a Giantess, was sent for. She came\nmounted on a great wolf with twisted serpents for a bridle. Four Giants\nheld fast the wolf when she alighted. She came to the ship and with a\nsingle push she sent it into the sea. The rollers struck out fire as the\nship dashed across them.\n\nThen when it rode the water fires mounted on the ship. And in the blaze\nof the fires one was seen bending over the body of Baldur and whispering\ninto his ear. It was Odin All-Father. Then he went down off the ship and\nall the fires rose into a mighty burning. Speechlessly the AEsir and the\nVanir watched with tears streaming down their faces while all things\nlamented, crying, \"Baldur the Beautiful is dead, is dead.\"\n\nAnd what was it that Odin All-Father whispered to Baldur as he bent\nabove him with the flames of the burning ship around? He whispered of a\nheaven above Asgard that Surtur's flames might not reach, and of a life\nthat would come to beauty again after the World of Men and the World of\nthe Gods had been searched through and through with fire.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLOKI'S PUNISHMENT\n\n\nThe crow went flying toward the North, croaking as she flew, \"Let Hela\nkeep what she holds. Let Hela keep what she holds.\" That crow was the\nhag Thaukt transformed, and the hag Thaukt was Loki.\n\nHe flew to the North and came into the wastes of Joetunheim. As a crow he\nlived there, hiding himself from the wrath of the Gods. He told the\nGiants that the time had come for them to build the ship Naglfar, the\nship that was to be built out of the nails of dead men, and that was to\nsail to Asgard on the day of Ragnaroek with the Giant Hrymer steering it.\nAnd harkening to what he said the Giants then and there began to build\nNaglfar, the ship that Gods and men wished to remain unbuilt for long.\n\nThen Loki, tiring of the wastes of Joetunheim, flew to the burning South.\nAs a lizard he lived amongst the rocks of Muspelheim, and he made the\nFire Giants rejoice when he told them of the loss of Frey's sword and of\nTyr's right hand.\n\nBut still in Asgard there was one who wept for Loki--Siguna, his wife.\nAlthough he had left her and had shown his hatred for her, Siguna wept\nfor her evil husband.\n\nHe left Muspelheim as he had left Joetunheim and he came to live in the\nWorld of Men. He knew that he had now come into a place where the wrath\nof the Gods might find him, and so he made plans to be ever ready for\nescape. He had come to the River where, ages before, he had slain the\notter that was the son of the Enchanter, and on the very rock where the\notter had eaten the salmon on the day of his killing, Loki built his\nhouse. He made four doors to it so that he might see in every direction.\nAnd the power that he kept for himself was the power of transforming\nhimself into a salmon.\n\nOften as a salmon he swam in the River. But even for the fishes that\nswam beside him Loki had hatred. Out of flax and yarn he wove a net that\nmen might have the means of taking them out of the water.\n\nThe wrath that the Gods had against Loki did not pass away. It was he\nwho, as Thaukt, the Hag, had given Hela the power to keep Baldur\nunransomed. It was he who had put into Hoedur's hand the sprig of\nMistletoe that had bereft Baldur of life. Empty was Asgard now that\nBaldur lived no more in the Peace Stead, and stern and gloomy grew the\nminds of the AEsir and the Vanir with thinking on the direful things that\nwere arrayed against them. Odin in his hall of Valhalla thought only of\nthe ways by which he could bring heroes to him to be his help in\ndefending Asgard.\n\nThe Gods searched through the world and they found at last the place\nwhere Loki had made his dwelling. He was weaving the net to take fishes\nwhen he saw them coming from four directions. He threw the net into the\nfire so that it was burnt, and he sprang into the River and transformed\nhimself into a salmon. When the Gods entered his dwelling they found\nonly the burnt-out fire.\n\nBut there was one amongst them who could understand all that he saw. In\nthe ashes were the marks of the burnt net and he knew that these were\nthe tracing of something to catch fishes. And from the marks left in the\nashes he made a net that was the same as the one Loki had burnt.\n\nWith it in their hands the Gods went down the River, dragging the net\nthrough the water. Loki was affrighted to find the thing of his own\nweaving brought against him. He lay between two stones at the bottom of\nthe River, and the net passed over him.\n\nBut the Gods knew that the net had touched something at the bottom. They\nfastened weights to it and they dragged the net through the River again.\nLoki knew that he might not escape it this time and he rose in the water\nand swam toward the sea. The Gods caught sight of him as he leaped over\na waterfall. They followed him, dragging the net. Thor waded behind,\nready to seize him should he turn back.\n\nLoki came out at the mouth of the River and behold! There was a great\neagle hovering over the waves of the sea and ready to swoop down on\nfishes. He turned back in the River. He made a leap that took him over\nthe net that the Gods were dragging. But Thor was behind the net and he\ncaught the salmon in his powerful hands and he held him for all the\nstruggle that Loki made. No fish had ever struggled so before. Loki got\nhimself free all but his tail, but Thor held to the tail and brought him\namongst the rocks and forced him to take on his proper form.\n\nHe was in the hands of those whose wrath was strong against him. They\nbrought him to a cavern and they bound him to three sharp-pointed rocks.\nWith cords that were made of the sinews of wolves they bound him, and\nthey transformed the cords into iron bands. There they would have left\nLoki bound and helpless. But Skadi, with her fierce Giant blood, was not\ncontent that he should be left untormented. She found a serpent that had\ndeadly venom and she hung this serpent above Loki's head. The drops of\nvenom fell upon him, bringing him anguish drop by drop, minute by\nminute. So Loki's torture went on.\n\nBut Siguna with the pitying heart came to his relief. She exiled herself\nfrom Asgard, and endured the darkness and the cold of the cavern, that\nshe might take some of the torment away from him who was her husband.\nOver Loki Siguna stood, holding in her hands a cup into which fell the\nserpent's venom, thus sparing him from the full measure of anguish. Now\nand then Siguna had to turn aside to spill out the flowing cup, and then\nthe drops of venom fell upon Loki and he screamed in agony, twisting in\nhis bonds. It was then that men felt the earth quake. There in his bonds\nLoki stayed until the coming of Ragnaroek, the Twilight of the Gods.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\nTHE SWORD OF THE VOLSUNGS AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSIGURD'S YOUTH\n\n\nIn Midgard, in a northern Kingdom, a King reigned whose name was Alv; he\nwas wise and good, and he had in his house a fosterson whose name was\nSigurd.\n\nSigurd was fearless and strong; so fearless and so strong was he that he\nonce captured a bear of the forest and drove him to the King's Hall. His\nmother's name was Hiordis. Once, before Sigurd was born, Alv and his\nfather who was King before him went on an expedition across the sea and\ncame into another country. While they were yet afar off they heard the\ndin of a great battle. They came to the battlefield, but they found no\nliving warriors on it, only heaps of slain. One warrior they marked: he\nwas white-bearded and old and yet he seemed the noblest-looking man Alv\nor his father had ever looked on. His arms showed that he was a King\namongst one of the bands of warriors.\n\nThey went through the forest searching for survivors of the battle. And,\nhidden in a dell in the forest, they came upon two women. One was tall\nwith blue, unflinching eyes and ruddy hair, but wearing the garb of a\nserving-maid. The other wore the rich dress of a Queen, but she was of\nlow stature and her manner was covert and shrinking.\n\nWhen Alv and his father drew near, the one who had on her the raiment of\na Queen said, \"Help us, lords, and protect us, and we will show you\nwhere a treasure is hidden. A great battle has been fought between the\nmen of King Lygni and the men of King Sigmund, and the men of King Lygni\nhave won the victory and have gone from the field. But King Sigmund is\nslain, and we who are of his household hid his treasure and we can show\nit to you.\"\n\n\"The noble warrior, white-haired and white-bearded, who lies yonder--is\nhe King Sigmund?\"\n\nThe woman answered, \"Yes, lord, and I am his Queen.\"\n\n\"We have heard of King Sigmund,\" said Alv's father. \"His fame and the\nfame of his race, the Volsungs, is over the wide world.\"\n\nAlv said no word to either of the women, but his eyes stayed on the one\nwho had on the garb of a serving-maid. She was on her knees, wrapping in\na beast's skin two pieces of a broken sword.\n\n\"You will surely protect us, good lords,\" said she who had on the\nqueenly dress.\n\n\"Yea, wife of King Sigmund, we will protect you and your serving-maid,\"\nsaid Alv's father, the old King.\n\nThen the women took the warriors to a wild place on the seashore and\nthey showed them where King Sigmund's treasure was hidden amongst the\nrocks: cups of gold and mighty armrings and jeweled collars. Prince Alv\nand his father put the treasure on the ship and brought the two women\naboard. Then they sailed from the land.\n\nThat was before Sigurd, the fosterson of King Alv, was born.\n\nNow the mother of Alv was wise and little of what she saw escaped her\nnoting. She saw that of the two women that her son and her husband had\nbrought into their kingdom, the one who wore the dress of the\nserving-maid had unflinching eyes and a high beauty, while the one who\nwore the queenly dress was shrinking and unstately. One night when all\nthe women of the household were sitting round her, spinning wool by the\nlight of torches in the hall, the Queen-mother said to the one who wore\nthe queenly garb:\n\n\"Thou art good at rising in the morning. How dost thou know in the dark\nhours when it wears to dawn?\"\n\nThe one clad in the queenly garb said, \"When I was young I used to rise\nto milk the cows, and I waken ever since at the same hour.\"\n\nThe Queen-mother said to herself, \"It is a strange country in which the\nroyal maids rise to milk the cows.\"\n\nThen she said to the one who wore the clothes of the serving-maid:\n\n\"How dost thou know in the dark hours when the dawn is coming?\"\n\n\"My father,\" she said, \"gave me the ring of gold that I wear, and always\nbefore it is time to rise I feel it grow cold on my finger.\"\n\n\"It is a strange country, truly,\" said the Queen-mother to herself, \"in\nwhich the serving-maids wear rings of gold.\"\n\nWhen all the others had left she spoke to the two women who had been\nbrought into her country. To the one who wore the clothes of a\nserving-maid she said:\n\n\"Thou art the Queen.\"\n\nThen the one who wore the queenly clothes said, \"Thou art right, lady.\nShe is the Queen, and I cannot any longer pretend to be other than I\nam.\"\n\nThen the other woman spoke. Said she: \"I am the Queen as thou hast\nsaid--the Queen of King Sigmund who was slain. Because a King sought for\nme I changed clothes with my serving-maid, my wish being to baffle those\nwho might be sent to carry me away.\n\n\"Know that I am Hiordis, a King's daughter. Many men came to my father\nto ask for me in marriage, and of those that came there were two whom I\nheard much of: one was King Lygni and the other was King Sigmund of the\nrace of the Volsungs. The King, my father, told me it was for me to\nchoose between these two. Now King Sigmund was old, but he was the most\nfamous warrior in the whole world, and I chose him rather than King\nLygni.\n\n\"We were wed. But King Lygni did not lose desire of me, and in a while\nhe came against King Sigmund's kingdom with a great army of men. We hid\nour treasure by the seashore, and I and my maid watched the battle from\nthe borders of the forest. With the help of Gram, his wondrous sword,\nand his own great warrior strength, Sigmund was able to harry the great\nforce that came against him. But suddenly he was stricken down. Then was\nthe battle lost. Only King Lygni's men survived it, and they scattered\nto search for me and the treasure of the King.\n\n\"I came to where my lord lay on the field of battle, and he raised\nhimself on his shield when I came, and he told me that death was very\nnear him. A stranger had entered the battle at the time when it seemed\nthat the men of King Lygni must draw away. With the spear that he held\nin his hand he struck at Sigmund's sword, and Gram, the wondrous sword,\nwas broken in two pieces. Then did King Sigmund get his death-wound. 