{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_48908/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_48908","id":"gutenberg_48908","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48908","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Mythology, Norse -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"YOUNG FOLKS' LIBRARY OF\n                           CHOICE LITERATURE.\n\n\n                                LEGENDS\n                                   OF\n                               NORSELAND\n\n\n                               EDITED BY\n                             MARA L. PRATT,\n               Author of \"American History Stories,\" etc.\n                        Illustrated by A. CHASE\n\n\n                    EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.\n                                BOSTON.\n                        NEW YORK.      CHICAGO.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                              Copyrighted\n                   By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY,\n                                 1894.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                          Page\n\n    Valkyrie (Frontispiece)                  6\n    The Beginning                            7\n    Ygdrasil                                12\n    Odin at the Well of Wisdom              17\n    Odin and the All-wise Giant             22\n    The Stolen Wine. Part I.                28\n    The Stolen Wine. Part II.               36\n    Loke's Theft                            46\n    Thor's Hammer                           53\n    The Theft of the Hammer                 68\n    The Finding of the Hammer               76\n    The Apples of Life. Part I.             84\n    The Apples of Life. Part II.            97\n    Loke's Wolf                            105\n    The Fenris-wolf                        114\n    Defeat of Hrungner                     121\n    Thor and Skrymer                       132\n    Thor and the Utgard-King               143\n    Thor and the Midgard Serpent           155\n    Valkyries' Song                        165\n    The Dying Baldur                       167\n    The Punishment of Loke                 178\n    The Darkness that fell on Asgard       185\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLEGENDS OF NORSELAND.\n\nI.\n\nTHE BEGINNING.\n\n\nIn the beginning, when the beautiful and sunny world was first made,\nthere stood, in the very midst of all its beauty, Mt. Ida--a mountain\nso high, so far away up among the snowy clouds, that its summit was\nlost in the shining light of the rays of the sun.\n\nAt its base, stretching away to the north, the south, the east, and\nthe west, as far as even the eyes of the gods could reach, lay the\nsoft, green valleys and the great, broad plain beyond. Encircling the\nwhole great plain, and curling lovingly around in all the little bends\nand bays of the distant shore, lay the deep blue waters; and beyond\nthe waters, hidden in the distant mists, rose the great mountains in\nwhich the frost giants dwelt.\n\nOn the top of Mt. Ida, the gods had built their shining city, Asgard;\nand from its golden gateway to the valley below was stretched the\nrichly-colored, rainbow bridge, with its wonderful bars of red and\nyellow and blue, orange and green, indigo and purple.\n\nAnd in this shining city, where the gods dwelt, there was no sorrow,\nno grief, no pain of any kind. Never was the sun's light shut off by\nheavy clouds; never did the cruel lightnings flash, nor came their\nblights upon the harvest fields; never did the heavy rains fall,\nnor did the cold winds sweep down upon this shining city.\n\nBut alas, there came a time when a shadow fell upon this city that\nshone so like a golden cloud resting upon the mountain peak. For the\nFates, the three cruel sisters, came and took up their abode at the\nfoot of the wonderful tree of Life, whose roots were in the earth,\nand whose branches, reaching high above the shining city, protected\nit from the sun's fierce heat and strong white light. And from that\ntime even the gods themselves were no longer free from care and sorrow.\n\nEnvy sprang up among the children of the great god, Odin; sickness,\nand even death, fell upon them; and the frost giants waged war with\nthem,--a war that would never cease in all the ages that were to come,\nuntil that day when the sun's light went out forever, and the dark\nreign of Ragnarok fell upon the earth.\n\nIt was a beautiful earth that lay stretched out at the foot of\nMt. Ida. The fields were rich with grain; the trees were loaded with\nfruits; the sun shone warm and bright; but there were no harvesters, no\ngatherers of the fruit, no children to run and frolic in the sunshine.\n\n\"The fair earth is desolate,\" said Odin to himself, as he looked down\nfrom his golden temple. \"There should be people there, not gods and\ngoddesses like us here upon Mt. Ida, but beings less powerful than\nwe, beings who can love and enjoy, and whose children shall fill the\nearth with their happy voices. And the care of all these beings shall\nbe mine.\"\n\nAs he spoke, he, the All Father, passed down the rainbow bridge,\nout into the rich, green valley below.\n\nAs he passed on beneath the trees, he saw standing together, their\nbranches bending towards each other, a straight, strong Ash and a\ngentle, graceful Elm.\n\n\"From these trees,\" said Odin to himself, \"will I create the Earth\npeople. The man I will name Ask, and the woman, Embla. It is a\nbeautiful, sunny world: they should be very happy in it. How their\nchildren shall delight in the broad fields and the sunny slopes! And\nno harm shall come to them; for I, the All Father, will watch over\nthem in all the age's to come.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nYGDRASIL.\n\n\nAt the base of Mt. Ida stood Ygdrasil, the wonderful tree of\nLife. Never before nor since was there another such a tree. It had\nnever had a beginning; it had never been young.\n\nNot even the oldest man, not even the gods themselves could say, \"I\nremember when this great tree was a tender sapling, I remember when it\nsent forth its first tiny leaves, and how it rocked, and swayed, and\nshivered, and bent its timid head as the cold ice king swept over it.\"\n\nFor there had never been a time since the beginning of the world\nwhen Ygdrasil had not stood there, tall and strong, one great root\nreaching down, down through the earth to the home of the dead, another\nstretching away, no one could tell how far, till it reached the home\nof the terrible giants, so fierce and cruel, so strong, and withal\nso wise, that even the gods themselves dreaded them and stood ever\nin terror of their approach.\n\nAnd its branches? So broad, so far reaching, so numerous were these,\nthat they spread themselves protectingly over the whole earth, their\ntop-most leaves rustling and whispering together above the golden\npalace of the gods, far up on the summit of the cloud-hidden Ida.\n\nNor was this all. Hidden among the dense leaves lived a great white\neagle. No one knew whence he came; no one had ever looked upon him;\nbut there he sat, ages upon ages, singing forever the story of the\ncreator of the earth and the wonderful deeds of the gods who dwell in\nthe shining city of Asgard. The leaves of the tree sang sunset songs,\nand whispered to each other secrets, sometimes sad, sometimes gay,\nwhich even the gods, with all their wisdom, could not understand.\n\nAt the foot of the tree, away down at the end even of the deepest,\nfarthest root, lay the Well of Wisdom. Its waters were black. Sometimes\nthey were very bitter, and few there were who had the courage and\nthe perseverance to search out the hiding-place of this wonderful\nspring. Then, too, it was guarded by a grim old giant, Memory, who\nso loved this well, and so dreaded the approach of man or god to its\nwaters, that he would not allow them even to touch their lips to it,\nuntil they had sworn to surrender to him whatever thing was dearest\nin life to them.\n\nThis was a heavy price to pay for wisdom, and few there were who\ncared to pay it. \"Will you give me your children?\" \"Will you give\nme your freedom?\" \"Will you give me your health?\" \"Will you give me\nyour tongue, your ears, your eyes?\" the old giant would ask of the\nmortals who came to drink of the waters of the Well of Wisdom.\n\nAnd always, when the mortals heard these questions, they grew pale\nand trembled with fear. \"Go back to your homes,\" the old giant would\nthunder, \"you desire wisdom it is true; but you are not willing to pay\nthe price for it.\" Then the mortals would hurry away, their hearts\nbeating with fear, their ears ringing with the thunderous tones of\nthe terrible giant, who, since the earth was made, had sat at the\nfoot of Ygdrasil guarding the secrets from all the world.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nODIN AT THE WELL OF WISDOM.\n\n\nAs Odin looked down from his home in Asgard and saw the people he had\nmade from the ash and the elm trees, he sighed to himself and said,\n\"These are my children. It is I who created them. They are innocent\nand pure and sweet.\"\n\n\"But, alas, how little they know of life. By and by there will come\nto them danger and sorrow. The Ice King, the cruel tyrant, will\nbreathe upon them, and the harvests will shrivel before their eyes;\nthe rivers will be frozen, the trees will be bare, and there will be\nno food for them. As the years roll on, little children will come;\nthese children will grow into manhood and womanhood, and other little\nchildren will follow. They are but mortals. Sickness and death will\nbe their share; for I could not make them like the gods.\"\n\nAnd as Odin thought of all these things his heart grew sad. Almost\nhe wished he had not made these helpless beings from the ash and the\nelm. He looked down into the sunny valley, where as yet no sorrow\nnor suffering had come. \"Poor children!\" he sighed. \"What a world\nof wisdom Odin must possess to protect and guide and teach these\nearth-people that he has made.\"\n\nJust then Ask and Embla paused and looked up towards the shining\ncity; for the sigh from Odin's heart had been so deep and long that\nthe leaves of Ygdrasil had rustled, and a faint echo of it had swept\neven across the valley below.\n\n\"What is it that sweeps sometimes across the valley, and moves the\ntrees and the leaves, and so gently fans our cheeks?\" asked Embla.\n\n\"I often wonder,\" answered Ask. \"It is very pleasant. Perhaps it is\na message from the good Odin who made us and who gave us this sunny\nvalley to play in.\"\n\nThen on they ran, hand in hand, happy children as they were, and in\na moment had forgotten all about it.\n\nBut Odin had not forgotten. \"Frigg,\" said he to his goddess wife,\n\"it is granted to us as gods to possess great wisdom. Still there\nremain many things we do not know. Below in the valley there have\nsprung into being a man and a woman. They are like us, Frigg, but\nthey are not very wise. They need our care, even as our own dear\nBaldur needed our care when he was a very little child. I shall go\nto the Giant Memory, who guards the Well of Wisdom, and he shall give\nme a draught from the wonderful water. Then shall I be the all-wise,\nall-loving All-Father these children of the valley need.\"\n\n\"O, but the price this cruel Giant will ask of you!\" sobbed Frigg.\n\n\"I would give my life for them,\" answered Odin tenderly. Then he turned\nfrom her, passed down the rainbow bridge to the valley, entered the\ngreat black, gaping cave and groped his way along the cold, dark\npassages that led to the Well of Wisdom.\n\nThree times the sun rose, three times the sun set. Then, just as\nthe earth and the shining Asgard lay bathed in the rich, golden\nsunset light, Odin came forth again, passed up the rainbow bridge,\nand entered the great hall of the gods. \"It is Odin,\" cried Frigg.\n\nYes, it is Odin, the same Odin. But with a face so joyous, so radiant,\nso happy! For Odin had drank from the Well of Wisdom. The way had\nbeen dark; the struggle with the great Giant had been hard. But Odin\nhad conquered; and now the joy that belongs always to the wise was\nhis forevermore.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nODIN AND THE ALL-WISE GIANT.\n\n\nAway across the great sea of blue waters that curled about the shores\nof Midgard, the dwelling place of Odin's earth-children, were the\ndark, frowning, rock-bound mountains, the castles of the terrible\ngiants whom even the gods feared.\n\nOne of these giants, Vafthrudner, was known among them as the All-wise.\n\n\"He is our chief. He is wiser even than the gods of Asgard,\" the\ngiants sometimes would thunder across the wide blue sea. And indeed\nit was true; for none among the gods had yet been able to answer his\nquestions; nor could they; neither could they ask of him one that he\ncould not answer.\n\n\"We will bear the insolence of this giant no longer,\" said Odin to\nFrigg. \"I will go to him, and the race of giants shall know that at\nlast Wisdom dwells not in Jotunheim but in the golden city of the\ngods,--the glorious, shining city of Asgard.\"\n\n\"Who comes?