'It\nmust be I shall die,' he said, 'for the spear against which my sword\nbroke was Gungnir, Odin's spear. Only that spear could have shattered\nthe sword that Odin gave my fathers. Now must I go to Valhalla, Odin's\nHall of Heroes.'\n\n\"'I weep,' I said, 'because I have no son who might call himself of the\ngreat race of the Volsungs.'\n\n\"'For that you need not weep,' said Sigmund, 'a son will be born to you,\nmy son and yours, and you shall name him Sigurd. Take now the broken\npieces of my wondrous sword and give them to my son when he shall be of\nwarrior age.'\n\n\"Then did Sigmund turn his face to the ground and the death-struggle\ncame on him. Odin's Valkyrie took his spirit from the battlefield. And I\nlifted up the broken pieces of the sword, and with my serving-maid I\nwent and hid in a deep dell in the forest. Then your husband and your\nson found us and they brought us to your kingdom where we have been\nkindly treated, O Queen.\"\n\nSuch was the history that Hiordis, the wife of King Sigmund, told to the\nmother of Prince Alv.\n\nSoon afterwards the child was born to her that was Sigmund's son. Sigurd\nshe named him. And after Sigurd was born the old King died and Prince\nAlv became King in his stead. He married Hiordis, she of the ruddy hair,\nthe unflinching ways, and the high beauty, and he brought up her son\nSigurd in his house as his fosterson.\n\nSigurd, the son of Sigmund, before he came to warrior's age, was known\nfor his strength and his swiftness and for the fearlessness that shone\nround him like a glow. \"Mighty was the race he sprang from, the Volsung\nrace,\" men said, \"but Sigurd will be as mighty as any that have gone\nbefore him.\" He built himself a hut in the forest that he might hunt\nwild beasts and live near to one who was to train him in many crafts.\n\nThis one was Regin, a maker of swords and a cunning man besides. It was\nsaid of Regin that he was an Enchanter and that he had been in the world\nfor longer than the generations of men. No one remembered, nor no one's\nfather remembered, when Regin had come into that country. He taught\nSigurd the art of working in metals and he taught him, too, the lore of\nother days. But ever as he taught him he looked at Sigurd strangely, not\nas a man looks at his fellow, but as a lynx looks at a stronger beast.\n\nOne day Regin said to young Sigurd, \"King Alv has thy father's treasure,\nmen say, and yet he treats thee as if thou wert thrall-born.\"\n\nNow Sigurd knew that Regin said this that he might anger him and\nthereafter use him to his own ends. He said, \"King Alv is a wise and a\ngood King, and he would let me have riches if I had need of them.\"\n\n\"Thou dost go about as a footboy, and not as a King's son.\"\n\n\"Any day that it likes me I might have a horse to ride,\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"So thou dost say,\" said Regin, and he turned from Sigurd and went to\nblow the fire of his smithy.\n\nSigurd was made angry and he threw down the irons on which he was\nworking and he ran to the horse-pastures by the great River. A herd of\nhorses was there, gray and black and roan and chestnut, the best of the\nhorses that King Alv possessed. As he came near to where the herd grazed\nhe saw a stranger near, an ancient but robust man, wearing a strange\ncloak of blue and leaning on a staff to watch the horses. Sigurd, though\nyoung, had seen Kings in their halls, but this man had a bearing that\nwas more lofty than any King's he had ever looked on.\n\n\"Thou art going to choose a horse for thyself,\" said the stranger to\nSigurd.\n\n\"Yea, father,\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"Drive the herd first into the River,\" the stranger said.\n\nSigurd drove the horses into the wide River. Some were swept down by the\ncurrent, others struggled back and clambered up the bank of the\npastures. But one swam across the river, and throwing up his head\nneighed as for a victory. Sigurd marked him; a gray horse he was, young\nand proud, with a great flowing mane. He went through the water and\ncaught this horse, mounted him, and brought him back across the River.\n\n\"Thou hast done well,\" said the stranger. \"Grani, whom thou hast got, is\nof the breed of Sleipner, the horse of Odin.\"\n\n\"And I am of the race of the sons of Odin,\" cried Sigurd, his eyes wide\nand shining with the very light of the sun. \"I am of the race of the\nsons of Odin, for my father was Sigmund, and his father was Volsung, and\nhis father was Rerir, and his father was Sigi, who was the son of Odin.\"\n\nThe stranger, leaning on his staff looked on the youth steadily. Only\none of his eyes was to be seen, but that eye, Sigurd thought, might see\nthrough a stone. \"All thou hast named,\" the stranger said, \"were as\nswords of Odin to send men to Valhalla, Odin's Hall of Heroes. And of\nall that thou hast named there were none but were chosen by Odin's\nValkyries for battles in Asgard.\"\n\nCried Sigurd, \"Too much of what is brave and noble in the world is taken\nby Odin for his battles in Asgard.\"\n\nThe stranger leaned on his staff and his head was bowed. \"What wouldst\nthou?\" he said, and it did not seem to Sigurd that he spoke to him.\n\"What wouldst thou? The leaves wither and fall off Ygdrassil, and the\nday of Ragnaroek comes.\" Then he raised his head and spoke to Sigurd.\n\"The time is near,\" he said, \"when thou mayst possess thyself of the\npieces of thy father's sword.\"\n\nThen the man in the strange cloak of blue went climbing up the hill and\nSigurd watched him pass away from his sight. He had held back Grani, his\nproud horse, but now he turned him and let him gallop along the River in\na race that was as swift as the wind.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SWORD GRAM AND THE DRAGON FAFNIR\n\n\nMounted upon Grani, his proud horse, Sigurd rode to the Hall and showed\nhimself to Alv, the King, and to Hiordis, his mother. Before the Hall he\nshouted out the Volsung name, and King Alv felt as he watched him that\nthis youth was a match for a score of men, and Hiordis, his mother, saw\nthe blue flame of his eyes and thought to herself that his way through\nthe world would be as the way of the eagle through the air.\n\nHaving shown himself before the Hall, Sigurd dismounted from Grani, and\nstroked and caressed him with his hands and told him that now he might\ngo back and take pasture with the herd. The proud horse breathed fondly\nover Sigurd and bounded away.\n\nThen Sigurd strode on until he came to the hut in the forest where he\nworked with the cunning smith Regin. No one was in the hut when he\nentered. But over the anvil, in the smoke of the smithy fire, there was\na work of Regin's hands. Sigurd looked upon it, and a hatred for the\nthing that was shown rose up in him.\n\nThe work of Regin's hands was a shield, a great shield of iron. Hammered\nout on that shield and colored with red and brown colors was the image\nof a Dragon, a Dragon lengthening himself out of a cave. Sigurd thought\nit was the image of the most hateful thing in the world, and the light\nof the smithy fire falling on it, and the smoke of the smithy fire\nrising round it, made it seem verily a Dragon living in his own element\nof fire and reek.\n\nWhile he was still gazing on the loathly image, Regin, the cunning\nsmith, came into the smithy. He stood by the wall and he watched Sigurd.\nHis back was bent; his hair fell over his eyes that were all fiery, and\nhe looked like a beast that runs behind the hedges.\n\n\"Aye, thou dost look on Fafnir the Dragon, son of the Volsungs,\" he said\nto Sigurd. \"Mayhap it is thou who wilt slay him.\"\n\n\"I would not strive with such a beast. He is all horrible to me,\" Sigurd\nsaid.\n\n\"With a good sword thou mightst slay him and win for thyself more renown\nthan ever thy fathers had,\" Regin whispered.\n\n\"I shall win renown as my fathers won renown, in battle with men and in\nconquest of kingdoms,\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"Thou art not a true Volsung or thou wouldst gladly go where most danger\nand dread is,\" said Regin. \"Thou hast heard of Fafnir the Dragon, whose\nimage I have wrought here. If thou dost ride to the crest of the hills\nthou mayst look across to the desolate land where Fafnir has his haunt.\nKnow that once it was fair land where men had peace and prosperity, but\nFafnir came and made his den in a cave near by, and his breathings as he\nwent to and came from the River withered up the land and made it the\nbarren waste that men called Gnita Heath. Now, if thou art a true\nVolsung, thou wilt slay the Dragon, and let that land become fair again,\nand bring the people back to it and so add to King Alv's domain.\"\n\n\"I have nought to do with the slaying of Dragons,\" Sigurd said. \"I have\nto make war on King Lygni, and avenge upon him the slaying of Sigmund,\nmy father.\"\n\n\"What is the slaying of Lygni and the conquest of his kingdom to the\nslaying of Fafnir the Dragon?\" Regin cried. \"I will tell thee what no\none else knows of Fafnir the Dragon. He guards a hoard of gold and\njewels the like of which was never seen in the world. All this hoard you\ncan make yours by slaying him.\"\n\n\"I do not covet riches,\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"No riches is like to the riches that Fafnir guards. His hoard is the\nhoard that the Dwarf Andvari had from the world's early days. Once the\nGods themselves paid it over as a ransom. And if thou wilt win this\nhoard thou wilt be as one of the Gods.\"\n\n\"How dost thou know that of which thou speakst, Regin?\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"I know, and one day I may tell thee how I know.\"\n\n\"And one day I may harken to thee. But speak to me no more of this\nDragon. I would have thee make a sword, a sword that will be mightier\nand better shapen than any sword in the world. Thou canst do this,\nRegin, for thou art accounted the best swordsmith amongst men.\"\n\nRegin looked at Sigurd out of his small and cunning eyes and he thought\nit was best to make himself active. So he took the weightiest pieces of\niron and put them into his furnace and he brought out the secret tools\nthat he used when a masterwork was claimed from his hands.\n\nAll day Sigurd worked beside him keeping the fire at its best glow and\nbringing water to cool the blade as it was fashioned and refashioned.\nAnd as he worked he thought only about the blade and about how he would\nmake war upon King Lygni, and avenge the man who was slain before he\nhimself was born.\n\nAll day he thought only of war and of the beaten blade. But at night his\ndreams were not upon wars nor shapen blades but upon Fafnir the Dragon.\nHe saw the heath that was left barren by his breath, and he saw the cave\nwhere he had his den, and he saw him crawling down from his cave, his\nscales glittering like rings of mail, and his length the length of a\ncompany of men on the march.\n\nThe next day he worked with Regin to shape the great sword. When it was\nshapen with all the cunning Regin knew it looked indeed a mighty sword.\nThen Regin sharpened it and Sigurd polished it. And at last he held the\ngreat sword by its iron hilt.\n\nThen Sigurd took the shield that had the image of Fafnir the Dragon upon\nit and he put the shield over the anvil of the smithy. Raising the great\nsword in both his hands he struck full on the iron shield.\n\nThe stroke of the sword sheared away some of the shield, but the blade\nbroke in Sigurd's hands. Then in anger he turned on Regin, crying out,\n\"Thou hast made a knave's sword for me. To work with thee again! Thou\nmust make me a Volsung's sword.\"\n\nThen he went out and called to Grani, his horse, and mounted him and\nrode to the river bank like the sweep of the wind.\n\nRegin took more pieces of iron and began to forge a new sword, uttering\nas he worked runes that were about the hoard that Fafnir the Dragon\nguarded. And Sigurd that night dreamt of glittering treasure that he\ncoveted not, masses of gold and heaps of glistening jewels.\n\nHe was Regin's help the next day and they both worked to make a sword\nthat would be mightier than the first. For three days they worked upon\nit, and then Regin put into Sigurd's hands a sword, sharpened and\npolished, that was mightier and more splendid looking than the one that\nhad been forged before. And again Sigurd took the shield that had the\nimage of the Dragon upon it and he put it upon the anvil. Then he\nraised his arms and struck his full blow. The sword cut through the\nshield, but when it struck the anvil it shivered in his hands.\n\nHe left the smithy angrily and called to Grani, his proud horse. He\nmounted and rode on like the sweep of the wind.\n\nLater he came to his mother's bower and stood before Hiordis. \"A greater\nsword must I have,\" said he, \"than one that is made of metal dug out of\nthe earth. The time has come, mother, when thou must put into my hands\nthe broken pieces of Gram, the sword of Sigmund and the Volsungs.\"\n\nHiordis measured him with the glance of her eyes, and she saw that her\nson was a mighty youth and one fit to use the sword of Sigmund and the\nVolsungs. She bade him go with her to the King's Hall. Out of the great\nstone chest that was in her chamber she took the beast's skin and the\nbroken blade that was wrapped in it. She gave the pieces into the hands\nof her son. \"Behold the halves of Gram,\" she said, \"of Gram, the mighty\nsword that in the far-off days Odin left in the Branstock, in the tree\nof the house of Volsung. I would see Gram new-shapen in thy hands, my\nson.\"\n\nThen she embraced him as she had never embraced him before, and standing\nthere with her ruddy hair about her she told him of the glory of Gram\nand of the deeds of his fathers in whose hands the sword had shone.\n\nThen Sigurd went to the smithy, and he wakened Regin out of his sleep,\nand he made him look on the shining halves of Sigmund's sword. He\ncommanded him to make out of these halves a sword for his hand.\n\nRegin worked for days in his smithy and Sigurd never left his side. At\nlast the blade was forged, and when Sigurd held it in his hand fire ran\nalong the edge of it.\n\nAgain he laid the shield that had the image of the Dragon upon it on the\nanvil of the smithy. Again, with his hands on its iron hilt, he raised\nthe sword for a full stroke. He struck, and the sword cut through the\nshield and sheared through the anvil, cutting away its iron horn. Then\ndid Sigurd know that he had in his hands the Volsungs' sword. He went\nwithout and called to Grani, and like the sweep of the wind rode down to\nthe River's bank. Shreds of wool were floating down the water. Sigurd\nstruck at them with his sword, and the fine wool was divided against the\nwater's edge. Hardness and fineness, Gram could cut through both.\n\nThat night Gram, the Volsungs' sword, was under his head when he slept,\nbut still his dreams were filled with images that he had not regarded in\nthe day time; the shine of a hoard that he coveted not, and the gleam of\nthe scales of a Dragon that was too loathly for him to battle with.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DRAGON'S BLOOD\n\n\nSigurd went to war: with the men that King Alv gave him he marched into\nthe country that was ruled over by the slayer of his father. The war\nthat he waged was short and the battles that he won were not perilous.\nOld was King Lygni now, and feeble was his grasp upon his people. Sigurd\nslew him and took away his treasure and added his lands to the lands of\nKing Alv.\n\nBut Sigurd was not content with the victory he had gained. He had dreamt\nof stark battles and of renown that would be hardily won. What was the\nwar he had waged to the wars that Sigmund his father, and Volsung his\nfather's father, had waged in their days? Not content was Sigurd. He led\nhis men back by the hills from the crests of which he could look upon\nthe Dragon's haunts. And having come as far as those hills he bade his\nmen return to King Alv's hall with the spoils he had won.\n\nThey went, and Sigurd stayed upon the hills and looked across Gnita\nHeath to where Fafnir the Dragon had his lair. All blasted and wasted\nwas the Heath with the fiery breath of the Dragon. And he saw the cave\nwhere Fafnir abode, and he saw the track that his comings and goings\nmade. For every day the Dragon left his cave in the cliffs, crossing the\nHeath to come to the River at which he drank.\n\nFor the length of a day Sigurd watched from the hills the haunt of the\nDragon. In the evening he saw him lengthening himself out of the cave,\nand coming on his track across the Heath, in seeming like a ship that\ntravels swiftly because of its many oars.\n\nThen to Regin in his smithy he came. To that cunning man Sigurd said:\n\n\"Tell me all thou dost know of Fafnir the Dragon.\"\n\nRegin began to talk, but his speech was old and strange and filled with\nrunes. When he had spoken it all Sigurd said, \"All thou hast told me\nthou wilt have to say over again in a speech that is known to men of our\nday.\"\n\nThen said Regin: \"Of a hoard I spoke. The Dwarf Andvari guarded it from\nthe first days of the world. But one of the AEsir forced Andvari to give\nthe hoard to him, masses of gold and heaps of jewels, and the AEsir gave\nit to Hreidmar, who was my father.\n\n\"For the slaying of his son Otter the AEsir gave the hoard to Hreidmar,\nthe greatest hoard that had ever been seen in the world. But not long\nwas it left to Hreidmar to gloat over. For a son slew a father that he\nmight possess that hoard. Fafnir, that son was Fafnir, my brother.\n\n\"Then Fafnir, that no one might disturb his possession of the hoard,\nturned himself into a Dragon, a Dragon so fearful that none dare come\nnigh him. And I, Regin, was stricken with covetousness of the hoard. I\ndid not change myself into another being, but, by the magic my father\nknew, I made my life longer than the generations of men, hoping that I\nwould see Fafnir slain and then have the mighty hoard under my hands.\n\n\"Now, son of the Volsungs, thou dost know all that has to do with Fafnir\nthe Dragon, and the great hoard that he guards.\"\n\n\"Little do I care about the hoard he guards,\" Sigurd said. \"I care only\nthat he has made the King's good lands into a waste and that he is an\nevil thing to men. I would have the renown of slaying Fafnir the\nDragon.\"\n\n\"With Gram, the sword thou hast, thou couldst slay Fafnir,\" Regin cried,\nhis body shaken with his passion for the hoard. \"Thou couldst slay him\nwith the sword thou hast. Harken now and I will tell thee how thou\nmightst give him the deathly stroke through the coils of his mail.\nHarken, for I have thought of it all.\n\n\"The track of the Dragon to the River is broad, for he takes ever the\none track. Dig a pit in the middle of that track, and when Fafnir comes\nover it strike up into his coils of mail with Gram, thy great sword.\nGram only may pierce that mail. Then will Fafnir be slain and the hoard\nwill be left guardless.\"\n\n\"What thou sayst is wise, Regin,\" Sigurd answered. \"We will make this\npit and I will strike Fafnir in the way thou sayst.\"\n\nThen Sigurd went and he rode upon Grani, his proud horse, and he showed\nhimself to King Alv and to Hiordis, his mother. Afterwards he went with\nRegin to the Heath that was the haunt of the Dragon, and in his track\nthey dug a pit for the slaying of Fafnir.\n\nAnd, lest his horse should scream aloud at the coming of the Dragon,\nSigurd had Grani sent back to a cave in the hills. It was Regin that\nbrought Grani away. \"I am fearful and can do nothing to help thee, son\nof the Volsungs,\" he said. \"I will go away and await the slaying of\nFafnir.\"\n\nHe went, and Sigurd lay down in the pit they had made and practiced\nthrusting upward with his sword. He lay with his face upward and with\nhis two hands he thrust the mighty sword upward.\n\nBut as he lay there he bethought of a dread thing that might happen;\nnamely, that the blood and the venom of the Dragon might pour over him\nas he lay there, and waste him flesh and bone. When he thought of this\nSigurd hastened out of the pit, and he dug other pits near by, and he\nmade a passage for himself from one pit to the other that he might\nescape from the flow of the Dragon's envenomed blood.\n\nAs he lay down again in the pit he heard the treading of the Dragon and\nhe heard the Dragon's strange and mournful cry. Mightily the Dragon came\non and he heard his breathing. His shape came over the pit. Then the\nDragon held his head and looked down on Sigurd.\n\nIt was the instant for him to make stroke with Gram. He did not let the\ninstant pass. He struck mightily under the shoulder and toward the heart\nof the beast. The sword went through the hard and glittering scales that\nwere the creature's mail. Sigurd pulled out the sword and drew himself\nthrough the passage and out into the second pit as Fafnir's envenomed\nblood drenched where he had been.\n\nDrawing himself up out of the second pit he saw the huge shape of Fafnir\nheaving and lashing. He came to him and thrust his sword right through\nthe Dragon's neck. The Dragon reared up as though to fling himself down\non Sigurd with all his crushing bulk and dread talons, with his fiery\nbreath and his envenomed blood. But Sigurd leaped aside and ran far off.\nThen did Fafnir scream his death scream. After he had torn up rocks with\nhis talons he lay prone on the ground, his head in the pit that was\nfilled with his envenomed blood.\n\nThen did Regin, hearing the scream that let him know that Fafnir was\nslain, come down to where the battle had been fought. When he saw that\nSigurd was alive and unharmed he uttered a cry of fury. For his plan had\nbeen to have Sigurd drowned and burnt in the pit with the stream of\nFafnir's envenomed blood.\n\nBut he mastered his fury and showed a pleased countenance to Sigurd.\n\"Now thou wilt have renown,\" he cried. \"Forever wilt thou be called\nSigurd, Fafnir's Bane. More renown than ever any of thy fathers had wilt\nthou have, O Prince of the Volsungs.\"\n\nSo he spoke, saying fair words to him, for now that he was left alive\nthere was something he would have Sigurd do.\n\n\"Fafnir is slain,\" Sigurd said, \"and the triumph over him was not\nlightly won. Now may I show myself to King Alv and to my mother, and the\ngold from Fafnir's hoard will make me a great spoil.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" said Regin cunningly. \"Wait. Thou hast yet to do something for\nme. With the sword thou hast, cut through the Dragon and take out his\nheart for me. When thou hast taken it out, roast it that I may eat of it\nand become wiser than I am. Do this for me who showed thee how to slay\nFafnir.\"\n\nSigurd did what Regin would have him do. He cut out the heart of the\nDragon and he hung it from stakes to roast. Regin drew away and left\nhim. As Sigurd stood before the fire putting sticks upon it there was a\ngreat silence in the forest.\n\nHe put his hand down to turn an ashen branch into the heart of the fire.\nAs he did a drop from the roasting Dragon-heart fell upon his hand. The\ndrop burnt into him. He put his hand to his mouth to ease the smart, and\nhis tongue tasted the burning blood of the Dragon.\n\nHe went to gather wood for the fire. In a clearing that he came to there\nwere birds; he saw four on a branch together. They spoke to each other\nin birds' notes, and Sigurd heard and knew what they were saying.\n\nSaid the first bird: \"How simple is he who has come into this dell! He\nhas no thought of an enemy, and yet he who was with him but a while ago\nhas gone away that he may bring a spear to slay him.\"\n\n\"For the sake of the gold that is in the Dragon's cave he would slay\nhim,\" said the second bird.\n\nAnd the third bird said: \"If he would eat the Dragon's heart himself he\nwould know all wisdom.\"\n\nBut the fourth bird said: \"He has tasted a drop of the Dragon's blood\nand he knows what we are saying.\"\n\nThe four birds did not fly away nor cease from speaking. Instead they\nbegan to tell of a marvelous abode that was known to them.\n\nDeep in the forest, the birds sang, there was a Hall that was called the\nHouse of Flame. Its ten walls were Uni, Iri, Barri, Ori, Varns,\nVegdrasil, Derri, Uri, Dellinger, Atvarder, and each wall was built by\nthe Dwarf whose name it bore. All round the Hall there was a circle of\nfire through which none might pass. And within the Hall a maiden slept,\nand she was the wisest and the bravest and the most beautiful maiden in\nthe world.\n\nSigurd stood like a man enchanted listening to what the birds sang.\n\nBut suddenly they changed the flow of their discourse, and their notes\nbecame sharp and piercing.\n\n\"Look, look!\" cried one. \"He is coming against the youth.\"\n\n\"He is coming against the youth with a spear,\" cried another.\n\n\"Now will the youth be slain unless he is swift,\" cried a third.\n\nSigurd turned round and he saw Regin treading the way toward him, grim\nand silent, with a spear in his hands. The spear would have gone through\nSigurd had he stayed one instant longer in the place where he had been\nlistening to the speech of the birds. As he turned he had his sword in\nhis hand, and he flung it, and Gram struck Regin on the breast.