\" thundered Vafthrudner as Odin approached his mountain\npeak.\n\n\"It is I--a mere traveller. But as I chanced to be journeying through\nyour country, I heard of your wonderful wisdom. In my own country,\nfar away to the west, I too am accounted somewhat wise. Let us test\neach other and learn which of us is wiser.\"\n\n\"Test each other! Learn which is wiser!\" bellowed the great giant,\nhis voice echoing and re-echoing across the sea, until the very walls\nof the golden hall upon Mt. Ida trembled and the earth-children in\nthe valley below clung to each other in fear.\n\n\"Whichever one fails forfeits his life. You know that, I trust,\"\nadded Vafthrudner with a sneer.\n\n\"I know,\" answered Odin quietly. \"But let us begin. Night will come\nupon us, and I must reach my home while the Sun-god is still above us.\"\n\n\"You will never see your home again; so it matters little whether\nwe begin early or late. However, tell me, foolish, vain earth-child\nthat you are, what river is it that flows between this home of the\nAll-powerful giants and the home of the gods?\"\n\n\"The name of that river is Ifing,\" answered Odin. \"And I can tell you\nmore than that. Because it touches upon the shores of the city of the\ngods, the Ice King, Njord, has no power over it. His breath cannot\nfreeze it. Year after year, Njord tries to imprison its sparkling\nwaters that you giants may cross upon its crust and attack the shining\ncity. But it will never freeze. You will never cross it. Asgard is\nforever safe.\"\n\nThe giant dropped his mighty jaw. His eyes stared like great suns of\nfire. His terrible frame trembled. Down came his club upon the floor\nof his great castle.\n\nAgain Ask and Embla paled with fear as the valley shook beneath\ntheir feet.\n\n\"Who are you?\" roared the All-wise giant. \"Who are you that you know\nthat river's name? Who are you that you dare tell me I shall never\ncross to its farther shore?\"\n\n\"It matters little who I am,\" answered Odin, his eyes flashing, his\nbeautiful figure growing taller and taller. \"But listen now while\nI whisper into your ear my question.\" And with a mighty stride Odin\ncrossed to Vafthrudner's throne, leaned forward, seized him by the\nshoulder, and hissed three words into the gigantic, cave-like ear.\n\nWhat those words were, no man ever knew. Forever they shall remain\na secret between Vafthrudner and the All-Father Odin.\n\nThe giant paled, staggered to his feet, groaned and fell. The walls of\nthe great hall swayed to and fro. The lightning flashed, the thunder\npealed from peak to peak. Odin had conquered. The All-Father was\nnow the All-loving and the All-wise too. And as such, was ever after\nacknowledged by all living creatures,--gods and men, dwarfs and giants.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nTHE STOLEN WINE.\n\nPart I.\n\n\nThere had lain for ages upon ages, hidden away in the great rocky\ncellar of one of the giant's castles, a cask of wine, which had been\nstolen from the gods.\n\nNever before had the gods been able to learn what had become of it;\nwhat giant had stolen it, nor in what castle it was hidden.\n\nBut now that Odin had become All-wise, nothing could be concealed\nfrom him.\n\n\"I know at last where the wine lies hidden,\" said Odin one day to\nhis son, Thor; \"and I shall set forth to find it.\"\n\nThor brought down his hammer with a thud. \"Let me go with you,\" cried\nhe, springing up. \"And let me fell to the earth with one blow of my\nmagic hammer the giant who has stolen, and has kept hidden all these\nages our precious wine.\"\n\n\"No;\" answered Odin, \"this time I must go alone. The wine is guarded\nday and night, and it will not be easy to bring it away, even when I\nhave found it. But watch for me, dear son. One day there will come,\nbeating its wings against the shining gates of our city, a great white\neagle. Do not harm the eagle. Open the gates to him; for that eagle\nwill be Odin, returning with the stolen wine to our city of Asgard.\"\n\nThen Odin put aside his sparkling crown and laid down his sceptre. His\nwonderful blue mantle, studded with stars and fastened always with\na pale crescent moon, he also threw aside, and stepped forth in the\ngarb of a common laborer. \"It is in this guise that I shall win my\nway to the giant's castle,\" said Odin; and in a second he had passed\nout from the hall and was gone.\n\nIt was the giant, Suttung, that had stolen the wine, and it was in\nhis castle that it had lain hidden all these years.\n\nNow, of all the strong castles of all the giants, Suttung's castle\nwas the strongest. The cellar was cut into the solid rock. Moreover,\nthree sides of the castle rose in solid walls of granite; while the\nfourth, no less firm and strong, was built of massive blocks bound\nwith hoops and bars and bolts of strongest iron and steel.\n\nNow, Suttung had a brother, Bauge, who was a giant farmer. He kept\nnine strong slaves, half giants themselves, to do his work for him.\n\nAs Odin approached the fields of Bauge's farm, he saw the nine men\nhard at work.\n\n\"Your scythes are dull,\" said he, as he drew near.\n\n\"Yes, but we have no whetstone to sharpen them upon,\" answered the\nworkmen, the great drops standing out upon their foreheads.\n\n\"I will sharpen them on mine,\" said Odin, drawing one from his pocket.\n\n\"It is a magic whetstone!\" cried the men as they saw it work. \"Give\nit to us. We need it more than you. Give it to us. Give it to us.\"\n\n\"Take it, then,\" answered Odin, throwing it high in the air and\nwalking off.\n\n\"It is mine! It is mine! Let me have it! Give it to me! I will have\nit! Out of the way! It shall be mine!\" screamed and quarreled the\nnine men as they pushed and crowded, each one determined to catch\nthe whetstone as it came down to earth.\n\nAt last it fell. Then a fiercer battle followed. The angry men fell\nupon each other. They dragged and pulled and threw each other to the\nground. They pounded each other; they struck at each other with their\nscythes. On and on they fought. Hour after hour the battle waged;\ntill at last the Sun-god, in sheer dismay at so unloving a sight, hid\nhis face behind the hills, and the nine men lay dead upon the fields.\n\nIt was an hour later when Odin reached the castle of Bauge.\n\n\"Can you give me shelter for the night?\" he asked, as the giant\nappeared at the door of his castle.\n\n\"Yes, I can give you shelter; but you must look elsewhere for your\nbreakfast. A strange thing has happened. My nine slaves, while at\nwork in the field, have fallen in battle upon each other, and have\nkilled each other. Not one of them is left alive to serve me.\"\n\n\"They must have been idle, quarrelsome fellows,\" answered Odin.\n\n\"They were, indeed,\" answered Bauge; \"but how shall I get my work\ndone without them?\"\n\n\"I will do the work for you,\" answered Odin.\n\n\"You! There is but one of you, even if you were willing to try,\"\nanswered Bauge with but little interest.\n\n\"But I can do the work of any nine workmen that ever served you.\"\n\nThe giant laughed. \"A remarkable workman. Pray, do you ask the wages\nof nine men as well?\"\n\n\"I ask no wages,\" answered Odin. \"I only ask that, as my pay when\nthe work is done, you shall give me a draught of wine from the cask\nhidden in your brother's cellar.\"\n\nBauge stared. \"How did you know there is a cask in my brother's\ncellar?\" he gasped.\n\n\"It is enough that I know it,\" answered Odin coldly.\n\nBauge looked at Odin. \"He is better than no man,\" he thought to\nhimself. \"I may as well get what work from him I can, before he finds\nthat no being on earth can enter that cellar or force my brother to\ngive away one drop of that wine.\"\n\n\"Very well, you may go to work,\" he said aloud. \"I cannot promise you\nthat we can make our way into my brother's cellar; but I will do what\nI can to help you.\"\n\n\"That is all I ask,\" answered Odin. \"Now let me sleep, for I am tired;\nand if I am to do nine men's work, I must have nine men's sleep.\"\n\n\"And must you have nine men's food?\" cried Bauge.\n\n\"I think it very likely,\" answered Odin with a queer smile. \"Now let\nme sleep.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nTHE STOLEN WINE.\n\nPart II.\n\n\n\"What is your name?\" asked Bauge of his new workman when they set\nforth the next morning to the fields.\n\n\"You may call me Bolverk,\" answered Odin.\n\n\"Will one name be enough for all nine of you?\" said Bauge with a\ndisagreeable curling of his upper lip.\n\n\"I will not burden your giant mind with more than one,\" Odin\nanswered,--a funny little twinkle in his eye.\n\nThe giant gave a furious grunt. He did not quite know whether his\nnew workman was stupid, or, whether under all his seeming meekness,\nit might not be that he was making fun of him.\n\nWell, Bauge set Bolverk to work, and then, lazy fellow that he was,\nstretched himself out on a mountain side to watch.\n\n\"That new workman of mine,\" he bellowed, calling the attention of\na neighbor giant to Odin at work in the field; \"do you see him down\nthere among the corn? He says he can do nine men's work.\"\n\n\"A workman usually thinks himself equal to any nine other workingmen,\"\nroared back the neighbor. \"Of course you have agreed to give him nine\nmen's wages?\"\n\nThen the two giants roared with laughter. They thought they had said\na very bright thing, and very likely they had. It is only because\nyou and I are mere earth-children that we do not think so too.\n\nAs the days went on, Bauge began to laugh less and to wonder more at\nhis strange workman. He worked on quietly from sunrise till sunset. He\ndid not seem to hurry in his work; he did not work over hours. But,\nstrange to say, the work went on, as the workman had promised. No\nnine men could have done more or could have done it better.\n\nIt was harvest time when Odin came; the time when Frey, the god of\nthe fields and of all that grows, glides around among his children\nand covers them over, or gathers in their wealth and beauty. Like the\nkind, loving father he is, he whispers to them now of Njord who so\nsoon will come, sweeping across the earth, breathing his cold freezing\nbreath upon all the world, and covering it over with the cold white\nsheet that kills the flowers and the fruits. He teaches his children\nto curl themselves up beneath the earth until the cruel Njord is\ngone. For Njord seeks to kill the tiny leaves and buds, and shrivel\nthe radiant flowers, that, through all the long warm summer days,\nhave lifted their faces so brightly to their good friend, the Sun-god.\n\nPerhaps it was because Frey and Odin worked together that there were\nsuch rare crops, and that the harvesting went on so smoothly. Certain\nit was that all the fields were cleared, the cellars were filled,\nand all was ready for the long, cold months to come, when cruel Njord\nwas king.\n\nEven Bauge was in good humor. \"You are indeed a wonderful workman,\" he\nsaid to Odin, as the last cellar was fastened and he sat down to rest.\n\n\"You are kind,\" answered Odin, the funny little twinkle coming again\ninto his eyes. \"Perhaps you would be willing to come with me now to\nyour brother, that I may drink from the cask of wine that he keeps\nso closely guarded in his cellar.\"\n\nBauge began to feel uncomfortable. \"He will not allow either you or\nme to so much as look upon that wine. You cannot have it.\"\n\n\"Bauge,\" said Odin, growing very tall and godlike, his wonderful eyes\nflashing with a light like fire, \"you promised to do all you could\nto help me. Come and do as I bid you.\"\n\nBauge stared. His first thought was to kill the workman on the spot:\nbut there was a something about him, he hardly knew what, that made\nhim, instead, rise and follow Odin to the brother's castle.\n\n\"Tell me which cellar holds the wine,\" said Odin when they had reached\nthe brother's mountain.\n\n\"This one,\" answered Bauge.\n\n\"Now take this augur. Make a hole with it through the solid wall.\"\n\nBauge obeyed like one in a dream. It was a magic augur. How it\nworked! How the powdered stone flew in a cloud about his face!\n\n\"This is a very--\" Bauge stopped. What had become of his workman? Not\na soul was in sight. Odin had disappeared. And to this day the giant\nnever knew what became of him, nor does his brother know who stole\nhis wine from the cellar.\n\nThe stupid Bauge stood staring, now at the augur, now at the hole\nin the wall. He saw a little worm climb up the wall and disappear\nthrough the hole. That is all he ever saw or ever knew.\n\nThe little worm laughed to itself as it crept in out of sight. \"You\nare very stupid, Bauge, not to know me.\"\n\nReaching the inner side of the wall, the little worm stopped to look\nabout. There stood the cask; and beside it sat the daughter of the\ngiant. \"Poor girl,\" said Odin--I mean, said the worm--to himself. \"It\nis a bitter fate to be doomed to sit forever in this wretched dungeon\nwatching your father's stolen treasure. But be happy. Soon you will\nbe free. There will be no wine to watch.\"\n\nThe young giantess must have heard his words. For she looked up. There,\njust in front of the hole, the ray of light falling full upon his\ngolden hair, stood a most beautiful youth. He looked so kindly upon\nher, and his eyes were so full of pity!