\n\nThen Regin cried out: \"I die--I die without having laid my hands on the\nhoard that Fafnir guarded. Ah, a curse was upon the hoard, for Hreidmar\nand Fafnir and I have perished because of it. May the curse of the gold\nnow fall on the one who is my slayer.\"\n\nThen did Regin breathe out his life. Sigurd took the body and cast it\ninto the pit that was alongside the dead Fafnir. Then, that he might eat\nthe Dragon's heart and become the wisest of men, he went to where he had\nleft it roasting. And he thought that when he had eaten the heart he\nwould go into the Dragon's cave and carry away the treasure that was\nthere, and bring it as spoil of his battle to King Alv and to his\nmother. Then he would go through the forest and find the House of Flame\nwhere slept the maiden who was the wisest and bravest and most beautiful\nin the world.\n\nBut Sigurd did not eat the Dragon's heart. When he came to where he had\nleft it roasting he found that the fire had burnt it utterly.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE STORY OF SIGMUND AND SIGNY\n\n\nHe called to Grani, his proud horse; he stood up on a mound in the Heath\nand he sent forth a great shout. And Grani heard in the cave where Regin\nhad left him and he came galloping to Sigurd with flowing mane and eyes\nflashing fire.\n\nHe mounted Grani and he rode to Fafnir's cave. When he went into the\nplace where the Dragon was wont to lie he saw a door of iron before him.\nWith Gram, his mighty sword, he hewed through the iron, and with his\nstrong hands he pulled the door back. Then, before him he saw the\ntreasure the Dragon guarded, masses of gold and heaps of shining jewels.\n\nBut as he looked on the hoard Sigurd felt some shadow of the evil that\nlay over it all. This was the hoard that in the far-off days the\nRiver-Maidens watched over as it lay deep under the flowing water. Then\nAndvari the Dwarf forced the River-Maidens to give it to him. And Loki\nhad taken it from Andvari, letting loose as he did Gulveig the Witch who\nhad such evil power over the Gods. For the sake of the hoard Fafnir had\nslain Hreidmar, his father, and Regin had plotted death against Fafnir,\nhis brother.\n\nNot all this history did Sigurd know. But a shadow of its evil touched\nhis spirit as he stood there before the gleaming and glittering heap. He\nwould take all of it away, but not now. The tale that the birds told was\nin his mind, and the green of the forest was more to him than the\nglitter of the treasure heap. He would come back with chests and load it\nup and carry it to King Alv's hall. But first he would take such things\nas he himself might wear.\n\nHe found a helmet of gold and he put it on his head. He found a great\narmring and his put it around his arm. On the top of the armring there\nwas a small fingerring with a rune graved upon it. Sigurd put it on his\nfinger. And this was the ring that Andvari the Dwarf had put the curse\nupon when Loki had taken the hoard from him.\n\nHe knew that no one would cross the Heath and come to Fafnir's lair, so\nhe did not fear to leave the treasure unguarded. He mounted Grani, his\nproud horse, and rode toward the forest. He would seek the House of\nFlame where she lay sleeping, the maiden who was the wisest and the\nbravest and the most beautiful in the world. With his golden helmet\nshining above his golden hair Sigurd rode on.\n\nAs he rode toward the forest he thought of Sigmund, his father, whose\nslaying he had avenged, and he thought of Sigmund's father, Volsung, and\nof the grim deeds that the Volsungs had suffered and wrought.\n\nRerir, the son of Sigi who was the son of Odin, was the father of\nVolsung. And Volsung when he was in his first manhood had built his hall\naround a mighty tree. Its branches went up to the roof and made the\nbeams of the house and its great trunk was the center of the hall. \"The\nBranstock\" the tree was called, and Volsung hall was named \"The Hall of\nthe Branstock.\"\n\nMany children had Volsung, eleven sons and one daughter. Strong were all\nhis sons and good fighters, and Volsung of the Hall of the Branstock was\na mighty chief.\n\nIt was through Signy, the daughter of the house, that a feud and a\ndeadly battle was brought to Volsung and his sons. She was a wise and a\nfair maiden and her fame went through all the lands. Now, one day\nVolsung received a message from a King asking for the hand of Signy in\nmarriage. And Volsung who knew of this King through report of his\nbattles sent a message to him saying that he would be welcome to the\nHall of the Branstock.\n\nSo King Siggeir came with his men. But when the Volsungs looked into his\nface they liked it not. And Signy shrank away, saying, \"This King is\nevil of heart and false of word.\"\n\nVolsung and his eleven sons took counsel together. Siggeir had a great\nforce of men with him, and if they refused to give her he could slay\nthem all and harry their kingdom. Besides they had pledged themselves\nto give Signy when they had sent him a message of welcome. Long counsel\nthey had together. And ten of Signy's brothers said, \"Let Signy wed this\nKing. He is not as evil as he seems in her mind.\" Ten brothers said it.\nBut one spoke out, saying, \"We will not give our sister to this evil\nKing. Rather let us all go down fighting with the Hall of the Branstock\nflaming above our heads.\"\n\nIt was Sigmund, the youngest of the Volsungs, who said this.\n\nBut Signy's father said: \"We know nought of evil of King Siggeir. Also\nour word is given to him. Let him feast with us this night in the Hall\nof the Branstock and let Signy go from us with him as his wife.\" Then\nthey looked to her and they saw Signy's face and it was white and stern.\n\"Let it be as ye have said, my father and my brothers,\" she said. \"I\nwill wed King Siggeir and go with him overseas.\" So she said aloud. But\nSigmund heard her say to herself, \"It is woe for the Volsungs.\"\n\nA feast was made and King Siggeir and his men came to the Hall of the\nBranstock. Fires were lighted and tables were spread, and great horns of\nmead went around the guests. In the middle of the feasting a stranger\nentered the Hall. He was taller than the tallest there, and his bearing\nmade all do him reverence. One offered him a horn of mead and he drank\nit. Then, from under the blue cloak that he wore, he drew a sword that\nmade the brightness of the Hall more bright.\n\nHe went to the tree that the Hall was built around, to the Branstock,\nand he thrust the sword into it. All the company were hushed. Then they\nheard the voice of the stranger, a voice that was like the trumpet's\ncall: \"The sword is for the hand that can draw it out of the Branstock.\"\nThen he went out of the Hall.\n\nAll looked to where the sword was placed and saw a hand's breadth of\nwonderful brightness. This one and that one would have laid hands on the\nhilt, only Volsung's voice bade them stand still. \"It is meet,\" he said,\n\"that our guest and our son-in-law, King Siggeir, should be the first to\nput hands on its hilt and try to draw the sword of the stranger out of\nthe Branstock.\"\n\nKing Siggeir went to the tree and laid his hands on the broad hilt. He\nstrove hard to draw out the sword, but all his might could not move it.\nAs he strained himself to draw it and failed, a dark look of anger came\ninto his face.\n\nThen others tried to draw it, the captains who were with King Siggeir,\nand they, too, failed to move the blade. Then Volsung tried and Volsung\ncould not move it. One after the other, his eleven sons strained to draw\nout the stranger's sword. At last it came to the turn of the youngest,\nto Sigmund, to try. And when Sigmund laid his hand on the broad hilt and\ndrew it, behold! The sword came with his hand, and once again the Hall\nwas brightened with its marvelous brightness.\n\nIt was a wondrous sword, a sword made out of better metal and by smiths\nmore cunning than any known. All envied Sigmund that he had won for\nhimself that wonder-weapon.\n\nKing Siggeir looked on it with greedy eyes. \"I will give thee its weight\nin gold for that sword, good brother,\" he said.\n\nBut Sigmund said to him proudly: \"If the sword was for thy hand thou\nshouldst have won it. The sword was not for thine, but for a Volsung's\nhand.\"\n\nAnd Signy, looking at King Siggeir, saw a look of deeper evil come into\nhis face. She knew that hatred for all the Volsung race was in his\nheart.\n\nBut at the end of the feast she was wed to King Siggeir, and the next\nday she left the Hall of the Branstock and went with him down to where\nhis great painted ship was drawn up on the beach. And when they were\nparting from her, her father and her brothers, King Siggeir invited them\nto come to his country, as friends visiting friends and kinsmen visiting\nkinsmen, and look on Signy again. And he stood on the beach and would\nnot go on board his ship until each and all of the Volsungs gave their\nword that they would visit Signy and him in his own land. \"And when thou\ncomest,\" he said to Sigmund, \"be sure thou dost bring with thee the\nmighty sword that thou didst win.\"\n\nAll this was thought of by Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, as he rode toward\nthe fringe of the forest.\n\nThe time came for Volsung and his sons to redeem the promise they made\nto King Siggeir. They made ready their ship and they sailed from the\nland where stood the Hall of the Branstock. And they landed on the coast\nof King Siggeir's country, and they drew their ship up on the beach and\nthey made their camp there, intending to come to the King's Hall in the\nbroad light of the day.\n\nBut in the half light of the dawn one came to the Volsung ship. A cloak\nand hood covered the figure, but Sigmund, who was the watcher, knew who\nit was. \"Signy!\" he said, and Signy asked that her father and her\nbrothers be awakened until she would speak to them of a treason that was\nbrewed against them.\n\n\"King Siggeir has made ready a great army against your coming,\" she told\nthem. \"He hates the Volsungs, the branch as well as the root, and it is\nhis plan to fall upon you, my father and my brothers, with his great\narmy and slay you all. And he would possess himself of Gram, Sigmund's\nwonder-sword. Therefore, I say to you, O Volsungs, draw your ship into\nthe sea and sail from the land where such treachery can be.\"\n\nBut Volsung, her father, would not listen. \"The Volsungs do not depart\nlike broken men from a land they have brought their ship to,\" he said.\n\"We gave, each and all, the word that we would visit King Siggeir and\nvisit him we will. And if he is a dastard and would fall upon us, why we\nare the unbeaten Volsungs, and we will fight against him and his army\nand slay him, and bear you back with us to the Hall of the Branstock.\nThe day widens now, and we shall go to the Hall.\"\n\nSigny would have spoken of the great army King Siggeir had gathered, but\nshe knew that the Volsungs never harkened to talk of odds. She spoke no\nmore, but bowed her head and went back to King Siggeir's hall.\n\nSiggeir knew that Signy had been to warn her father and her brothers. He\ncalled the men he had gathered and he posted them cunningly in the way\nthe Volsungs would come. Then he sent one to the ship with a message of\nwelcome.\n\nAs they left their ship the army of King Siggeir fell upon the Volsungs\nand their followers. Very fierce was the battle that was waged on the\nbeach, and many and many a one of King Siggeir's fierce fighters went\ndown before the fearless ones that made Volsung's company. But at last\nVolsung himself was slain and his eleven sons were taken captive. And\nGram, his mighty sword, was taken out of Sigmund's hands.\n\nThey were brought before King Siggeir in his hall, the eleven Volsung\nprinces. Siggeir laughed to see them before him. \"Ye are not in the Hall\nof the Branstock now, to dishonor me with black looks and scornful\nwords,\" he said, \"and a harder task will be given you than that of\ndrawing a sword out of a tree-trunk. Before set of sun I will see you\nhewn to pieces with the sword.\"\n\nThen Signy who was there stood up with her white face and her wide eyes,\nand she said: \"I pray not for longer life for my brothers, for well I\nknow that my prayers would avail them nought. But dost thou not heed the\nproverb, Siggeir--'Sweet to the eye as long as the eye can see'?\"\n\nAnd Siggeir laughed his evil laugh when he heard her. \"Aye, my Queen,\"\nhe said, \"sweet to the eye as long as the eye may see their torments.\nThey shall not die at once nor all together. I will let them see each\nother die.\"\n\nSo Siggeir gave a new order to his dastard troops. The order was that\nthe eleven brothers should be taken into the depths of the forest and\nchained to great beams and left there. This was done with the eleven\nsons of Volsung.\n\nThe next day one who had watched and who was faithful to Signy came, and\nSigny said to him: \"What has befallen my brothers?\"\n\nAnd the watcher said: \"A great wolf came to where the chained men are,\nand fell upon the first of them and devoured him.\"\n\nWhen Signy heard this no tears came from her eyes, but that which was\nhard around her heart became harder. She said, \"Go again, and watch what\nbefalls.\"\n\nAnd the watcher came the second time and said: \"The second of your\nbrothers has been devoured by the wolf.\" Signy shed no tears this time\neither, and again that which was hard around her heart became harder.\n\nAnd every day the watcher came and he told her what had befallen her\nbrothers. And it came to the time when but one of her brothers was left\nalive, Sigmund, the youngest.\n\nThen said Signy: \"Not without device are we left at the end. I have\nthought of what is to be done. Take a pot of honey to where he is\nchained and smear Sigmund's face with the honey.\"\n\nThe watcher did as Signy bade him.\n\nAgain the great wolf came along the forest-ways to where Sigmund was\nchained. When she snuffed over him she found the honey upon his face.\nShe put down her tongue to lick over his face. Then, with his strong\nteeth Sigmund seized the tongue of the wolf. She fought and she\nstruggled with all her might, but Sigmund did not let go of her tongue.\nThe struggle with the beast broke the beam to which he was chained. Then\nSigmund seized the wolf with his hands and tore her jaws apart.\n\nThe watcher saw this happening and told of it to Signy. A fierce joy\nwent through her, and she said: \"One of the Volsungs lives, and\nvengeance will be wrought upon King Siggeir and upon his house.\"\n\nStill the watcher stayed in the ways of the forest, and he marked where\nSigmund built for himself a hidden hut. Often he bore tokens from Signy\nto Sigmund. Sigmund took to the ways of the hunter and the outlaw, but\nhe did not forsake the forest. And King Siggeir knew not that one of the\nVolsungs lived and was near him.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE STORY OF SIGMUND AND SINFIOTLI\n\n\nAs Sigurd rode the ways of the forest he thought upon Sigmund, his\nfather, on his life and his death, according to what Hiordis, his\nmother, had told him. Sigmund lived for long the life of the hunter and\nthe outlaw, but he never strayed far from the forest that was in King\nSiggeir's dominion. Often did he get a token from Signy. They two, the\nlast of the Volsungs, knew that King Siggeir and his house would have to\nperish for the treason he had wrought on their father and their\nbrothers.\n\nSigmund knew that his sister would send her son to help him. One morning\nthere came to his hut a boy of ten years. He knew that this was one of\nSigny's sons, and that she would have him train him into being a\nwarrior worthy of the Volsung breed.\n\nSigmund hardly looked and hardly spoke to the lad. He was going hunting,\nand as he took down his spear from the wall he said:\n\n\"There is the mealbag, boy. Mix the meal and make the bread, and we will\neat when I come back.\"\n\nWhen he returned the bread was unmade, and the boy was standing watching\nthe mealbag with widened eyes. \"Thou didst not make the bread?\" Sigmund\nsaid.\n\n\"Nay,\" said the boy, \"I was afeard to go near the bag. Something stirred\nwithin it.\"\n\n\"Thou hast the heart of a mouse so to be frighted. Go back to thy mother\nand tell her that not in thee is the stuff for a Volsung warrior.\"\n\nSo Sigmund spoke, and the boy went away weeping.\n\nA year later another son of Signy's came. As before Sigmund hardly\nlooked at and hardly spoke to the boy. He said:\n\n\"There is the mealbag. Mix the meal and make ready the bread against the\ntime I return.\"\n\nWhen Sigmund came back the bread was unmade. The boy had shrunk away\nfrom where the bag was.\n\n\"Thou hast not made the bread?\" Sigmund said.\n\n\"Nay,\" said the boy, \"something stirred in the bag, and I was afeard.\"\n\n\"Thou hast the heart of a mouse. Get thee back to thy mother and tell\nher that there is not in thee the stuff for the making of a Volsung\nwarrior.\"\n\nAnd this boy, like his brother, went back weeping.\n\nAt that time Signy had no other sons. But at last one was born to her,\nthe child of a desperate thought. Him, too, when he was grown, she sent\nto Sigmund.\n\n\"What did thy mother say to thee?\" Sigmund said to this boy when he\nshowed himself at the hut.\n\n\"Nothing. She sewed my gloves to my hands and then bade me pull them\noff.\"\n\n\"And didst thou?\"\n\n\"Aye, and the skin came with them.\"\n\n\"And didst thou weep?\"\n\n\"A Volsung does not weep for such a thing.\"\n\nLong did Sigmund look on the lad. He was tall and fair and great-limbed,\nand his eyes had no fear in them.\n\n\"What wouldst thou have me do for thee?\" said the lad.\n\n\"There is the mealbag,\" Sigmund said. \"Mix the meal and make the bread\nfor me against the time I return.\"\n\nWhen Sigmund came back the bread was baking on the coals. \"What didst\nthou with the meal?\" Sigmund asked.\n\n\"I mixed it. Something was in the meal--a serpent, I think--but I\nkneaded it with the meal, and now the serpent is baking on the coals.\"\n\nSigmund laughed and threw his arms around the boy. \"Thou wilt not eat of\nthat bread,\" he said. \"Thou didst knead into it a venomous serpent.\"\n\nThe boy's name was Sinfiotli. Sigmund trained him in the ways of the\nhunter and the outlaw. Here and there they went, taking vengeance on\nKing Siggeir's men. The boy was fierce, but never did he speak a word\nthat was false.\n\nOne day when Sigmund and Sinfiotli were hunting, they came upon a\nstrange house in the dark wood. When they went within they found two men\nlying there sleeping a deep sleep. On their arms were heavy rings of\ngold, and Sigmund knew that they were the sons of Kings.\n\nAnd beside the sleeping men he saw wolfskins, left there as though they\nhad been cast off. Then Sigmund knew that these men were\nshape-changers--that they were ones who changed their shapes and ranged\nthrough the forests as wolves.\n\nSigmund and Sinfiotli put on the skins that the men had cast off, and\nwhen they did this they changed their shapes and became as wolves. And\nas wolves they ranged through the forest, now and then changing their\nshapes back to those of men. As wolves they fell upon King Siggeir's men\nand slew more and more of them.\n\nOne day Sigmund said to Sinfiotli: \"Thou art still young and I would not\nhave thee be too rash. If thou dost come upon a company of seven men,\nfight them. But if thou dost come on a company greater than seven, raise\nup thy voice as a wolf's cry and bring me to thy side.\"\n\nSinfiotli promised that he would do this.\n\nOne day, as he went through the forest in his wolf's shape, Sigmund\nheard the din of a struggle and he stopped to listen for Sinfiotli's\ncall. But no call came. Then Sigmund went through the forest in the\ndirection of the struggle. On his way he passed the bodies of eleven\nslain men. And he came upon Sinfiotli lying in the thicket, his wolf's\nshape upon him, and panting from the battle he had waged.\n\n\"Thou didst strive with eleven men. Why didst thou not call to me?\"\nSigmund said.\n\n\"Why should I have called to thee? I am not so feeble but I can strive\nwith eleven men.\"\n\nSigmund was made angry with this answer. He looked on Sinfiotli where he\nlay, and the wicked wolf's nature that was in the skin came over him. He\nsprang upon him, sinking his teeth in Sinfiotli's throat.\n\nSinfiotli lay gasping in the throes of death. And Sigmund, knowing the\ndeadly grip that was in those jaws of his, howled his anguish.\n\nThen, as he licked the face of his comrade, he saw two weasels meet.\nThey began to fight, one with the other, and the first caught the second\nat the throat, and bit him with his teeth and laid him out as if in\ndeath. Sigmund marked the combat and the end of it. But then the first\nweasel ran and found leaves of a certain herb and he put them upon his\ncomrade's wound. And the herb cured the wound, and the weasel that was\nbitten rose up and was sound and swift again.\n\nSigmund went searching for the herb he saw the weasel carry to his\ncomrade. And as he sought for it he saw a raven with a leaf in her beak.\nShe dropped the leaf as he came to her, and behold! It was the same leaf\nas the weasel had brought to his comrade. Sigmund took it and laid it on\nthe wound he had made in Sinfiotli's throat, and the wound healed, and\nSinfiotli was sound once more. They went back to their hut in the\nforest. And the next day they burnt the wolfskins, and they prayed the\nGods that they might never be afflicted with the wolf's evil nature\nagain. And Sigmund and Sinfiotli never afterwards changed their shapes.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE STORY OF THE VENGEANCE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND\nOF THE DEATH OF SINFIOTLI\n\n\nAnd now Sinfiotli had come to his full strength and it was time to take\nvengeance on King Siggeir for the slaying of Volsung and the dread doom\nhe had set for Volsung's ten sons. Sigmund and Sinfiotli put helmets on\ntheir heads and took swords in their hands and went to King Siggeir's\nHall. They hid behind the casks of ale that were at the entrance and\nthey waited for the men-at-arms to leave the Hall that they might fall\nupon King Siggeir and his attendants.\n\nThe younger children of King Siggeir were playing in the Hall and one\nlet fall a ball. It went rolling behind the casks of ale. And the child\npeering after the ball saw two men crouching with swords in their hands\nand helmets on their heads.\n\nThe child told a servant who told the King. Then Siggeir arose, and he\ndrew his men-at-arms around him, and he set them on the men who were\nhiding behind the barrels. Sigmund and Sinfiotli sprang up and fought\nagainst the men of King Siggeir, but they were taken captives.\n\nNow they might not be slain there and then, for it was unlawful to slay\ncaptives after sunset. But for all that, King Siggeir would not leave\nthem above ground. He decreed that they should be put in a pit, and a\nmound made over them so that they would be buried alive.\n\nThe sentence was carried out. A great flagstone was put down to divide\nthe pit in two, so that Sigmund and Sinfiotli might hear each other's\nstruggle and not be able to give help to each other. All was done as the\nKing commanded.\n\nBut while his thralls were putting sods over the pit, one came amongst\nthem, cloaked and hooded, and dropped something wrapped in straw into\nthe side of the pit where Sinfiotli lay. And when the sky was shut out\nfrom them with the turf and soil that was put over the pit, Sinfiotli\nshouted to Sigmund: \"I shall not die, for the queen has thrown down to\nme meat wrapped in a parcel of straw.\"\n\nAnd a while afterwards Sinfiotli shouted to Sigmund: \"The queen has left\na sword in the meat which she flung down to me. It is a mighty sword.\nAlmost I think it is Gram, the sword you told me of.\"\n\n\"If it be Gram,\" Sigmund said, \"it is a sword that can cut through this\nflagstone. Thrust the blade against the stone and try.\"\n\nSinfiotli thrust the blade against the stone and the blade went through\nthe stone. Then, one on each side, they took hold of the sword and they\ncut the great stone in two. Afterwards, working together, it was easy to\nshift the turf and soil. The two came out under the sky.\n\nBefore them was the Hall of King Siggeir. They came to the Hall and they\nset dry wood before it and they fired the wood and made the Hall blaze\nup. And when the Hall was in a blaze King Siggeir came to the door and\nshouted, \"Who is it that has fired the house of the King?\"\n\nAnd Sigmund said, \"I, Sigmund, the son of Volsung, that you may pay for\nthe treason wrought on the Volsungs.\"\n\nSeeing Sigmund there with Gram, the great sword, in his hands, Siggeir\nwent back into his Hall. Then Signy was seen with her white face and her\nstern eyes, and Sigmund called to her, \"Come forth, come forth. Sigmund\ncalls. Come out of Siggeir's blazing house and together we will go back\nto the Hall of the Branstock.\"\n\nBut Signy said, \"All is finished now. The vengeance is wrought and I\nhave no more to keep me in life. The Volsung race lives on in you, my\nbrother, and that is my joy. Not merrily did I wed King Siggeir and not\nmerrily did I live with him, but merrily will I die with him now.\"\n\nShe went within the Hall; then the flames burst over it and all who were\nwithin perished. Thus the vengeance of the Volsungs was wrought.