\n\nHer heart went out to him at once.\n\n\"I am very tired,\" said he gently. \"So very tired. I have come a long,\nlong distance. My home is far from here. I cannot tell you how far--but\nvery, very far. If you would give me just one draught from the cask\nof wine.\"\n\nThe poor girl, grateful for the sound of a friendly voice, and for\nthe sight of a human face, arose and lifted the lid for him.\n\nOdin leaned over the cask. He put his lips to the wine and drank.\n\n\"You are very thirsty,\" said the giantess.\n\n\"Very,\" answered Odin, drinking on and on.\n\n\"You are very thirsty,\" said the giantess again.\n\n\"Very,\" answered Odin, still drinking on and on and on.\n\n\"You are very thirsty,\" said the giantess again; this time louder,\nher voice filled with fear.\n\n\"Very,\" answered Odin, still drinking on and on and on and on. Nor\ndid he stop till every drop was gone and the cask stood dry and empty.\n\nThe young giantess, realizing all too late that the wine was stolen,\nran to the cellar gateway, shouting as only a giant can shout for help.\n\nThe gateway flew open. In rushed the giants, Bauge and his brother.\n\n\"The wine! the wine!\" they cried.\n\n\"Stolen, stolen!\" sobbed the giantess, her sobs shaking even the\nsolid cellar walls.\n\n\"The thief! The thief!\" cried the giants. \"Where is the thief?\"\n\nBut there was no thief to be found. There stood the empty cask. But\nthe thief? There was no living creature to be seen.\n\nNo living creature? I should not have said quite that. For there arose\nfrom a darkened corner of the cellar a beautiful, great white bird. Its\nwings brushed against the sides of the gateway as it passed. Then\nhigher and higher, up, up, far, far away beyond the sea, above the\nclouds it soared, nor rested till its great wings beat against the\ngolden bars of the shining gates of Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nLOKE'S THEFT.\n\n\nThor was the son of Odin. He was a brave young god; and when the frost\ngiants came sweeping down upon the shining city, none were more brave\nto fight for the protection of Asgard, the beautiful home of the gods,\nthan Thor, the son of Odin.\n\nThere was another son, Loke. A cruel, wicked, idle, evil-hearted god\nwas he, the sorrow of his father Odin, the grief of his mother Frigg,\nand the terror of all the gods and goddesses.\n\nOver this son the great Odin wept often bitter tears. More bitter\nstill since he had drunk from the Well of Wisdom; for since then\nknowing, as he did, all things past and future, he knew that a\nday was yet to come, when, because of this wicked Loke, the light\nwould go out from the earth; damp and cold and darkness would fall\nupon the shining city; the frost giants would overcome the gods;\nand there would come an end to all life. Nor was there any escape\nnor hope for any help. This fate, the Norns had decreed should be;\nand through the evil-hearted Loke it was to come.\n\nIn the golden hall of the gods dwelt Thor; and with him, his beautiful\nwife, Sif. Of all the goddesses there was none like her. Her eyes\nwere of heaven's own blue; and the light in them was borrowed from\nthe stars. Her hair was of yellow, yellow gold; and as it lay massed\nabove her pure white brow, it vied with the golden light of harvest\ntime in softness and rich, deep color.\n\nOne happy peaceful day, when there was no danger abroad, and rest and\npeace had spread themselves above the halls of the city of Asgard, Sif\nlay sleeping. The Sungod's covering of soft warm rays fell upon her,\nand the leaves of Ygdrasil had spread themselves above her in tender,\nloving protection.\n\nLoke, the idle one, angry and revengeful, as he always was, when\nhappiness and rest and peace had driven out sorrow and care, paced\nangrily up and down the golden streets, his deep black frowns darkening\neven the clear, white light of heaven.\n\nHe came upon the beautiful sleeping wife of Thor.\n\n\"I hate my brother,\" he hissed through his cruel teeth. \"And how\nproud he is of this golden hair of Sif's.\"\n\nThe wicked light flashed from his deep black eyes. Softly, like a\nthief, he crept towards the sleeping Sif. He seized the golden hair in\nhis hand. A cruel smile shone over his evil face. \"Boast now of your\nbeauty, O Sif,\" he sneered. \"Boast now of your Sif's golden hair,\nO Thor,\" he growled. And with one great sweep of his shining knife,\nhe cut from the beautiful head the whole mass of gold.\n\nIt was late when Sif awoke. The leaves of Ygdrasil were moaning for\nthe cruel deed. The Sun was sinking sorrowfully below the distant\nmountain peaks.\n\n\"O my gold! my gold!\" sobbed Sif. \"O who has stolen from me in my\nsleep my gold? O Thor, Thor! You were so proud of the gold. It was\nfor you I prized it,--my beautiful, beautiful gold!\"\n\nAt that second the voice of Thor was heard. His heavy call echoed\nacross the skies and pealed from cloud to cloud. He was angry; for\nhe had heard Sif's bitter cry and felt some harm had come to her.\n\n\"It is Loke that has done this,\" he thundered; and again his voice\nrolled from cloud to cloud. The very mountain peaks across the sea\nin the country of the Frost giants rocked and reeled. The waters\nfoamed and tossed; the scorching lightnings flashed from his eyes;\nthe whole sky was as one great sheet of fire.\n\nThe earth-children trembled as they had never trembled before. Even\nLoke, shivering with fear, cowered behind the golden pillars of the\ngreat arched gateway.\n\n\"Forgive me, forgive me!\" wailed he, as Thor flashed his great white\nlight upon him.\n\n\"Out from your hiding place, O coward! Out! Out, or my thunderbolts\nshall strike you dead.\"\n\n\"Spare me, spare me!\" groaned Loke. \"Only spare me, and I will go\ndown into the earth where the dwarfs do dwell--\"\n\n\"Go!\" thundered Thor, not waiting for the wretched god to finish. \"Go,\nand bring back to me a crown of golden threads, woven and spun in the\nsmithies of the dwarfs, that shall be as beautiful, and ten thousand\ntimes more beautiful, than the golden crown you have stolen from\nthe head of Sif. Go to them, tell them what you have done, and never\nagain enter the shining gateway of the city of our Father Odin until\nyou bring the crown.\"\n\nLoke slunk away, the thunders of the wrath of Thor slowly, slowly\nfollowing him. The lightnings flashed dully across the skies. The\nlow rumbling of thunder, distant but threatening, warned Loke that\nthe wrath of Thor was not appeased, neither would it be, nor would\nthere be any return to Asgard for the evil doer, until the crown of\ngold was won.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nTHOR'S HAMMER.\n\n\nIt was away down in the underground caves, and beneath the roaring\nwaters of the rivers, and deep in the hearts of the mountains that\nthese dwarf workmen dwelt, and worked their smithies, and spun their\ngold and brass.\n\n\"Make me a crown of gold for Sif the wife of Thor,\" snarled Loke,\nbursting in upon the workshop of the dwarfs.\n\nThe dwarfs were ugly little creatures, with crooked legs, and crooked\nbacks. Their eyes were black, wicked little beads of eyes, and their\nhearts were malicious and sometimes cruel. But they were the willing\nand ready slaves of the gods; and so, at even this ill-natured command\nfrom Loke, they set themselves to work.\n\nThe coals burned and blazed; the forges puffed and blew; the little\nworkmen moulded and turned and spun their gold. Hardly had the Sun-god\nlifted his head above the castles of the frost giants, hardly had his\nlight fallen upon the rich colors of the rainbow bridge, when Loke\ncame forth from the underground caves, the shining crown in his hand.\n\nQuickly he rose high in the air and stood before the gates of the city.\n\n\"Have you brought the crown?\" thundered Thor from within the gates.\n\n\"I have brought the crown,\" answered Loke in triumph. \"And more\nthan that,\" added he, when the gates had been opened to him, \"I have\nbrought as gifts from the dwarfs, a ship that will sail on land or\nsea and a spear that never fails. O there are no such workmen among\nany dwarfs as these who made the spear, the ship and the crown.\"\n\n\"You boast of what you do not know,\" croaked Brok, a little dwarf\nwho stood near by.\n\n\"Who says I do not know?\" cried Loke, turning sharply.\n\n\"I say you do not know,\" croaked the little dwarf again, his beadlike\neyes snapping angrily, his whole crooked frame quivering with rage. \"I\nhave a brother, a workman in brass and gold, who can make gifts more\npleasing to the gods than any you have brought.\"\n\nLoke looked down upon the little dwarf in scorn. \"Go to your brother,\"\nhe sneered, \"and bring to us the wonderful things you think he can\nmake. Bring us one gift more wonderful than these I have, or more\nacceptable to Odin and Thor, and I will give your brother my head to\npay him for his efforts.\" Then Loke roared with laughter, believing\nthat he had made a rare, rich joke.\n\nHardly had the roars of laughter died away, when Brok, gliding\ndown the rainbow bridge with a swiftness equalled only by the\nlightning, sprang into Midgard, and was making his way towards the\ngreat mountain, beneath which worked the forges of his brother,\nthe master-workman--Sindre.\n\n\"Some one cometh,\" said the dwarfs, pausing in their work to listen,\ntheir busy hammers in mid-air.\n\n\"Fear not,\" answered Brok, his harsh voice echoing down the great\nhalls. \"It is I--Brok--and I come to demand of you that now, if never\nagain, you do your best; for Loke boasts to the gods of Asgard that\nno dwarfs in all the caverns of the under-world can make one gift\nmore wonderful or more acceptable to Odin than those he brings--a\ncrown of gold, a ship that will sail on land or sea, and a spear that\nnever fails!\"\n\nA terrible roar burst forth from the hosts of angry dwarfs. \"We will\nsee! We will see!\" they thundered. And seizing their hammers they set\nto work. The great forges blazed. The sparks flew. The smoke poured\nforth from the mountain top. Loke, looking out from the shining city,\ntrembled. Well did he know the workmanship of these dwarfs of Brok;\nand well did he know how rash had been his scornful promise to the\nangry little dwarf.\n\n\"We will make a hammer for Thor,\" said Sindre, the greatest among\nthe workmen in this under world; \"a hammer, that when thrown from\nhis mighty hand, shall ring through all the heavens. A trail of fire\nshall follow it. Its aim shall never fail; and it shall carry death\nand destruction wherever it falls.\n\n\"Blow thou the bellows, Brok; and I myself will mould the hammer from\nthe red hot iron.\"\n\nWith Brok at the bellows, the very mountain rocked, and Midgard for\nmiles about was ablaze with the blaze of light from the mountain top.\n\n\"This shall not be,\" snarled Loke. And rushing down from Asgard he\ncrouched outside the great, black cave to listen.\n\n\"A hammer for Thor!\" Those were the words he heard. The ugly face grew\nuglier. An instant, and there was no Loke at the cavern mouth; but\ninstead, a poisonous, stinging gadfly, whose green back glistened, and\nwhose shining wings buzzed and hummed with cruelty and revenge. There\nwas a hard, ringing tone of defiance in their singing, and the tone\nwas like that of the voice of Loke himself.\n\n\"You shall drop the bellows,\" buzzed the gadfly bitterly, as it\nalighted upon the neck of Brok.\n\nIt was a cruel sting; and its poison forced, even from the sturdy Brok,\na cry of pain.\n\n\"I know you. It is Loke,\" he cried; \"but I will not drop the bellows\nthough you sting me through and through and with a thousand stings!\"\n\nThe gadfly buzzed with rage. Straight towards the hand upon the bellows\nit darted. Brok groaned again. His face grew pale; he quivered with the\npain; still he held the mighty bellows and worked the roaring forge.\n\n\"You will not!\" hissed the gadfly; and again it drove its poison sting,\nthis time straight between the eyes of the suffering dwarf. And now\nBrok staggered. His hands relaxed their hold. Blinded with pain, he\ndropped the bellows. The blood ran down his face. The gadfly still\nhummed and buzzed.\n\n\"You have nearly spoiled it,\" cried Sindre. \"Why did you drop the\nbellows? See how short the handle is! And how rough! But it cannot be\nhelped now; nor will its terror be any less to Loke. Ha, ha, I would\nhave made it handsome; but there is a power in it that shall make\neven the gods tremble in all the ages to come. Hurry away with it,\nand place it in Thor's mighty hands. And here are other gifts. Take\nthem all, and bring me Loke's head. He has promised. Surely even he\nmust keep his word, wicked and deceitful though he is.\"\n\nBrok seized the hammer, and, with the gifts, hurried up through the\ndark cavern, out into the light of Midgard, up the rainbow bridge,\nand, with triumph in his swarthy face, sprang into the presence of\nthe great god Odin.\n\nLoke roared with laughter at the sight of the awkward, clumsy hammer;\nbut there was a proud, confident look in the dwarf's shining eyes\nthat Loke did not like; and, coward that he was, his heart began\nalready to fail him.