\n\nAnd Sigurd thought on the deed that Sigmund, his father, and Sinfiotli,\nthe youth who was his father's kinsman, wrought, as he rode the ways of\nthe forest, and of the things that thereafter befell them.\n\nSigmund and Sinfiotli left King Siggeir's land and came back to the land\nwhere was the Hall of the Branstock. Sigmund became a great King and\nSinfiotli was the Captain of his host.\n\nAnd the story of Sigmund and Sinfiotli goes on to tell how Sigmund wed a\nwoman whose name was Borghild, and how Sinfiotli loved a woman who was\nloved by Borghild's brother. A battle came in which the youths were on\nopposite sides, and Sinfiotli killed Borghild's brother, and it was in\nfair combat.\n\nSinfiotli returned home. To make peace between him and the Queen,\nSigmund gave Borghild a great measure of gold as compensation for the\nloss of her brother. The Queen took it and said, \"Lo, my brother's worth\nis reckoned at this; let no more be said about his slaying.\" And she\nmade Sinfiotli welcome to the Hall of the Branstock.\n\nBut although she showed herself friendly to him her heart was set upon\nhis destruction.\n\nThat night there was a feast in the Hall of the Branstock and Borghild\nthe Queen went to all the guests with a horn of mead in her hand. She\ncame to Sinfiotli and she held the horn to him. \"Take this from my\nhands, O friend of Sigmund,\" she said.\n\nBut Sinfiotli saw what was in her eyes and he said, \"I will not drink\nfrom this horn. There is venom in the drink.\"\n\nThen, to end the mockery that the Queen would have made over Sinfiotli,\nSigmund who was standing by took the horn out of Borghild's hand. No\nvenom or poison could injure him. He raised the horn to his lips and\ndrained the mead at a draught.\n\nThe Queen said to Sinfiotli, \"Must other men quaff thy drink for thee?\"\n\nLater in the night she came to him again, the horn of mead in her hand.\nShe offered it to Sinfiotli, but he looked in her eyes and saw the\nhatred that was there. \"Venom is in the drink,\" he said. \"I will not\ntake it.\"\n\nAnd again Sigmund took the horn and drank the mead at a draught. And\nagain the Queen mocked Sinfiotli.\n\nA third time she came to him. Before she offered the horn she said,\n\"This is the one who fears to take his drink like a man. What a Volsung\nheart he has!\" Sinfiotli saw the hatred in her eyes, and her mockery\ncould not make him take the mead from her. As before Sigmund was\nstanding by. But now he was weary of raising the horn and he said to\nSinfiotli, \"Pour the drink through thy beard.\"\n\nHe thought that Sigmund meant that he should pour the mead through his\nlips that were bearded and make trouble no more between him and the\nQueen. But Sigmund did not mean that. He meant that he should pretend to\ndrink and let the mead run down on the floor. Sinfiotli, not\nunderstanding what his comrade meant, took the horn from the Queen and\nraised it to his lips and drank. And as soon as he drank, the venom that\nwas in the drink went to his heart, and he fell dead in the Hall of the\nBranstock.\n\nOh, woeful was Sigmund for the death of his kinsman and his comrade. He\nwould let no one touch his body. He himself lifted Sinfiotli in his arms\nand carried him out of the Hall, and through the wood, and down to the\nseashore. And when he came to the shore he saw a boat drawn up with a\nman therein. Sigmund came near to him and saw that the man was old and\nstrangely tall. \"I will take thy burthen from thee,\" the man said.\n\nSigmund left the body of Sinfiotli in the boat, thinking to take a place\nbeside it. But as soon as the body was placed in it the boat went from\nthe land without sail or oars. Sigmund, looking on the old man who stood\nat the stern, knew that he was not of mortal men, but was Odin\nAll-Father, the giver of the sword Gram.\n\nThen Sigmund went back to his Hall. His Queen died, and in time he wed\nwith Hiordis, who became the mother of Sigurd. And now Sigurd the\nVolsung, the son of Sigmund and Hiordis, rode the ways of the forest,\nthe sword Gram by his side, and the Golden Helmet of the Dragon's Hoard\nabove his golden hair.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBRYNHILD IN THE HOUSE OF FLAME\n\n\nThe forest ways led him on and up a mountain-side. He came to a\nmountain-summit at last: Hindfell, where the trees fell away, leaving a\nplace open to the sky and the winds. On Hindfell was the House of Flame.\nSigurd saw the walls black, and high, and all around them was a ring of\nfire.\n\nAs he rode nearer he heard the roar of the mounting and the circling\nfire. He sat on Grani, his proud horse, and for long he looked on the\nblack walls and the flame that went circling around them.\n\nThen he rode Grani to the fire. Another horse would have been\naffrighted, but Grani remained steady under Sigurd. To the wall of fire\nthey came, and Sigurd, who knew no fear, rode through it.\n\nNow he was in the courtyard of the Hall. No stir was there of man or\nhound or horse. Sigurd dismounted and bade Grani be still. He opened a\ndoor and he saw a chamber with hangings on which was wrought the pattern\nof a great tree, a tree with three roots, and the pattern was carried\nacross from one wall to the other. On a couch in the center of the\nchamber one lay in slumber. Upon the head was a helmet and across the\nbreast was a breastplate. Sigurd took the helmet off the head. Then over\nthe couch fell a heap of woman's hair--wondrous, bright-gleaming hair.\nThis was the maiden that the birds had told him of.\n\nHe cut the fastenings of the breastplate with his sword, and he gazed\nlong upon her. Beautiful was her face, but stern; like the face of one\nwho subdues but may not be subdued. Beautiful and strong were her arms\nand her hands. Her mouth was proud, and over her closed eyes there were\nstrong and beautiful brows.\n\nHer eyes opened, and she turned them and looked full upon Sigurd. \"Who\nart thou who hast awakened me?\" she said.\n\n\"I am Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, of the Volsung race,\" he answered.\n\n\"And thou didst ride through the ring of fire to me?\"\n\n\"That did I.\"\n\nShe knelt on the couch and stretched out her arms to where the light\nshone. \"Hail, O Day,\" she cried, \"and hail, O beams that are the sons of\nDay. O Night, and O daughter of Night, may ye look on us with eyes that\nbless. Hail, O AEsir and O Asyniur! Hail, O wide-spreading fields of\nMidgard! May ye give us wisdom, and wise speech, and healing power, and\ngrant that nothing untrue or unbrave may come near us!\"\n\nAll this she cried with eyes open wide; they were eyes that had in them\nall the blue that Sigurd had ever seen: the blue of flowers, the blue of\nskies, the blue of battle-blades. She turned those great eyes upon him\nand she said, \"I am Brynhild, once a Valkyrie but now a mortal maiden,\none who will know death and all the sorrows that mortal women know. But\nthere are things that I may not know, things that are false and of no\nbravery.\"\n\nShe was the bravest and the wisest and the most beautiful maiden in the\nworld: Sigurd knew that it was so. He laid his sword Gram at her feet,\nand he said her name, \"Brynhild.\" He told her how he had slain the\nDragon, and how he had heard the birds tell of her. She rose from the\ncouch and bound her wondrous hair on her head. In wonder he watched her.\nWhen she moved it was as though she walked above the earth.\n\nThey sat together and she told him wonderful and secret things. And she\ntold him, too, how she was sent by Odin from Asgard to choose the slain\nfor his hall Valhalla, and to give victory to those whom he willed to\nhave it. And she told how she had disobeyed the will of All-Father, and\nhow for that she was made outcast of Asgard. Odin put into her flesh the\nthorn of the Tree of Sleep that she might remain in slumber until one\nwho was the bravest of mortal men should waken her. Whoever would break\nthe fastenings of the breastplate would take out the Thorn of Sleep.\n\"Odin granted me this,\" she said, \"that as a mortal maid I should wed\nnone but him who is the bravest in the world. And so that none but him\nmight come to me, All-Father put the fire-ring round where I lay in\nslumber. And it is thou, Sigurd, son of Sigmund, who hast come to me.\nThou art the bravest and I think thou art the most beautiful too; like\nto Tyr, the God who wields the sword.\"\n\nShe told him that whoever rode through the fire and claimed her as his\nwife, him she must wed.\n\nThey talked to each other fondly and the day flowed by them. Then Sigurd\nheard Grani, his horse, neigh for him again and again. He cried to\nBrynhild: \"Let me go from the gaze of thine eyes. I am that one who is\nto have the greatest name in the world. Not yet have I made my name as\ngreat as my father and my father's father made their names great. I have\novercome King Lygni, and I have slain Fafnir the Dragon, but that is\nlittle. I would make my name the greatest in the world, and endure all\nthat is to be endured in making it so. Then I would come back to thee in\nthe House of Flame.\"\n\nBrynhild said to him: \"Well dost thou speak. Make thy name great, and\nendure what thou hast to endure in making it so. I will wait for thee,\nknowing that none but Sigurd will be able to win through the fire that\nguards where I abide.\"\n\nThey gazed long on each other, but little more they spoke. Then they\nheld each other's hands in farewell, and they plighted faith, promising\neach other that they would take no other man or maiden for their mate.\nAnd for token of their troth Sigurd took the ring that was on his finger\nand placed it on Brynhild's--Andvari's ring it was.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSIGURD AT THE HOUSE OF THE NIBELUNGS\n\n\nHe left Hindfell and he came into a kingdom that was ruled over by a\npeople that were called the Nibelungs as Sigurd's people were called the\nVolsungs. Giuki was the name of the King of that land.\n\nGiuki and his Queen and all their sons gave a great welcome to Sigurd\nwhen he came to their hall, for he looked such a one as might win the\nname of being the world's greatest hero. And Sigurd went to war beside\nthe King's sons, Gunnar and Hoegni, and the three made great names for\nthemselves, but Sigurd's shone high above the others.\n\nWhen they came back from that war there were great rejoicings in the\nhall of the Nibelungs, and Sigurd's heart was filled with friendship\nfor all the Nibelung race; he had love for the King's sons, Gunnar and\nHoegni, and with Gunnar and Hoegni he swore oaths of brotherhood.\nHenceforward he and they would be as brethren. King Giuki had a stepson\nnamed Guttorm and he was not bound in the oath that bound Sigurd and the\nothers in brotherhood.\n\nAfter the war they had waged Sigurd spent a whole winter in the hall of\nthe Nibelungs. His heart was full of memories of Brynhild and of\nlongings to ride to her in the House of Flame and to take her with him\nto the kingdom that King Giuki would have given him. But as yet he would\nnot go back to her, for he had sworn to give his brethren further help.\n\nOne day, as he rode by himself, he heard birds talk to each other and he\nknew the words they were saying. One said, \"There is Sigurd who wears\nthe wondrous helmet that he took out of Fafnir's hoard.\" And the other\nbird said, \"He knows not that by that helmet he can change his shape as\nFafnir changed his shape, and make him look like this creature or that\ncreature, or this man or that man.\" And the third bird said, \"He knows\nnot that the helmet can do anything so wonderful for him.\"\n\nHe rode back to the hall of the Nibelungs, and at the supperboard he\ntold them what he had heard the birds say. He showed them the wondrous\nhelmet. Also he told them how he had slain Fafnir the Dragon, and of how\nhe had won the mighty hoard for himself. His two sworn brothers who were\nthere rejoiced that he had such wondrous possessions.\n\nBut more precious than the hoard and more wondrous than the helmet was\nthe memory of Brynhild that he had. But of this he said no word.\n\nGrimhild was the name of the Queen. She was the mother of Gunnar and\nHoegni and their half-brother Guttorm. And she and the King had one\ndaughter whose name was Gudrun. Now Grimhild was one of the wisest of\nwomen, and she knew when she looked upon him that Sigurd was the world's\ngreatest warrior. She would have him belong to the Nibelungs, not only\nby the oaths of brotherhood he had sworn with Gunnar and Hoegni, but by\nother ties. And when she heard of the great hoard that was his she had\ngreater wish and will that he should be one with the Nibelungs. She\nlooked on the helmet of gold and on the great armring that he wore, and\nshe made it her heart's purpose that Sigurd should wed with Gudrun, her\ndaughter. But neither Sigurd nor the maiden Gudrun knew of Grimhild's\nresolve.