\n\n\"Let us see the gifts,\" said Odin, \"that we may judge which workman\namong the dwarfs has proved himself most wonderful.\"\n\n\"First of all,\" said Loke, coming forward, \"Here is the golden crown\nfor Sif.\"\n\nEagerly Thor seized the crown, and placed it upon poor Sif's head.\n\n\"Wonderful! wonderful!\" cried all the gods, for straightway the golden\nhair began to grow to Sif's head, and in a second it was as if her\ngolden locks had never been stolen from her.\n\n\"To you, O Odin,\" said the dwarf, now coming forward, \"I give this\nring of gold. It is a magic ring; and each night it will cast off\nfrom itself another ring, as pure and as heavy, as round and as large\nas itself.\"\n\n\"What is that,\" sneered Loke, \"compared with this? See, O Father Odin,\nI bring you a magic spear. Accept this, my second gift. It is a magic\nspear that never fails.\"\n\n\"But behold my second gift,\" interrupted Brok. \"It is a boar of\nwonderful strength. It, too, is magic. No horse can run, no bird can\nfly with such speed. It travels both on land and sea; and in the night\nits bristles shine with such a light, that it matters not how dense\nthe blackness, the forest or the plain will be as bright as noonday.\"\n\n\"I, too, have a gift that will travel on land or sea,\" cried Loke,\npushing himself forward again. \"See, it is a ship. And not only will\nit travel on land or sea, but it can lift itself and sail like a bird\nabove the clouds and through the air.\"\n\n\"It will be hard indeed to say which gift is greatest,\" said Odin\nkindly.\n\n\"Look now, O, Odin, and Frigg and Thor and Sif and all the gods, at\nthis the last of my three gifts. This hammer, O Thor, I bring to you,\nthe god of thunder. Strike with it, and your thunders shall echo and\nre-echo from cloud to cloud as never they were heard before. Thrown\ninto the air or at a foe, like Loke's spear, it shall never miss\nits aim; but, more than that, it shall return always to the hand of\nThor. No foe can conceal it, no foe can destroy it. It will never\nfail thee, O Thor, thou god of thunder.\"\n\n\"But what a clumsy handle,\" sneered Loke, who already began to fear\nthe hammer was to win the favor of the gods.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Brok, \"the handle is clumsy and it is short. But none\nknows better than you why it is so.\"\n\nLoke colored and moved uneasily. \"Do not think,\" continued Brok,\n\"that I do not know it was you who sent the poisonous gadfly to sting\nand bite me as I worked at the blazing forge, pounding out the brass\nand gold from which this hammer is made.\n\n\"You thought to pain me into giving up this contest, you coward! you\nevil one! you boaster!\n\n\"When the handle was welded just so far, you drove the gadfly into my\neye. I could not see to finish the work; but although the handle is\nshort and clumsy, the magic power is there, and with it in his hand,\nno power in earth or among the frost giants even can overcome our\ngreat god Thor.\"\n\nA ringing shout of joy arose from the gods. Thor swung his hammer over\nhis head and threw it far out against the clouds. The thunder rolled,\nthe clouds filled with blackness, and the lightnings flashed, as the\nmagic hammer, humming through the air, came back to the hands of Thor.\n\n\"Now give me my wager,\" cried Brok. \"I was promised the head of Loke.\"\n\n\"Take it,\" laughed Loke. \"Take it.\"\n\nBrok drew near. \"I will take it,\" he hissed through his set teeth; \"and\na rich day will it be both in Midgard and in Asgard when your miserable\nhead is bound down in the home of the dwarfs of the underground world.\"\n\n\"But halt,\" commanded Loke. \"My head you may have; but you must not\ntouch my neck. One drop of blood from that, and you forfeit your life.\"\n\nBrok stood for a moment white with anger. He knew that he was\nfoiled. Then springing forward, he thundered, \"I may not touch your\nneck; but see, I have my revenge.\" And so, falling upon Loke, who\nstruggled, but struggled in vain, he whipped from his mantle a thong\nand thread of brass; and before even Loke knew what had been done,\nhe had sewed, firm together, the lying boasting lips of the evil god,\nLoke, the wicked-hearted son of Odin.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nTHE THEFT OF THE HAMMER.\n\n\nIt was to the sweet and loving god Baldur that the earth owed its\nwarmth and beauty, its rich fruit and its rare harvests. How the frost\ngiants hated Baldur, and how they struggled year after year to wrest\nthe earth from him!\n\nThey hated the warmth Baldur brought with him, for it destroyed\ntheir power. They hated the sweet flowers and the soft grass and\nthe tiny leaves that everywhere peeped out when the winds whispered,\n\"Baldur is coming, Baldur is coming.\"\n\nBut no sooner had Baldur turned away and said, \"Good-bye, dear Earth,\nfor a little time, remember Baldur loves you and will come back again\nto you,\" than the frost giants would creep out from their mountain\ngorges, and burst forth upon the fields and forests.\n\nThe tiny bubbling brooks they would seal with their cruel chains of\nice; even the great rivers could not hold their freedom against the\ngiant power.\n\nLike angry fiends they would seize upon the leaves and tear them from\nthe trees. The tiny flowers hung their heads and shriveled with fear\nwhen they approached; nor were the frost giants content until the\nwhole earth lay brown and cold and barren beneath their hand. Then,\nall beauty swept away, they covered over all, their silent sheet of\nsnow, and stood, grim sentinels, cold and hard, guarding their work\nof destruction and desolation.\n\nThere was deep silence when the frost giants reigned; no sound was\nheard save the sad moaning among the branches of the forest, as the\nfirs and pine trees bent towards each other and whispered of the days\nwhen Baldur shone upon them.\n\nBut the frost giants never yet had conquered; never yet had Baldur\nfailed to return to the trees and flowers and rivers and streams that\nhe loved so well.\n\nAt his first step upon the ice, a crackling sound was heard--a sound\nwhich awoke the sleeping earth and warned the frost giants to flee\nto their mountains.\n\n\"Baldur has come! Baldur has come!\" the birds and every living thing\nwould cry; and a rustle and sound of music would thrill the waiting\nearth.\n\nThen came always a mighty battle. The frost giants lashed the waters\nand rocked the trees. The winds shrieked, the sky grew cold and\nblack. The snows fell and the driving rain beat against the earth. But\nBaldur, the quiet, firm, loving Baldur always conquered. How, he\nhimself could hardly tell. He did not fight; he did not storm. He\nonly bent his shining face over the struggling earth and waited.\n\nLittle by little, when their fury was spent, the frost giants, defiant\nbut conquered, retreated. The great sheets of ice broke up, and the\nrivers rushed forth singing their mad songs of joy and freedom. The\nsnows faded away, and one by one the little flowers peeped forth again.\n\nAll now was happiness and warmth and fragrance; the flowers bloomed;\nthe fruits turned mellow; the sky grew warm; and the pines and fir\ntrees breathed deep sighs of rest and contentment that once again\nsweet Baldur was among them.\n\nAnd not only did the frost giants hate Baldur, but they hated Frey,\nwho often robbed them of the fruits and flowers they loved to breathe\ntheir bitter breath upon and kill. Thor, too, they hated; for with\nhis magic hammer, he now, more than ever, loved to bring forth the\nlightnings and the thunder, and to send down upon the earth refreshing\nshowers of soft, warm rain.\n\nAs the frost giants scowled down from their icy castles, and saw the\nlittle flowers turn up their happy faces to drink in the sparkling\ndrops, and heard the birds trill their happy songs, and smelled the\nrich fragrance of the damp firs and pines, they roared with anger\nand vexation.\n\n\"Let us revenge ourselves upon this insolent Thor who robs us of our\nrights,\" they bellowed to each other across the great valleys that\nseparated their giant peaks.\n\n\"We can do nothing so long as he holds the magic hammer,\" growled one.\n\n\"We must steal the hammer from him,\" shouted another.\n\n\"Steal the hammer! Steal the hammer!\" shouted all the giants until\nthe very skies echoed with the words.\n\n\"And I will be the one to steal it,\" bellowed Thrym, the strongest\nand greatest giant of them all.\n\n\"And, moreover, I will go at once to the city of Asgard. The gods\nare asleep. With my great eye, I can see even now the hammer lying\nbeside the sleeping Thor. Guard my castle. I am gone.\"\n\nAnd putting on the guise of a great bird, Thrym spread his wings and\nflew across the black night to Asgard. The gods shivered in their\nsleep as he entered and breathed his breath upon the summer air of\nheaven, but knew not what had chilled them.\n\nIn the morning there was a heavy frost upon the gateways. There was\na chill in the air. For Thrym, the frost giant, had crept in upon\nthem. He had crept even to the hall in which the mighty Thor was\nsleeping. He had crept close beside the mighty god--and the magic\nhammer was gone.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nTHE FINDING OF THE HAMMER.\n\n\n\"My hammer! My hammer!\" thundered Thor, awaking and finding it gone.\n\nThe gods in all Asgard awoke with a start.\n\n\"What a crash of thunder! So quick, so sharp!\" cried the earth-people;\nfor they did not know it was a cry of rage from Thor.\n\n\"Loke,\" thundered Thor again. \"Put you on wings. Go you to the home\nof the Frost giants and bring back my hammer. Some one of them has\nstolen it. Go! Go! I say.\"\n\nAnd Loke, who had been a very obedient servant to Thor since his\ntheft of the golden hair of Sif, put on the magic wings and fled away.\n\n\"What brings you here in the land of the Frost giants?\" growled Thrym,\nas Loke alighted before him.\n\n\"I have come for the hammer you have stolen from Thor,\" answered\nLoke boldly, seeing at once, from the jeering look in Thrym's eye,\nthat he was the thief.\n\n\"You will never find it,\" sneered Thrym. \"It is well hidden; but I\nwill send it back to you if Odin will send me Freyja for my wife.\"\n\nLoke begged and coaxed and threatened; but it was all of no\navail. \"Never,\" bellowed Thrym, \"until you send Freyja to me.\"\n\n\"She shall go,\" thundered Thor, when Loke came back to\nAsgard. \"Whatever the price, the hammer must be brought back. Asgard\nis not safe without it.\"\n\nBut Freyja was as fierce as had been Thrym himself. \"I will not go,\"\nshe insisted. \"Never! Never! Never will I go!\"\n\n\"I say you must,\" thundered Thor. But although Thor's thunders were\nterrible and his frown was deep and inky black, Freyja was not to be\nmoved either by pleading or threatening.\n\n\"Go yourself,\" said she. \"Dress yourself as a goddess and go.\" Nor\nwould she listen even to another word. Thor thundered and rumbled\nand rolled. It was all of no avail. Freyja was a goddess and would\nnot be driven.\n\n\"I will go,\" said Thor at last. \"Bring me a bridal dress. Hang a\nnecklace around my neck. Bind a bridal veil about my head. The giants\nare as stupid as they are large; and I will set forth in the name of\nFreyja to meet the giant Thrym.\"\n\nThor was quickly dressed, and the bridal party set forth across\nthe sky in the chariot of the Sungod. How the thunder rolled! How\nthe lightnings flashed from the angry eyes of Thor! How he grumbled\nand rumbled!\n\nJotunheim was reached. The Sungod lowered his chariot behind the\nhills; and a soft, red light spread over the earth and sky as the\nbridal party entered the castle of the giant Thrym.\n\n\"Freyja has come! Freyja has come!\" bellowed Thrym. \"Come, come,\neveryone to the bridal feast! Come, come to the feast of Thrym and\nFreyja!\"\n\nThe giants in all the mountains round about answered to the call\nof Thrym. An hour, and the huge castle was filled with the huge\nguests. A great feast was held. But through it all Thor sat silent\nand motionless. Indeed, he dared not move; he dared not speak lest\nthe thunder burst forth from his lips, or the lightning shoot forth\nfrom his eyes.\n\n\"Now lift the veil from Freyja's face,\" bellowed Thrym, when all save\nthe bride herself had eaten and drank their fill. \"Let me see the\neyes of my bride. Let us all look upon the face of my goddess bride.\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" whispered Loke coming forward; \"it was the command of Thor\nthat the veil should not be lifted, nor should you claim Freyja for\nyour own, until the hammer was placed in her hand, to be returned to\nthe gods.\"\n\n\"Bring in the hammer! Bring in the hammer!\" roared Thrym, full of loud,\ngood humor.\n\nThe hammer was brought. Hardly could Thor wait to have it placed in\nhis hand.\n\nHis thunder began to rumble. There was a dangerous light in his eyes;\nbut Thrym and the guests saw none of this. But hardly was the hammer\nwithin his reach when forth Thor sprang, seized it in his clutched\nfingers, tore aside the bridal veil, and with a rumble and a roar that\nshook the mountains of Jotunheim and razed the great stone castles\nto the ground, he poured out his lightnings upon the giants, one and\nall. Right and left he swung the mighty weapon; the giants quaked and\ntrembled with terror; Thrym ran and hid himself behind a mountain;\nthe air was white with lightning; the hills rang with the crashings of\nthe thunder; the seas lashed and foamed and answered back the echoes;\nthe walls of Jotunheim shook and trembled.\n\nAnd now the chariot of the Sungod was near at hand. Into it Thor and\nLoke leaped, and were borne back to the city of the gods. The hammer\nwas restored. Again Thor held it in his mighty grasp. He held it,\nand Asgard once more was safe.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nTHE APPLES OF LIFE.\n\nPart I.\n\n\nAmong the gods in Asgard, dwelt the beautiful Idun, the goddess whose\ncare it was to guard the apples of life.\n\n\"Idun,\" Odin had said as he gave into her hands the rosy apples,\n\"to guard these apples and keep them forever from all harm, is to do a\ngreater service for Asgard than even Thor, with his mighty thunders,\nor Baldur, with his warm light, can do; for these are the apples of\neverlasting youth. Without them, what would Asgard be more than the\ncities of Midgard or of Jotunheim? What would the gods be more than\nthe mortals of Midgard or the giants of Jotunheim? So guard them well,\nbeautiful Idun, for to them you owe your beauty, even as we owe to\nthem our never fading youth.\"\n\nOne day, when all was quiet and peaceful and happy in the city of\nAsgard, Loke, feeling within him the stirring of his own evil heart,\nbetook himself to Midgard in search of mischief. The peace and quiet\nof Asgard he could no longer endure. Then, too, it was to him a cruel\ndelight to shoot his arrows into the lives of the helpless children\nof Midgard and make them sad.\n\nO, Loke was a cruel god! \"Surely,\" Odin would sometimes say, as he\nlooked upon him and thought of the wretchedness that yet would fall\non Asgard through Loke's wicked deeds, \"surely, Loke has the spirit of\na Frost giant; and the Frost giants are bitter, bitter foes to Asgard.\"\n\nThis day Loke longed for mischief. \"I will go down to Midgard and\nfind some happy heart to sadden,\" said he, his eyes shining with\ntheir wicked light.\n\nDown the rainbow bridge he hastened, and, with a light bound, sprang\nupon a bright tree in the beautiful land of Midgard.\n\n\"Who are you?\" cried he, seeing in the tree beside him a great,\nwhite bird.\n\nBut the bird made no reply; he only winked, and blinked, and stared\nat Loke, and crooned, and pruned his feathers.\n\n\"Do you not know a god speaks to you?\" stormed Loke, growing angry\neven with a bird.\n\nStill no answer.\n\n\"Was ever there such a stupid bird? Indeed, like the people of Midgard,\nyou seem to have no wisdom,\" sneered Loke. And determined to vent\nhis evil mood, he seized a branch and began to beat the bird.\n\nThen a strange thing happened. The bird, who all this time had seemed\nso stupid--too stupid even to fly away--now seized upon the bough and\nheld it fast. Loke pulled and pulled with all his godlike strength. He\ncould not move it; it was as if held in the grasp of a giant.\n\n\"Stupid bird!\" sneered Loke, when he found he could do the bird no\nharm. \"I will not stay in the tree with such a stupid creature.\"\n\nA strange sound--almost like a laugh of triumph--squeezed itself out\nfrom the beak of the big bird.\n\n\"Go, Loke, go at once. Go back to Asgard; or perhaps you would like\nto go with me to Jotunheim,\" spoke the bird at last. And as he spoke,\nhe spread his wings, and arose high in the air. Alas, alas for Loke,\nas the bird rose, he rose too; nor could he free himself. He screamed,\nhe fought, he begged, he strove with all his godlike arts to free\nhimself, but all in vain.\n\nOn, on they flew, the bird and Loke, across the sky, over and under\nand between the clouds, across the great wide sea, at last across the\nsnow-white peaks, down, down to a castle in Jotunheim, in the land of\nthe mighty Frost giants, the terrible, the dreaded enemies of the gods.\n\n\"Let me free! Let me free!\" foamed Loke, struggling against the bird,\nwhose magic held him fast.\n\n\"I will never let you free,\" answered the bird, throwing off his\ndisguise and standing forth a giant foe; \"I will never let you free\nexcept on one condition.\"\n\n\"I grant it! I grant it! Whatever it is, I grant it,\" cried the coward,\ncaring for nothing but to free himself.\n\n\"The condition is this,\" continued the giant coolly: \"I will let you\nfree if you will bring me, without delay, the apples of everlasting\nyouth--the apples that Idun guards and watches over, locked so closely\nin the golden casket in the city of Asgard.\"\n\nLoke stared. He caught his breath. To give up the apples of life--the\nfruit by which the gods were kept forever young and strong and\nbeautiful,--that was too great a thing to ask even of Loke, evil as\nhe was.\n\n\"There are no such apples,\" answered he, trying, as cowards always do,\nto hide himself behind a lie. \"There are no such apples.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" answered the giant, opening a great dungeon door, and\nthrusting Loke in. \"When you are ready to do what I say, you may\ncome out; never until then.\" The great dungeon door creaked upon its\nterrible hinges and Loke was alone, a prisoner, at the mercy of the\nFrost giant.\n\nLoke howled and beat against the walls of the dungeon.\n\n\"Are you ready to do what I asked of you?\" asked the Frost giant,\nopening the great door the next morning.\n\n\"There are no such apples,\" cried Loke. \"On my honor as a god,\nI swear it!\"\n\nThe giant made no reply. The heavy door creaked again, and Loke\nwas alone.\n\n\"Are you ready to do what I asked of you?\" asked the Frost giant,\nopening the great door the second morning.\n\n\"Anything in all Asgard, O Giant, I promise you--anything but the\napples,\" cried Loke.\n\nThe giant made no reply. The heavy door creaked again, and Loke\nwas alone.\n\n\"Are you willing to do what I asked of you?\" asked the Frost giant,\nopening the great door the third morning.\n\n\"One of the apples, O Giant, I might steal from Idun and escape with\nbefore the fruit was missed,\" Loke began.\n\nThe giant made no reply. The heavy door creaked again and Loke\nwas alone.\n\n\"Are you ready to do what I asked of you?\" asked the Frost giant,\nopening the great door the fourth morning.\n\n\"Yes, two of the three apples will I promise to bring you. With even\none left, the gods might be content; for even then their lives would\nbe far longer than the life of mortals.\"\n\nThe giant made no reply. The heavy door creaked again and Loke\nwas alone.\n\n\"Are you ready to do what I asked of you?\" asked the Frost giant,\nopening the great door the fifth morning.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Loke, meekly.\n\n\"You are willing to bring the apples of life?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"And you will bring all three of them?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"And you will bring them at once?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Go, then. I will go with you. Outside the walls of the shining city\nI will wait for you to bring the apples to me.\"\n\nThen putting on the guise of birds, the two set forth, reaching the\ngateway of the city just as the Sungod was pouring down his flood\nof red and golden light upon the shining spires. The whole city lay\nbathed in the sunset splendor.\n\n\"Idun,\" said Loke, going directly to her, \"it is well you guard so\nclosely these golden apples of life. Without them we should grow old\nand die, even as wretched mortals grow old and die.\"\n\n\"Indeed, it would fare ill with us if harm came to these precious\napples,\" answered Idun. \"See the rich bloom upon them. If that were\nlost, then would our bloom be lost as well, and we should grow old\nand wrinkled.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Loke; \"and still--it seems very strange--but outside\nthe gate of our city, just on the outer walls, are growing apples,\nlooking so like these I cannot tell them one from the other. Bring\nyour apples with you and let us see if they are alike. If they should\nprove to be, then I will gather them for you, and we will put them\nall together in the golden casket.\"\n\n\"How strange!\" thought Idun innocently.\n\nThe Frost giant, in his great bird guise, wheeled round and round,\nimpatiently awaiting the coming of Idun and the apples. Hardly had\nthe gates closed upon her, when down he swooped, seized her in his\ngreat strong beak, and flew with her across the sea to his home among\nthe mountains.\n\nThe days rolled on and on. The Sungod rose, and drove his chariot\nacross the sky, and sank behind the distant purple hills a thousand\ntimes.\n\nThere was a gloom, a shadow over Asgard; for the gods were growing\nold. The life had gone out of their eyes; their smooth round faces\nhad grown thin and peaked; their step was halting, and the feebleness\nof age was falling upon them.\n\n\"It is Loke who has done this,\" thundered Thor one day, when, from old\nage and weakness, he had been defeated in a battle with the now ever\nyouthful giants. \"It is Loke who has done this, and we will bear it\nno longer. Look at Odin; even he grows weak and bent and trembling. He\nis like the old men in Midgard. He, Odin, the All-father.\"\n\nThor's indignation waxed stronger and stronger. He set forth in search\nof Loke. \"I will not even wait for him to come,\" he thundered, seizing\nhis hammer and setting forth. \"I shall find him, the evil-hearted,\nsomewhere making mischief among the innocent people of Midgard,\"\nsaid he.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\nTHE APPLES OF LIFE.\n\nPart II.\n\n\n\"Henceforth, O evil-hearted, cruel Loke,\" burst forth the angry Thor,\n\"henceforth Thor guards the walls of Asgard. Midgard, the skies, he\nshall forsake; no more will he brew storms; never shall the thunder\nroll nor the lightnings flash; for Thor will watch forever upon the\nbattlements of Asgard the approach of the evil god who has brought such\ngrief upon us. Never shall he enter the gates of the city again. Let\nhim dare approach even to the golden gates, and Thor will smite him\nwith his mighty hammer.\"\n\nLoke quailed before the fury of the great god Thor. To be an outcast\nfrom Asgard, even he could not bear. \"Spare me, spare me!\" whined the\ncowardly Loke. \"Spare me once more, and I will go again to Jotunheim. I\nwill bring back Idun and the three apples of life.\"\n\nThor stood looking at the cowardly Loke. He longed to strike him\nwith the hammer; to kill him with his thunder bolt; to scorch him\nwith his lightning arrows. But, evil as he was, Loke was immortal;\nhe was the son of Odin.\n\n\"Go, then, you mischief-making, evil-hearted son of unhappy Odin! Go;\nand whether success is yours or not, remember Thor guards the walls of\nAsgard and watches with his thunders for your return. Never, never,\nas long as Thor wields the mighty hammer, and holds the powers of\nthunder and lightning, shall Loke enter the golden city without the\ngolden apples of immortal life.\"\n\nWithout another word, Loke put on his guise of a great white bird\nand sped across the sea and sky, again to the land of Jotunheim.\n\nStraight down he swooped upon the castle of the giant who, all this\ntime, had kept Idun imprisoned in a strong walled tower of solid rock.\n\nThe giant was out upon the sea. \"And it is well for me,\" thought Loke,\n\"that he is. No power in Midgard or in Asgard could wrest these\nprecious apples from the giant's grasp.\"\n\nOne quick look out over the mountains and down upon the sea, and Loke\nseized Idun in his talons, changed her at once into a nut, the apples\nsafe within the shell, and swept away towards Asgard.\n\nBut alas for Loke! The giant had heard the whirr of the great white\nwings. Leaping to his feet in his boat, he scanned the sky with his\nsharp giant eye. \"It is Loke! It is Loke!\" bellowed he, catching\nsight of the great white bird among the clouds. \"It is Loke! It is\nLoke! No bird of Midgard flies so high nor sweeps the air with such\nmighty wings.\"\n\nWith one great giant pull, he shot his boat upon the shore; with one\ngreat giant bound he struck the mountain top.\n\n\"The apples of life! the apples of life!\" he thundered. \"Gone!\ngone! The apples of life are gone!\"\n\nOne second, and putting on the guise of a great grey eagle he shot\nup into the sky in swift pursuit of Loke. The Sungod hid his chariot\nbehind a cloud that the shadows might protect and cover Loke. Thor\nsent forth his thunder. The skies blackened; the wind beat back the\ngreat grey eagle; the lightnings staggered and blinded him. Still on\nand on he flew, gaining in spite of all upon the track of Loke.\n\nEvery eye in Asgard was strained; every giant in Jotunheim stood\nbreathless upon his mountain. The great round faces of the giants\ngrew tense; the wrinkled aged faces of the gods grew pale. It was a\nterrible race. It was a race for life and health and everlasting youth.\n\n\"Build fires upon the walls! Heap up the brush! Stand ready with the\ntapers!\" cried Odin, who foresaw the end.