\n\nAnd the Queen, watching Sigurd closely, knew that he had a remembrance\nin his breast that held him from seeing Gudrun's loveliness. She had\nknowledge of spells and secret brews (she was of the race of Borghild\nwhose brew had destroyed Sinfiotli's life) and she knew that she could\nmake a potion that would destroy the memory Sigurd held.\n\nShe mixed the potion. Then one night when there was feasting in the hall\nof the Nibelungs, she gave the cup that held the potion into the hands\nof Gudrun and bade her carry it to Sigurd.\n\nSigurd took the cup out of the hands of the fair Nibelung maiden and he\ndrank the potion. When he had drunk it he put the cup down and he stood\namongst the feasters like a man in a dream. And like a man in a dream he\nwent into his chamber, and for a day and a night afterwards he was\nsilent and his mind was astray. When he rode out with Gunnar and Hoegni\nthey would say to him, \"What is it thou hast lost, brother?\" Sigurd\ncould not tell them. But what he had lost was all memory of Brynhild the\nValkyrie in the House of Flame.\n\nHe saw Gudrun and it was as though he looked upon her for the first\ntime. Soft were the long tresses of her hair; soft were her hands. Her\neyes were like woodflowers, and her ways and her speech were gentle. Yet\nwas she noble in her bearing as became a Princess who would come into a\nkingdom. And from the first time she had seen him upon Grani, his proud\nhorse, and with his golden helmet above his golden hair, Gudrun had\nloved Sigurd.\n\nAt the season when the wild swans came to the lake Gudrun went down to\nwatch them build their nests. And while she was there Sigurd rode\nthrough the pines. He saw her, and her beauty made the whole place\nchange. He stopped his horse and listened to her voice as she sang to\nthe wild swans, sang the song that Voelund made for Alvit, his\nswan-bride.\n\nNo more was Sigurd's heart empty of memory: it was filled with the\nmemory of Gudrun as he saw her by the lake when the wild swans were\nbuilding their nests. And now he watched her in the hall, sitting with\nher mother embroidering, or serving her father or her brothers, and\ntenderness for the maiden kept growing in his heart.\n\nA day came when he asked Gunnar and Hoegni, his sworn brethren, for\nGudrun. They were glad as though a great fortune had befallen them. And\nthey brought him before Giuki the King, and Grimhild the Queen. It\nseemed as if they had cast off all trouble and care and entered into the\nprime of their life and power, so greatly did the King and the Queen\nrejoice at Sigurd's becoming one with the Nibelungs through his marriage\nwith Gudrun.\n\nWhen Gudrun heard that Sigurd had asked for her, she said to the Queen:\n\"Oh, my mother, your wisdom should have strengthened me to bear such\njoy. How can I show him that he is so dear, so dear to me? But I shall\ntry not to show it, for he might deem that there was no sense in me but\nsense to love him. So great a warrior would not care for such love. I\nwould be with him as a battle-maiden.\"\n\nSigurd and Gudrun were wed and all the kingdom that the Nibelungs ruled\nover rejoiced. And Queen Grimhild thought that though the effect of the\npotion she gave would wear away, his love for Gudrun would ever fill his\nheart, and that no other memory would be able to find a place there.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW BRYNHILD WAS WON FOR GUNNAR\n\n\nNow that Sigurd had wed Gudrun he was one with the Nibelungs. The hoard\nthat was in Fafnir's cave he brought away and he left it in their\ntreasure house. He went into his fosterfather's kingdom again, and he\nsaw King Alv and Hiordis, his mother. But he had no memory now of the\nHouse of Flame, nor of Brynhild, who waited there for him.\n\nKing Giuki died, and Gunnar, Sigurd's sworn brother, became King in his\nstead. His mother would have him wed, but Gunnar told her he had seen no\nmaiden whom he would choose for his wife.\n\nBut when Sigurd and he were together Gunnar would speak of a maiden far\naway, one whom he often thought on. And one day when Sigurd pressed him\nto tell who this maiden was, he spoke of one whom the wisest of the\npoets told of, a maiden in a Hall with a flame around it, a maiden named\nBrynhild who was guarded by a ring of fire.\n\nSigurd laughed to think that his shrewd brother was beguiled by one whom\nhe had only heard of. But if he was beguiled by the tale of her, why\nshould he not come to her and wed her? So Sigurd said. Then Gunnar bent\nto him and asked Sigurd would he aid him to win her? And Sigurd took\nGunnar's hand and swore that he would.\n\nSo they started off for Hindfell, Gunnar and Hoegni and Sigurd. They rode\non until they came in sight of the black walls with the mounting and\ncircling fire around them. No memory had Sigurd of the place. With the\nflame of eagerness upon his stolid face Gunnar went forward to ride\nthrough the ring of fire. He brought Goti, his horse, near the flame,\nbut the horse, for no urging, would go through it. Then Gunnar thought\nthat, mounted on Grani, Sigurd's horse, he could ride through the ring\nof fire. He mounted Grani and came near to the flaring wall. But Grani,\nknowing that the one who rode him had fear of the fire, reared up and\nwould not go through it. Only with Sigurd on his back would Grani go\nthrough the flame.\n\nThen were the three sworn brethren greatly discomfited. But after they\nhad considered it for long Hoegni the Wise said: \"There is a way to win\nBrynhild, and that is for Sigurd to change shapes, by the magic of his\nhelmet, with Gunnar. Then Sigurd could ride Grani through the wall of\nflame and come to Brynhild in Gunnar's shape.\"\n\nSo spoke Hoegni the Wise, and when he saw his sworn brother's gaze fixed\non him in pleading, Sigurd could not but agree to ride through the flame\nand come to Brynhild in the way he said. And so by the magic of his\nhelmet he changed shapes with Gunnar. Then he mounted Grani and rode to\nthe wall of flame. And Grani, knowing that the one he bore was without\nfear, rode through the flaring fire. Then Sigurd came into the courtyard\nof the House of Flame. He dismounted from Grani, and he bade his horse\nbe still.\n\nHe went within the Hall and he saw one with a bow in her hands shooting\nat a mark. She turned to him, and he saw a beautiful and stern face,\nwith coils of wondrous, bright-gleaming hair and eyes that were like\nstars in an unventured-in sea. He thought that the arrow in her hands\nhad been shot through him. But it was not so. Brynhild threw down the\nbow and came to him with that walk of hers that was as of one moving\nabove the earth. And when she came near and looked upon him she uttered\na strange cry.\n\n\"Who art thou?\" she said. \"Who art thou who hast come to me through the\nwall of flaring fire?\"\n\n\"Gunnar, son of Giuki, of the race of the Nibelungs,\" Sigurd said.\n\n\"Art thou the bravest one in the world?\" she asked.\n\n\"I have ridden through the wall of flaring fire to come to thee,\" Sigurd\nanswered.\n\n\"He who has come through that wall of flaring fire may claim me,\"\nBrynhild said. \"It is written in the runes, and it must be so. But I\nthought there was only one who would come to me through it.\" She looked\nat him, and her eyes had a flame of anger. \"Oh, I would strive with thee\nwith warrior-weapons,\" she cried. Then Sigurd felt her strong hands upon\nhim, and he knew that she was striving to throw him.\n\nThey wrestled, and each was so strong that none could move the other.\nThey wrestled, Sigurd the first of heroes, and Brynhild, the Valkyrie.\nSigurd got her hand in his in the wrestle. On that hand was a ring, and\nSigurd bent back the finger and drew it off.\n\nIt was Andvari's ring, the ring he had placed on her finger. And when\nthe ring was taken off it, Brynhild sank down on her knees like one that\nwas strengthless.\n\nThen Sigurd lifted her in his arms and carried her to where Grani, his\nhorse, was waiting. He lifted her across his horse, and he mounted\nbehind her and again he rode through the wall of flame. Hoegni and Gunnar\nwere waiting, Gunnar in Sigurd's shape. Brynhild did not look upon them,\nbut covered her face with her hands. Then Sigurd took back his own\nshape, and he rode before Gunnar and Hoegni to the hall of the Nibelungs.\n\nHe went within, and he found Gudrun, his wife, playing with Sigmund, his\nlittle son, and he sat beside her and he told her of all that had\nbefallen: how, for the sake of the sworn brotherhood, he had won\nBrynhild the Valkyrie for Gunnar, and how he had striven with her and\nhad overcome her, and had taken off her finger the ring that he now\nwore upon his own.\n\nAnd even as he spoke to his wife the fume of the potion that Gudrun's\nmother had given him was wearing off, and he had memories of going to\nthe House of Flame on a day that was not this day, and of riding through\nthe wall of fire in his own shape. And again, as on the night when he\ndrank the potion that Queen Grimhild brewed, he became as one whose wits\nare astray. He stood watching his child as he played, and his wife as\nshe worked at her embroidery, and he was as a man in a dream.\n\nWhile he was standing there Gunnar and Hoegni came into the hall of the\nNibelungs bringing Brynhild with them. Gudrun rose up to welcome her who\ncame as her brother's bride. Then did Sigurd look on Brynhild and then\ndid he remember all. And when he remembered all such a mighty sigh rose\nfrom his heart as burst the links of the mail that was across his\nbreast.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DEATH OF SIGURD\n\n\nIt happened one day that Brynhild, Gunnar's wife, now a Queen, was with\nSigurd's wife, bathing in a river. Not often they were together.\nBrynhild was the haughtiest of women, and often she treated Gudrun with\ndisdain. Now as they were bathing together, Gudrun, shaking out her\nhair, cast some drops upon Brynhild. Brynhild went from Gudrun. And\nSigurd's wife, not knowing that Brynhild had anger against her, went\nafter her up the stream.\n\n\"Why dost thou go so far up the river, Brynhild?\" Gudrun asked.\n\n\"So that thou mayst not shake thy hair over me,\" answered Brynhild.\n\nGudrun stood still while Brynhild went up the river like a creature who\nwas made to be alone. \"Why dost thou speak so to me, sister?\" Gudrun\ncried.\n\nShe remembered that from the first Brynhild had been haughty with her,\noften speaking to her with harshness and bitterness. She did not know\nwhat cause Brynhild had for this.\n\nIt was because Brynhild had seen in Sigurd the one who had ridden\nthrough the fire for the first time, he who had awakened her by breaking\nthe binding of her breastplate and so drawing out of her flesh the thorn\nof the Tree of Sleep. She had given him her love when she awakened on\nthe world. But he, as she thought, had forgotten her easily, giving his\nlove to this other maiden. Brynhild, with her Valkyrie's pride, was left\nwith a mighty anger in her heart.\n\n\"Why dost thou speak so to me, Brynhild?\" Gudrun asked.\n\n\"It would be ill indeed if drops from thy hair fell on one who is so\nmuch above thee, one who is King Gunnar's wife,\" Brynhild answered.\n\n\"Thou art married to a King, but not to one more valorous than my lord,\"\nGudrun said.\n\n\"Gunnar is more valorous; why dost thou compare Sigurd with him?\"\nBrynhild said.\n\n\"He slew the Dragon Fafnir, and won for himself Fafnir's hoard,\" said\nGudrun.\n\n\"Gunnar rode through the ring of fire. Mayhap thou wilt tell us that\nSigurd did the like,\" said Brynhild.\n\n\"Yea,\" said Gudrun, now made angry. \"It was Sigurd and not Gunnar who\nrode through the ring of fire. He rode through it in Gunnar's shape, and\nhe took the ring off thy finger--look, it is now on mine.\"\n\nAnd Gudrun held out her hand on which was Andvari's ring. Then Brynhild\nknew, all at once, that what Gudrun said was true. It was Sigurd that\nrode through the ring of fire the second as well as the first time. It\nwas he who had struggled with her, taking the ring off her hand and\nclaiming her for a bride, not for himself but for another, and out of\ndisdain.\n\nFalsely had she been won. And she, one of Odin's Valkyries, had been wed\nto one who was not the bravest hero in the world, and she to whom\nuntruth might not come had been deceived. She was silent now, and all\nthe pride that was in her turned to hatred of Sigurd.\n\nShe went to Gunnar, her husband, and she told him that she was so deeply\nshamed that she could never be glad in his Hall again; that never would\nhe see her drinking wine, nor embroidering with golden threads, and\nnever would he hear her speaking words of kindness. And when she said\nthis to him she rent the web she was weaving, and she wept aloud so that\nall in the hall heard her, and all marveled to hear the proud Queen cry.\n\nThen Sigurd came to her, and he offered in atonement the whole hoard of\nFafnir. And he told her how forgetfulness of her had come upon him, and\nhe begged her to forgive him for winning her in falseness. But she\nanswered him: \"Too late thou hast come to me, Sigurd. Now I have only a\ngreat anger in my heart.\"\n\nWhen Gunnar came she told him she would forgive him, and love him as she\nhad not loved him before, if he would slay Sigurd. But Gunnar would not\nslay him, although Brynhild's passion moved him greatly, since Sigurd\nwas a sworn brother of his.\n\nThen she went to Hoegni and asked him to slay Sigurd, telling him that\nthe whole of Fafnir's hoard would belong to the Nibelungs if Sigurd were\nslain. But Hoegni would not slay him, since Sigurd and he were sworn\nbrothers.\n\nThere was one who had not sworn brotherhood with Sigurd. He was Guttorm,\nGunnar's and Hoegni's half-brother. Brynhild went to Guttorm. He would\nnot slay Sigurd, but Brynhild found that he was infirm of will and\nunsteady of thought. With Guttorm, then, she would work for the slaying\nof Sigurd. Her mind was fixed that he and she would no longer be in the\nworld of men.\n\nShe made a dish of madness for Guttorm--serpent's venom and wolf's flesh\nmixed--and when he had eaten it Guttorm was crazed. Then did he listen\nto Brynhild's words. And she commanded him to go into the chamber where\nSigurd slept and stab him through the body with a sword.\n\nThis Guttorm did. But Sigurd, before he gasped out his life, took Gram,\nhis great sword, and flung it at Guttorm and cut him in twain.\n\nAnd Brynhild, knowing what deed was done, went without and came to where\nGrani, Sigurd's proud horse, was standing. She stayed there with her\narms across Grani's neck, the Valkyrie leaning across the horse that was\nborn of Odin's horse. And Grani stood listening for some sound. He\nheard the cries of Gudrun over Sigurd, and then his heart burst and he\ndied.\n\nThey bore Sigurd out of the Hall and Brynhild went beside where they\nplaced him. She took a sword and put it through her own heart. Thus died\nBrynhild who had been made a mortal woman for her disobedience to the\nwill of Odin, and who was won to be a mortal's wife by a falseness.\n\nThey took Sigurd and his horse Grani, and his helmet and his golden\nwar-gear and they left all on a great painted ship. They could not but\nleave Brynhild beside him, Brynhild with her wondrous hair and her stern\nand beautiful face. They left the two together and launched the ship on\nthe sea. And when the ship was on the water they fired it, and Brynhild\nonce again lay in the flames.\n\nAnd so Sigurd and Brynhild went together to join Baldur and Nanna in\nHela's habitation.\n\nGunnar and Hoegni came to dread the evil that was in the hoard. They took\nthe gleaming and glittering mass and they brought it to the river along\nwhich, ages before, Hreidmar had his smithy and the Dwarf Andvari his\ncave. From a rock in the river they cast the gold and jewels into the\nwater and the hoard of Andvari sank for ever beneath the waves. Then the\nRiver Maidens had possession again of their treasure. But not for long\nwere they to guard it and to sing over it, for now the season that was\ncalled the Fimbul Winter was coming over the earth, and Ragnaroek, the\nTwilight of the Gods, was coming to the Dwellers in Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS\n\n\nSnow fell on the four quarters of the world; icy winds blew from every\nside; the sun and the moon were hidden by storms. It was the Fimbul\nWinter: no spring came and no summer; no autumn brought harvest or\nfruit, and winter grew into winter again.\n\nThere was three years' winter. The first was called the Winter of Winds:\nstorms blew and snows drove down and frosts were mighty. The children of\nmen might hardly keep alive in that dread winter.\n\nThe second winter was called the Winter of the Sword: those who were\nleft alive amongst men robbed and slew for what was left to feed on;\nbrother fell on brother and slew him, and over all the world there were\nmighty battles.\n\nAnd the third winter was called the Winter of the Wolf. Then the\nancient witch who lived in Jarnvid, the Iron Wood, fed the Wolf Managarm\non unburied men and on the corpses of those who fell in battle. Mightily\ngrew and flourished the Wolf that was to be the devourer of Mani, the\nMoon. The Champions in Valhalla would find their seats splashed with the\nblood that Managarm dashed from his jaws; this was a sign to the Gods\nthat the time of the last battle was approaching.\n\nA cock crew; far down in the bowels of the earth he was and beside\nHela's habitation: the rusty-red cock of Hel crew, and his crowing made\na stir in the lower worlds. In Joetunheim a cock crew, Fialar, the\ncrimson cock, and at his crowing the Giants aroused themselves. High up\nin Asgard a cock crew, the golden cock Gullinkambir, and at his crowing\nthe Champions in Valhalla bestirred themselves.\n\nA dog barked; deep down in the earth a dog barked; it was Garm, the\nhound with bloody mouth, barking in Gnipa's Cave. The Dwarfs who heard\ngroaned before their doors of stone. The tree Ygdrassil moaned in all\nits branches. There was a rending noise as the Giants moved their ship;\nthere was a trampling sound as the hosts of Muspelheim gathered their\nhorses.\n\nBut Joetunheim and Muspelheim and Hel waited tremblingly; it might be\nthat Fenrir the Wolf might not burst the bonds wherewith the Gods had\nbound him. Without his being loosed the Gods might not be destroyed. And\nthen was heard the rending of the rock as Fenrir broke loose. For the\nsecond time the Hound Garm barked in Gnipa's Cave.\n\nThen was heard the galloping of the horses of the riders of Muspelheim;\nthen was heard the laughter of Loki; then was heard the blowing of\nHeimdall's horn; then was heard the opening of Valhalla's five hundred\nand forty doors, as eight hundred Champions made ready to pass through\neach door.\n\nOdin took council with Mimir's head. Up from the waters of the Well of\nWisdom he drew it, and by the power of the runes he knew he made the\nhead speak to him. Where best might the AEsir and the Vanir and the\nEinherjar, who were the Champions of Midgard, meet, and how best might\nthey strive with the forces of Muspelheim and Joetunheim and Hel? The\nhead of Mimir counseled Odin to meet them on Vigard Plain and to wage\nthere such war that the powers of evil would be destroyed forever, even\nthough his own world should be destroyed with them.\n\nThe riders of Muspelheim reached Bifroest, the Rainbow Bridge. Now would\nthey storm the City of the Gods and fill it with flame. But Bifroest\nbroke under the weight of the riders of Muspelheim, and they came not to\nthe City of the Gods.\n\nJoermungand, the serpent that encircles the world, reared itself up from\nthe sea. The waters flooded the lands, and the remnant of the world's\ninhabitants was swept away. That mighty flood floated Naglfar, the Ship\nof Nails that the Giants were so long building, and floated the ship of\nHel also. With Hrymer the Giant steering it, Naglfar sailed against the\nGods, with all the powers of Joetunheim aboard. And Loki steered the ship\nof Hel with the Wolf Fenrir upon it for the place of the last battle.\n\nSince Bifroest was broken, the AEsir and the Vanir, the Asyniur and the\nVana, the Einherjar and the Valkyries rode downward to Vigard through\nthe waters of Thund. Odin rode at the head of his Champions. His helmet\nwas of gold and in his hand was his spear Gungnir. Thor and Tyr were in\nhis company.\n\nIn Mirkvid, the Dark Forest, the Vanir stood against the host of\nMuspelheim. From the broken end of the Rainbow Bridge the riders came,\nall flashing and flaming, with fire before them and after them. Nioerd\nwas there with Skadi, his Giant wife, fierce in her war-dress; Freya was\nthere also, and Frey had Gerda beside him as a battle-maiden. Terribly\nbright flashed Surtur's sword. No sword ever owned was as bright as his\nexcept the sword that Frey had given to Skirnir. Frey and Surtur fought;\nhe perished, Frey perished in that battle, but he would not have\nperished if he had had in his hand his own magic sword.\n\nAnd now, for the third time, Garm, the hound with blood upon his jaws,\nbarked. He had broken loose on the world, and with fierce bounds he\nrushed toward Vigard Plain, where the Gods had assembled their powers.\nLoud barked Garm. The Eagle Hraesvelgur screamed on the edge of heaven.\nThen the skies were cloven, and the tree Ygdrassil was shaken in all its\nroots.\n\nTo the place where the Gods had drawn up their ranks came the ship of\nJoetunheim and the ship of Hel, came the riders of Muspelheim, and Garm,\nthe hound with blood upon his jaws. And out of the sea that now\nsurrounded the plain of Vigard the serpent Joermungand came.\n\nWhat said Odin to the Gods and to the Champions who surrounded him? \"We\nwill give our lives and let our world be destroyed, but we will battle\nso that these evil powers will not live after us.\" Out of Hel's ship\nsprang Fenrir the Wolf. His mouth gaped; his lower jaw hung against the\nearth, and his upper jaw scraped the sky. Against the Wolf Odin\nAll-Father fought. Thor might not aid him, for Thor had now to encounter\nJoermungand, the monstrous serpent.\n\nBy Fenrir the Wolf Odin was slain. But the younger Gods were now\nadvancing to the battle; and Vidar, the Silent God, came face to face\nwith Fenrir. He laid his foot on the Wolf's lower jaw, that foot that\nhad on the sandal made of all the scraps of leather that shoemakers had\nlaid by for him, and with his hands he seized the upper jaw and tore his\ngullet. Thus died Fenrir, the fiercest of all the enemies of the Gods.\n\nJoermungand, the monstrous serpent, would have overwhelmed all with the\nvenom he was ready to pour forth. But Thor sprang forward and crushed\nhim with a stroke of his hammer Mioelnir. Then Thor stepped back nine\npaces. But the serpent blew his venom over him, and blinded and choked\nand burnt, Thor, the World's Defender, perished.\n\nLoki sprang from his ship and strove with Heimdall, the Warder of the\nRainbow Bridge and the Watcher for the Gods. Loki slew Heimdall and was\nslain by him.\n\nBravely fought Tyr, the God who had sacrificed his swordhand for the\nbinding of the Wolf. Bravely he fought, and many of the powers of evil\nperished by his strong left hand. But Garm, the hound with bloody jaws,\nslew Tyr.\n\nAnd now the riders of Muspelheim came down on the field. Bright and\ngleaming were all their weapons. Before them and behind them went\nwasting fires. Surtur cast fire upon the earth; the tree Ygdrassil took\nfire and burned in all its great branches; the World Tree was wasted in\nthe blaze. But the fearful fire that Surtur brought on the earth\ndestroyed him and all his host.\n\nThe Wolf Hati caught up on Sol, the Sun; the Wolf Managarm seized on\nMani, the Moon; they devoured them; stars fell, and darkness came down\non the world.\n\nThe seas flowed over the burnt and wasted earth and the skies were dark\nabove the sea, for Sol and Mani were no more. But at last the seas drew\nback and earth appeared again, green and beautiful. A new Sun and a new\nMoon appeared in the heavens, one a daughter of Sol and the other a\ndaughter of Mani. No grim wolves kept them in pursuit.\n\nFour of the younger Gods stood on the highest of the world's peaks; they\nwere Vidar and Vali, the sons of Odin, and Modi and Magni, the sons of\nThor. Modi and Magni found Mioelnir, Thor's hammer, and with it they slew\nthe monsters that still raged through the world, the Hound Garm and the\nWolf Managarm.\n\nVidar and Vali found in the grass the golden tablets on which were\ninscribed the runes of wisdom of the elder Gods. The runes told them of\na heaven that was above Asgard, of Gimli, that was untouched by Surtur's\nfire. Vili and Ve, Will and Holiness, ruled in it. Baldur and Hoedur came\nfrom Hela's habitation, and the Gods sat on the peak together and held\nspeech with each other, calling to mind the secrets and the happenings\nthey had known before Ragnaroek, the Twilight of the Gods.\n\nDeep in a wood two of human kind were left; the fire of Surtur did not\ntouch them; they slept, and when they wakened the world was green and\nbeautiful again. These two fed on the dews of the morning; a woman and a\nman they were. Lif and Lifthrasir. They walked abroad in the world, and\nfrom them and from their children came the men and women who spread\nthemselves over the earth.\n\n\nThe End.","title":"The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":65623}