\n\nThe brush is heaped. Each god stands ready, his haggard face growing\nwhiter and thinner with fright and dread and eagerness.\n\nAlready the rush of Loke's wings are heard. The eagle follows\nclose. Nearer and nearer they come, closer and closer is the race. One\nmoment more!--One second!--The frightened eyes of Loke can be seen, so\nnear he is. Thor sends his blinding fire once more across the eagle's\ntrack. It reels, for an instant it falls back. In that one second, with\none last mighty stroke, Loke clears the walls and falls, exhausted,\nbreathless, almost dead upon the golden pavement of the city.\n\n\"The fires! the fires! the fires!\" cried Odin. An instant, and there\nrises from the walls great sheets of blaze. The brush crackles and\nsnaps and sends up great tongues of fire. The eagle, angry, desperate,\nand blinded by the lightning sweeps on, straight towards them. Like\na foolish moth, he bears down upon the city, into the very heart\nof the blaze. A sudden crackling, a cry of pain, a cloud of black,\nblack smoke, and the great grey eagle falls a helpless mass upon the\npavement beside the breathless Loke.\n\nThe haggard faces flush with hope and joy. The apples are safe. Idun\nhas come back, the apples again are theirs, and life and joy and\neternal youth once more are with them.\n\nNow the goddess of music bursts forth again in song; the god of poetry\npours forth his melody; a feast is spread, and the gods and goddesses\nonce more eat of the wonderful apples of life. The color comes back\ninto their faded cheeks; light again flashes from their eyes. Youth and\nhealth and strength are theirs again. Peace reigns once more in Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\nLOKE'S WOLF.\n\n\nAlthough the Apples of Life had been brought back, and although Loke\nappeared for some time very penitent and willing to obey the laws\nof the kind Odin, the gods had little faith in him. More than that,\nso much had they suffered, that now they were in constant fear of\nhim. \"We never know,\" plead Freyja and Sif and Idun, all of whom had\ngood reason to fear him, \"what mischief he may be planning.\"\n\nAnd so it came about that Loke was driven forth from Asgard, as indeed\nhe deserved to be.\n\nStraight to the home of the giants Loke went--he always had been a\ngiant at heart, the evil creature!--and was much more in harmony with\nthem in their thoughts and acts, than ever he had been with the gods\nwhom he claimed as his people.\n\nBut now that he was cast out from Asgard, and could no longer share its\nbeauties and its joys, he had but one wish--that was, to be revenged\nupon the gods, to destroy them, and to ruin their golden city.\n\nTo do this he raised two dreadful creatures. Terrible monsters! Even\nthe gods shuddered as they looked upon them.\n\n\"Loke! Loke!\" thundered Odin, looking down upon him in wrath that he\nshould dare such vengeance.\n\nBut Loke stood defiant. There was but one thing to be done, so the\ngods thought; and that was to take these terrible creatures from\nLoke's power.\n\n\"The serpent we will cast into the sea,\" said Thor. \"But the wolf--what\nshall we do with the wolf? Certainly he cannot be left to wander up\nand down in Midgard. The sea would not hold him. Loke must not have\nhim in Jotunheim. What shall be done with him?\"\n\n\"Kill him,\" said some.\n\n\"No,\" answered Odin. \"To him Loke has given the gift of everlasting\nlife. He will not die as long as we the gods have life. There is\nbut one way left open to us; and that is to bring the wolf into\nAsgard. Here we can watch him and keep him from much, if not all the\nevil he would do.\"\n\nAnd so the wolf--the Fenris-wolf he was called--was brought into the\nhome of the gods.\n\nHe was a dreadful creature to look upon. His eyes were like balls of\nfire; and his fangs were white, and sharp, and cruel.\n\nEvery day he grew more terrible. Fiercer and fiercer he grew, and\nlarger and stronger and more dreadful to look upon.\n\n\"What is to be done with him?\" asked Odin one day, his face white\nwith despair, as he looked upon the wolf, and realized what sorrow\nby and by he would bring among them.\n\n\"Kill him!\" cried one.\n\n\"Send him to Jotunheim,\" cried another.\n\n\"Chain him,\" thundered Thor. And indeed to chain him seemed really\nthe only thing that could be done with him.\n\n\"We will make the chains this night,\" said Thor. And at once the\ngreat forge was set in motion. All night long Thor worked the forge,\nhammering with his mighty hammer the links that should make a chain\nto hold the Fenris-wolf.\n\nMorning came. The gods were filled with hope as they saw the great heap\nof iron. \"Now we shall be safe. Now we shall be free,\" they said; \"for\nno creature living can break the irons that the god of Thunder forges.\"\n\nThe wolf growled and showed his wicked teeth as Thor approached and\nthrew the chain about him. He knew the gods hated him and feared\nhim. He knew, too, that, with his wondrous strength, even the chains\nof Thor were not too strong for him to break.\n\nSo, snarling and showing his fangs and lashing his tail, he\nallowed himself to be bound. \"They are afraid of me,\" the cruel wolf\ngrinned. \"And well they may be; there is a power in me that even they\ndo not yet dream of.\"\n\nThe chains were tightly fastened, and the gods waited eagerly for\nthe wolf to test his strength with them.\n\nNow, the wolf knew well enough that there were no chains that could\nhold him. \"I will amuse myself,\" said he to himself, \"by tormenting\nthe gods.\" So he glared at the chains with his fiery eyes, sniffed\nhere and there at them, lifted one paw and then the other, bit at\nthem with his sharp teeth, and clawed at them with his strong claws;\nsetting up now and then a howl that echoed, like the thunders of Thor,\nfrom cloud to cloud across the skies.\n\nThe faces of the gods grew brighter and brighter. They looked at\neach other and hope rose high in their hearts. \"We are saved!\" they\nwhispered to each other. \"Hear how he howls! He knows he cannot break\nchains forged in the smithy of the mighty Thor.\"\n\nBut Odin did not smile. He knew only too well that the wolf was\namusing himself; and that when the gods were least expecting it,\nhe would spring forth and shatter the links of the mighty chain,\neven as a mortal might shatter a chain of straw.\n\n\"Conquered at last, you cruel Fenris-wolf!\" thundered Thor, lifting\nhis hammer in scorn, to throw at the helpless wolf.\n\n\"The Fenris-wolf is never conquered,\" hissed the wolf; and with one\nbound he leaped across the walls of Asgard, down, down across the\nskies to Midgard, the links of the chains scattering like sparks of\nfire as he flew through the air.\n\n\"See! See!\" cried the people of Midgard, as they saw the fiery eyes\nof Fenris gleam across the sky. \"See! A star has fallen! A star has\nfallen into the sea!\" For the people of Midgard cannot understand\nthe wonders of the heavens and the mysteries of the gods.\n\nThe gods stood, wonder-struck. Their faces were pale with fright. The\nbrow of Thor grew black and stern. Odin looked pityingly upon them\nall. \"Lose not your courage,\" said he kindly. \"The Fenris-wolf shall\nyet be bound; and there shall yet remain to us ages upon ages of\nhappiness and freedom from his wicked power. Go now to the dwarfs\nwho work their forges in the great mines beneath the mountains of\nMidgard. They shall make for you a magic chain that even Fenris\ncannot break.\"\n\nHardly were the words out of Odin's mouth when Thor set forth upon\nthe wings of his own lightning, to the home of the dwarfs, to do the\nbidding of Odin the All-wise.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\nTHE FENRIS WOLF.\n\n\nWith wonderful speed the chain was forged; and when the Sun-god lifted\nhis head above the hills, to send forth his light again across the\nfields of Midgard, the first sight that greeted his return was Thor,\na great mass of golden coil within his hand, speeding up the rainbow\nbridge to Asgard.\n\nIt was a tiny chain--hardly larger than a thread; but in it lay a\nmagic strength.\n\nEntering the great golden gate, Thor saw the Fenris wolf, again\ncreeping stealthily up and down the streets.\n\nThor's hand shut tight upon the handle of his hammer. It was hard\nto believe that a blow from the hammer would not slay the wicked\ncreature. For an instant Thor's face grew black. Then forcing a smile,\nand showing to the wolf the mass of gold, he said, \"Come Fenris;\ncome with me into the hall. There the gods are to meet and test our\nstrength upon this magic coil. Whoever breaks it, and so proves himself\nthe strongest, is to win a prize from the great All-father Odin.\"\n\nThe wolf stretched back his cruel lips, and showed his sharp fangs\nof teeth. He did not speak; but his wicked grin said, \"You do not\ndeceive the Fenris-wolf.\"\n\nTogether Thor and the Fenris-wolf entered the presence of Odin and\nthe gods and goddesses.\n\n\"I have,\" said Thor, \"a magic coil. It is very strong. The dwarfs\nmade it for me; and Odin has promised a great prize to the one who\nshall be strong enough to break its links. Come, let us try.\"\n\nThen the gods--for they all understood what Thor was about to\ndo--sprang forward, seizing the coil, pulling and twisting it in\nevery way and in every direction, coiling it about the pillars of\nthe hall, and hanging by it from the arches; until at last, tired\nout and breathless, they sank exhausted upon the golden floors.\n\n\"Fenris,\" called Thor. \"Now is your time to prove to us what you have\nso often said--that you are stronger than we. Try if you can break\nthis golden thread which, small as it is, has proved too strong for\nthe strength of the gods.\"\n\nThe wolf growled. He did not care to risk even his strength in a\nmagic coil. He growled and slunk away.\n\n\"What! Fenris, are you a coward? After all your boasted strength,\nwhy is it that you shrink from a contest in which the gods have\nwillingly taken part? Do you mean to say that, because the gods have\nbeen defeated, you fear that you, too, may be defeated?\"\n\nThe wolf halted. He looked back at the gods and growled a long,\nlow growl. The words of Thor had stung his pride.\n\nThor laughed. \"O Fenris, Fenris! this is your boasted strength! your\nboasted courage! To slink away in a contest with the gods--the gods\nat whose strength you have always sneered and scoffed.\"\n\n\"Fenris is a coward!\" cried all the gods; and the heavens echoed with\ntheir laughter.\n\nThis was more than the wolf could bear. Back he sprang into the hall.\n\n\"I hear your sneers,\" he snarled. \"I hear you call me coward. Give me\nthe cord; bind me with it round and round; fasten me to the strongest\npillar of this great hall. If the coil is an honest coil, Fenris can\nbreak it. There is no chain he cannot break. But if you are blinding\nme--if you have here a cord woven with magic such as no power can\nbreak--how am I to know? I put this test to you. Some one of you\nshall place your hand between my jaws. As long as that hand is there,\nyou may coil and coil the thread about me. Then, if I find the cord\na magic cord, Fenris shall set his teeth upon the hand and crush it.\"\n\nThe gods stared at one another. Surely, Thor must not lose his\nhand. Thor needed his hand with which to wield the magic hammer.\n\nThen Tyre, the brave god Tyre, the god of courage and bravery and\nunselfishness stepped forth.\n\n\"Here is my hand, O Fenris-wolf. It shall be yours to destroy if you\ncan not loose yourself when bound in the golden coil.\"\n\nAgain the Fenris-wolf showed his shining teeth. He seized the hand\nbetween his heavy jaws; Thor bound the cord about him. \"Now free\nyourself,\" he thundered. \"Free yourself, and prove to the gods the\nmighty power of the Fenris-wolf.\"\n\nThe wolf, his eyes blazing with wrath, and with fear as well, struggled\nwith the coil. But alas for the wolf! And joy for the gods! The harder\nhe struggled, the fiercer he battled, the tighter drew the cord. With\na howl of rage that shook the city and echoed even to the base of the\ngreat Mt. Ida, he seized upon the hand of Tyre and tore it from his\nwrist. With another angry howl he sprang towards Thor; but with a quick\nturn Thor seized one end of the coil, fastened it to a great rock,\nand before the wolf could set his fangs he hurled him, rock and all,\nover the walls of the city, down down into the mighty sea.\n\n\"And there, chained to his rocky island, he shall abide forever,\"\ncried the gods; \"and now peace once more shall rest upon our city.\"\n\nBut Odin sighed, and to himself he said, \"O happy children, there\nshall yet come a day when darkness shall fall upon us; the Fenris-wolf\nshall again be loosed; and even the gods shall be no more.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\n\nDEFEAT OF HRUNGNER.\n\n\nGreatest among the giants of Jotunheim, was Hrungner. Even the gods\nstood in fear of him; for when Thor's deep thunder rolled out across\nthe skies, and the winds rose and the clouds grew black, it was\nHrungner who, bold and defiant, shouted back with roars of scornful\nlaughter--roars that rivalled in their thunder those of the great\nand mighty Thor.\n\n\"This giant,\" said the gods, standing in council together,--\"this giant\nmust be overcome. Too long have we suffered him to defy our power;\ntoo long have we borne his insolence; too long have his threats passed\nunnoticed by Odin the All-Father and by Thor the god of Thunder.\"\n\n\"I will go forth,\" said Odin, \"upon my winged horse, my fleet-footed\nSleipner, to meet this giant who dares defy the gods of Asgard.\"\n\nAccordingly across the skies, over the sea to Jotunheim, rode Odin.\n\n\"It is a fine steed you ride, good stranger,\" bellowed Hrungner as\nOdin drew near; \"almost as fine a steed as my own Goldfax, who can\nfly through the air and swim through the seas with the same ease that\nanother steed might travel upon the plains of Midgard.\"\n\n\"But his speed cannot equal that of Sleipner,\" answered Odin quietly,\nhis deep eyes burning with the light no giant could quite comprehend,\nand beneath which even Hrungner quailed at heart.\n\n\"Sleipner! Odin!\" thundered Hrungner. \"Are you Odin? And is this your\nSleipner--the winged steed of which the gods of Asgard boast? Away with\nhim! And I upon my Goldfax will prove to you that in Jotunheim lives\none giant who dares challenge even Odin and his mighty war-horse to\ncontest. Away! Away Odin! Away Sleipner! Away Hrungner! Away Goldfax!\"\n\nAnd with a shout that echoed even to the halls of Asgard, the great\ngiant mounted his steed and soon brought him, neck to neck with Odin\nand his immortal Sleipner.\n\nOn, on, across the skies they flew. Before their mighty force, the\nclouds scattered hither and thither, striking against each other with\na crashing sound that to the earth-people was like the voice of Thor.\n\nFrom the eyes of the steeds the lightnings flashed; and from their\nreeking sides the foam fell in showers upon the earth below. The\npeople, terror-stricken, ran to their caves and prayed the gods to\nprotect them from the fury of the blast.\n\n\"It is like no storm we ever knew,\" they whispered, one to the\nother. \"The thunder! the lightnings! the scurrying clouds! and with\nit all, the roaring winds and the falling of great white flakes, now\nlike hail, now like snow! Has Odin forgotten his children? Have the\nFrost giants fallen upon Asgard?\" But now the storm was over. Odin\nand Hrungner both had reached the walls of Asgard. Through the great\nrolling gateway both had burst together; for the steed of the bold\nHrungner had indeed proved himself equal to the snow-white Sleipner,\nwhose magic powers no one but Odin fully knew.\n\nHrungner, elated with his success, and never once dreaming that,\nhad Odin so willed it, he, with his brave steed Goldfax, might have\nbeen left far behind in the race, strode into the halls of Asgard\nand called loudly for food and drink and rest.\n\nAll these were granted him, and the giant threw himself down upon\na golden couch and stared insolently upon the gods. All were there\nsave Thor. \"And where,\" bellowed Hrungner, \"is the great god Thor,\nthe mighty thunderer who dares defy the Frost giants; and whose\nstrength is boasted greater than that of Hrungner, the chief of the\nmighty Frost giants?\n\n\"Bring him into my presence,\" roared the giant. \"Let me prove to you\nthat one giant at least dares defy even the greatest and most warlike\nof you all.\"\n\nAway upon the sea, Thor heard this boast. \"Who challenges me and\ndefies my power?\" he thundered; and with the swiftness of the wind,\nhastening upward toward the shining city, he burst in upon the giant\nstretched out upon the golden couch.\n\n\"I challenge you!\" bellowed the giant, springing from his couch and\nfacing the god of thunder.\n\nThor raised his hammer. The lightnings flashed from his\neye. \"Halt!\" roared the giant. \"Little credit will it be to the\ngod of Thunder to fall in battle upon a Frost giant unarmed and\nunprotected. You are a coward! Fight me as becomes a great god on\nequal grounds and under fair conditions. Come to me in the land of\nJotunheim, and there will I challenge you to battle. Then will your\nvictory, if you win, lend lustre to your greatness; and the fear of you\nthroughout the land of the Frost giants be greater than ever before.\"\n\n\"As you say,\" answered Thor with a sneer. \"Go now, and make ready\nfor the holmgang, [1] in which the insolent, boastful Hrungner shall\nlearn the power of the gods whom, in his ignorance, he dares defy.\"\n\nThen Hrungner departed from the city of Asgard, and assembled the\ngiants together to prepare for the coming battle. \"Let us make a giant\nof clay,\" and at once every giant in Jotunheim fell to work. Whole\nmountains were leveled to the earth, and the great masses of stone\nand earth heaped high; until, on the third day, there stood a giant\nnine miles high and three miles broad, ready to defy the power\nof the Thunder-god when he should come. But alas for the heart of\nthis warrior of clay! None could be found, either in Midgard or in\nJotunheim, of size proportionate to the body of the mighty creation;\nand so, in despair, the heart of a sheep was chosen, and around it\nthe clay warrior was built.\n\nAt the first sound of rolling thunder--by which the coming of Thor\nwas announced afar off--alas! this heart, fluttering and trembling,\nso shook the mighty form that its spear fell from its hand, its knees\nshook, and Hrungner was left to fight his battle alone with the angry\nson of Odin.\n\nOnward, nearer and nearer, came Thor the Terrible. The lightnings\nflashed and the earth rumbled. Seizing a great mountain of flint in\nhis hands, Hrungner waited. His eyes burned and his face was set.\n\nSuddenly, forth from the ground beneath his feet, the god of Thunder\nburst. Hrungner sprang forward. With a mighty force he hurled the\nmountain of flint. Thor, with a roar, flung his mighty hammer. The two\ncrashed together in midair. The flint broke, and one half of it was\ndriven into the heavy skull of Thor. The hammer, cleaving the flint,\nsped onward, and Hrungner fell dead beneath its never-failing blow;\nbut in falling his great body lay across the neck of Thor, who,\nstunned by the blow from the flint, had fallen, his hammer still\nclenched firmly in his powerful hand.\n\nFor a moment, there was a hush. The very sun stood still. Not a sound\nwas heard through Jotunheim. The thunder of battle had died away;\nall the earth was still.\n\nThen came Magne, a son of Thor. \"Why this sudden quiet?\" he\ncalled. \"Why has my father's voice been stilled? Certainly the great\ngod Thor has not fallen in battle!\"\n\n\"In the name of Odin,\" he thundered, as he saw the Frost giant's\nbody lying across his father's massive frame,--\"in the name of Odin\nand of Thor, what does this mean?\" And, seizing the giant by a foot,\nhe hurled him out over the seas. For miles and miles the giant's body\ncut the air, and then, falling, sank and was buried beneath the waves.\n\nThor staggered to his feet again, and with a roar that made the leaves\nof Ygdrasil tremble and shook even the halls of Valhalla, set forth\nacross the seas, never once looking back towards the land of Jotunheim,\nwhose people for the time, at least, were again subdued by the power\nof Thor, the god of Thunder,--by Thor, the son of Odin the All-wise.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\n\nTHOR AND SKRYMER.\n\n\nThere was peace in all the lands; stilled were the Frost giants,\nand in Midgard all was happiness.\n\n\"Come with me, that I may see that you do no mischief,\" said Thor to\nLoke, as he sprang into his golden chariot, drawn by his snow-white\ngoats.\n\nAll day the chariot wheeled on and on across the skies. Night fell,\nand the gods, entering a peasant's cottage, asked for shelter. \"Our\nsupper we have with us,\" Thor said. And taking the goats from the\nchariot, he killed them and placed them before the fire.\n\nNever had the peasants taken part in such a feast. \"It is a feast\nfor the gods,\" they said; \"but pray, how will you finish your journey\nwithout your goats?\"\n\n\"We will attend to that,\" said Thor. \"Eat what you will, and all\nyou can. I only ask that, when the feast is finished, you promise\nto place all the bones together there before the door upon the goat\nskins. See to it that no bone is forgotten; and that not one--even\nthe smallest--be lost or broken.\"\n\nThe peasants promised; the meat was eaten, and in due time the\nhousehold went to bed and to sleep.\n\nMorning came; and with the first flush of light Thor arose, and,\nwith his magic hammer, sat down beside the heap of bones, that lay\nupon the goat skins before the door.\n\n\"Kling! Kling! Kling!\" sounded the hammer, striking in turn each\nlittle bone; then the two goats leaped forth, as white and plump and\nround as ever, and as ready to spin across the waters with the golden\nchariot of their master.\n\nBut alas, one goat was lame. He held up one tiny foot and moaned. \"Some\none of you,\" roared Thor, \"has broken a bone. Did I not command that\nyou be careful, and see that every bone should be placed, uninjured,\nupon the goat skins?\"\n\nThe peasants shook with fear. They knew now who this strange guest\nmight be. \"It is Thor!\" they whispered to each other. \"And that is\nthe mighty hammer whose aim never fails, and whose force is death to\nall upon whom it falls!\"\n\n\"O thou great god Thor,\" cried the peasants, \"spare us! Indeed had\nwe known, not one bone would we have taken in our unhappy fingers;\nand all night long would we have watched beside the goat skins that\nno harm should come to them. Spare us, O spare us, great Thor! Take\nall we have--our house, our cattle, our children, everything--only\nspare our lives to us!\"\n\nThor seized his hammer in his hand. His great knuckles grew white,\nso strong was his giant hold upon the handle. The peasants sank upon\ntheir knees. Their faces dropped and their eyes closed. Shaking with\nterror, they awaited the falling of the hammer.\n\n\"Up, up, ye peasants,\" thundered Thor. \"This offense I forgive. Your\nlives too, shall be spared you; but I will carry away with me these\nchildren of yours,--Thjalfe and Roskva; and they shall serve me in\nmy journeys across the lands and over the seas.\"\n\n\"The goats I leave with you; and I charge you, by your lives see that\nno harm comes to them in any way. Come Thjalfe, come Roskva, place\nyourselves before the chariot, and bear me quickly across the seas.\"\n\nAll day long the chariot wheeled on and on, the children never tiring,\nuntil, at nightfall, they found themselves upon the shores of the\ncountry of the Frost giants.\n\nPlunging into a deep forest, they hurried through and came out into a\ngreat plain beyond. Here they found a house, the very doors of which\nwere as high as the mountains and as broad as the broadest river.\n\n\"We will rest here,\" said Thor, and, spreading the great skins which\nthey found near the doorway, they made for themselves beds, and soon\nwere fast asleep.\n\nAt midnight they were awakened by a terrible roar. The whole house\nshook with its vibrations. Thor, seizing his hammer in his strong\nright hand, strode to the door. The whole earth trembled, but in the\ndarkness even Thor could not see beyond the doorway.\n\nHour after hour he stood there, listening. Slowly, at last, the dawn\nbegan to come; the sun rose, and there, just at the edge of the forest,\nThor saw the outstretched body of a giant, whose head was in itself\na small mountain, and whose feet stretched away into the valley below.\n\n\"And it is you, then, that have rocked the very earth with your\ngiant snores, and have taken from me my night of rest,\" thought Thor,\nwhen he saw the giant form stretched out before him.\n\nWith one angry stride Thor reached the side of the sleeping\ngiant. Raising his hammer a full mile into the air, he smote the\ngiant full upon the skull, with a crash that sounded like the fall\nof a mighty oak.\n\n\"What is that?\" asked the giant, opening his sleepy eyes. \"Indeed,\nThor, are you here? Something awoke me. I think an acorn must have\ndropped upon my head,\" said the giant, gathering himself to rise.\n\n\"Go to sleep again,\" growled Thor; \"it isn't morning yet. I am going\nto sleep myself.\"\n\nA few minutes and the snores of the giant rang through the air again.\n\n\"Now we will see,\" thought Thor. Again he crept to the giant's\nside. Lifting his hammer, this time two miles in the air, he brought\nit down upon the giant's skull with a crash that sounded like the\nbreaking of the ice and the roaring of the torrent in a mighty river.\n\n\"What is that?\" muttered the giant, only half awake. \"A leaf must\nhave fallen upon my forehead. I will take myself out into the plain\nwhere I can sleep in peace.\"\n\n\"Go to sleep,\" answered Thor; \"it is nearly morning, and will be time\nto wake up for the day before you reach the plain.\"\n\nAgain the giant fell asleep; and again the snoring rang out upon the\nair. \"He shall not escape me this time,\" whispered Thor, creeping again\nto the giant's side. Raising his hammer, this time three miles in the\nair, he crashed it down upon the forehead of the giant with such force\nand fury that the very heavens reverberated; and the earth people,\nspringing frightened from their deep sleep, called to each other,\n\"The dwarfs are at their forges! Did you not feel the earth shake\nand the mountains tremble?\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" droned the sleepy giant; \"the moss from the trees falls\nupon my face and wakes me. It is nearly sunrise, and I may as well\narise and go on to Utgard. And you, Thor,--I am told you, too, are\njourneying towards the land of Utgard. But I must hurry on. I will\nmeet you there; but let me give you warning that we are a race of\ngiants of no mean size. And great though you are, it would be as well\nfor you that you boast not of your power among us. Even your mighty\nhammer might fail to do its work among giants of such strength and\nstature as those of Skrymer's race.\"\n\nThere was a sneer on Skrymer's face as he said this; but before\nThor could raise his hammer to punish him for his insolence, he had\ncrossed the great plain, and was already miles away. Thor sat down\nbeside the forest. He was mortified, and vexed, and puzzled. What did\nit mean? Had his hammer lost its magic power? Was the giant Skrymer\nimmortal? He could not tell. There was a heavy cloud upon his face as\nhe set forth again upon his journey. The little servants shook with\nfear; even Loke kept silent, and said not one word the live-long day.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\n\nTHOR AND THE UTGARD-KING.\n\n\nTravelling on and on, through many days and many nights, Thor and\nhis companions came to a great castle. Its pinnacles reached far up\namong the clouds, and its great gateways were broad even like the\nhorizon itself.\n\nIn between the bars crept Thor and Loke and the children Thjalfe\nand Roskva.\n\n\"Let us enter the castle,\" said Thor grimly. \"It must be the palace\nof the king--the Utgard-Loke--whose threats have defied even the\nAll-wisdom and the All-power of the mighty Odin.\"\n\nAt these words the walls of the castle trembled. The pillars of frost\nand the great arches of ice glittered and glistened. Thjalfe and\nRoskva grew white with fear. \"We hear your voice,\" thundered Thor;\n\"but we have no fear of you even though you shake the castle walls\nuntil they fall. And behold, we dare come into your very presence,\nthou terrible king of Utgard!\"\n\nThe great king showed his glittering teeth. His brow grew black\nwith rage.\n\n\"This is Thor, the god of Thunder,\" he sneered: \"and so small are you\nthat you can creep through the bars of our gateway, pass unnoticed\nby our sentinels, even into the very presence of the king!\"\n\nThen Utgard-Loke--for this was the king's name--threw back his\nhead and laughed until the whole earth shook; trees were uprooted,\nand avalanches of ice and snow, pouring down into valleys, buried\nhundreds of the little people of Midgard.\n\nThor clenched his hammer. He dared not thunder; even his lightnings\nwere as nothing in this great palace hall and before the terrible\nvoice of the Utgard-king.\n\n\"But perhaps you are greater than you look,\" continued the king,\nroaring again at his own wit. \"Tell me what great feats you can\naccomplish; for no one is allowed entrance to this castle who cannot\nperform great deeds.\"\n\n\"I can perform great deeds--many of them,\" boasted Loke, nowise\nabashed, even in the presence of the terrible king. \"I can eat faster\nthan any creature in Midgard, in Utgard, or even in Asgard, the home\nof the gods.\"\n\nAgain the king roared; and, placing before him a great wooden trough\nheaped high with food, he commanded his servant Loge to challenge\nLoke to the contest.\n\nBut alas for Loke, although the food disappeared before him like\nfields of grain beneath the scythe of steel, yet before the task was\nhalf begun, Loge had swallowed food, and trough, and all!\n\nThe king roared louder still; and Loke, never before beaten by giant\npower, shrank away, angry and threatening.\n\n\"But I,\" said Thjalfe, \"can run. I can outrun any creature that lives\non land or sea.\"\n\nThen Thjalfe was placed beside a tiny little pigmy--Huge he was called;\nbut hardly had they run a pace before Huge had shot so far ahead that\nThjalfe, crestfallen, went and hid himself behind the great ice pillar\nthat stood outside the castle gate.\n\nAnd now Thor rose to his feet and drew himself up to his greatest\nheight; but even that seemed as nothing compared with the enormous\nstature of the Utgard-king. He clenched the hammer tightly and\nthundered as never he had thundered before. The tiny fringe of icicles\ntrembled. Then Utgard-Loke laughed; and with his thunder the whole\ncastle rocked and reeled.\n\n\"And will Thor contest with the power of Utgard?\" asked the king. \"I\nwill,\" roared Thor, and there was a fire in his eye that even Utgard\nshrank before.\n\nBut Utgard only roared in turn and brought to Thor a great horn,\nfilled to its brim with sparkling water.\n\n\"Drink,\" said he; \"and if one half the power is yours that Odin claims,\nyou will empty the horn at a single draught.\"\n\nThor seized the horn. One long, deep draught, such as no mortal,\nno giant, nor even another god could have drawn--and the horn was\nhardly one drop less full.\n\nThe king roared till the icicles and the fringes of frost, swaying and\nrocking beneath the thunder, fell with a crash upon the palace floor.\n\n\"Can the great god Thor boast no greater power than that? Once more,\nthou greatest of all the sons of Odin--once more lift the horn in\nthy mighty hands and show us the greatness of the gods of Asgard.\"\n\nThor, stung by the sneer of the Utgard-king, raised the horn again\nto his lips; and calling upon the name of Odin and all the gods of\nthe shining city, drank again. Higher and higher he raised the horn,\ndeeper and deeper drew he the draught. But alas, again, when the horn\nwas lowered, the waters were no lower than before.\n\n\"You seem not so great as we the frost giants have believed,\" said\nthe king with a cold sneer.\n\nThor's anger rose. His blood boiled with rage and fury. With a burst\nof thunder and a flash of lightning that shattered the pillars\nof the great hall, he seized the horn again. Three long hours\npassed. Utgard-Loke trembled with fear and dread; for never for one\nsecond had the angry god taken the horn from his lips. \"The ruin of\nthe Utgard kingdom is come,\" he groaned. \"There is no hope for victory\nover such a god. The horn--even the magic horn--will fail before the\nmight of this fierce and awful Thor, the god of Thunder.\"\n\nThen Thor lifted the horn from his lips. Defiance flashed from his\neye. The king of the Frost giants trembled. Both looked into the\nhorn. Alas for Thor! Even now hardly could it be counted one quarter\nemptied. Darkness gathered over the strong god's face. Courage sprang\ninto the eyes of the king. \"Let not your valor fail you,\" said the\nking, taking the horn from the hand of Thor. \"You are great--you\nhave proved it, in that you have, even in so small a degree as this,\nemptied the horn from which none but a god could have quaffed one\ndrop. It is only that your greatness is less than you have boasted,\nand less than we have believed it to be.\"\n\n\"I will not stand defeated,\" thundered Thor. \"Bring before me another\nchallenge. I will not go forth until the giants of Utgard have indeed\nknown and felt the power of Thor, the god whose lightnings rend the\nskies, and whose thunders rock the very mountains of the earth.\"\n\n\"Once more, then, shall you contend for power,\" said the\nUtgard-king. \"And this time with Elle, the toothless giant of endless\nyears, before whose power bend all the strongest sons of Midgard,\nand before whom, in some far off day, even the gods of Asgard shall\nbow as powerless as the children of Midgard.\"\n\nThor sprang upon the giant Elle. Like a demon of the under world he\nfought, and for a time even this All-conquering giant swayed before\nthe wild madness of his bursts of thunder, and his crashing, hissing\nbolts of fire. But alas for Thor! Even his godlike strength was doomed\nto fail him. He trembled; his sight vanished; a strange chill settled\nover him, and he sank, conquered, before the power of the giant Elle.\n\nAnd now the night had fallen upon the land. The light had faded\nfrom the mountain tops; and the chill of night was in the frosty\nair. Exhausted, the great god wrapped himself about and sank into\nheavy sleep. And his dreams were of great battles, of terrible foes,\nand of the last great day which, sometime in the ages to come,\nshould fall upon the city of the gods, and in which even the power\nof Odin should fail, and the light go out from all the earth. All\nnight long these dreams haunted the great heart of Thor; and in the\nmorning the people in Midgard said, \"It was a strange night. Through\nall the hours of darkness, the thunders rolled in the distance, and\nthe pale lightnings flashed among the mountain peaks beyond the seas.\"\n\nIn the morning, even with the first rays of light, Thor, with Loke and\nThjalfe and Roskva, set forth upon their journey homeward. There was\na terrible blackness upon the face of Thor, and the thunders rumbled\ndeeply. Never before had Thor known the bitterness of defeat, and he\nreturned to Asgard and to Odin sick at heart.\n\n\"Lose not thy courage, Thor,\" said the All-wise. \"Know that thou art\nnot even now defeated in any test of true strength. Utgard-Loke has\ntriumphed to be sure; but even he trembles now, and has closed the\ndoors of his castle, and has set thousands upon thousands of sentinels\nto watch against thy return.\n\n\"The horn from which thou didst drink reached far down into the depths\nof the sea; and the people of Midgard even now throng the shores\nand wonder what power in heaven or in earth can so have shrunken the\ngreat waters of the sea.\n\n\"Loge, with whom Loke contended, was none less than Wild Fire; and Huge\nwas Thought itself. Even the gods, even Odin himself, with these would\nbut contend in vain. And Elle--it is indeed as Utgard-Loke said--no\npower in heaven itself can equal hers. She is the all-powerful, the\nnever-failing, the ever-present Old Age. All the people of the earth,\nall the gods of Asgard--aye, even the Earth and Asgard must one day\nfall before her mighty will. That you contended even as you did, has\ndriven terror deep into the hearts of the cruel Frost giants; nor do\nthey doubt that you are the terrible god of Thunder, the greatest of\nall the sons of Odin.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXX.\n\nTHOR AND THE MIDGARD SERPENT.\n\n\nWith these words of Odin, Thor's courage rose. \"Bring me my hammer,\"\nhe called to Sif, \"and again will I go forth into the realms of the\nFrost giants.\"\n\nThe great Odin smiled. \"Fear not, my son. Remember there can be no\ndefeat to Thor, the son of Odin, whose mighty hand holds firm the\nterrible hammer forged by the dwarfs of the under world.\"\n\nThen Thor sprang into his chariot. \"Away, away,\" he thundered,\n\"to the home of Hymer--the hateful, boastful Hymer! Away to the land\nof the Frost giants! Once, and for all, Thor will prove to them the\npower and the terror of the gods of Asgard.\"\n\nThe wheels of the chariot rumbled and rolled. From their spokes the\nlightnings flashed. With the speed of Thought itself, it hissed and\nwhistled through the air. The clouds, scattering, raised a mighty wind.\n\nIn Midgard the leaves ran like fire before the gale; the trees rocked;\nand ever and anon the moaning wind rose and fell like the voice of\na mighty tempest.\n\n\"It is the Valkyries!\" the people of Midgard said. \"Always does\nthe wind rise; always do the clouds hurry across the skies when the\nValkyries set forth to battle. Somewhere there is war in our fair\nearth; somewhere heroes are falling on the bloody battlefield.\"\n\nFor, in all this time, there had come to be many people in Midgard. The\nchildren of Ask and Embla had become men and women, had grown old,\nand their children, too, had become men and women.\n\nAnd there were wars in the land. Warriors in the east fought those\nin the west; those in the north fought those in the south.\n\nBut the warriors were brave men; and over every battle Odin watched,\ngrinding the spears, now shielding and protecting, now forcing the\nwarriors into the very hottest of the battle. And when the battle was\nover, and all was quiet, when the great sun had sunk behind the hills\nof Jotunheim, and the soft moon shone down upon the battlefield,\nthen Odin would call to the Valkyries, and bid them go down into\nMidgard and bring with them to Valhalla all who had fallen bravely\nfighting. For this was the hero's reward. With this hope he entered\nbattle; with this hope he fought; with this hope he turned his dying\neyes towards Mt. Ida and thanked the All-father that now he, too,\nmight enter into the joys of Asgard and know the glory of immortal\nlife in the golden halls of Valhalla.\n\nAnd now the winds had died away; the clouds were at rest; there\nwas peace over Midgard. For the chariot had reached the home of the\nFrost giants, and Thor had entered the great rock-bound castle of\nthe giant Hymer.\n\n\"Let us go out upon the sea to fish,\" said Thor to the dread giant,\nwith whom he longed to measure power.\n\nSeizing the oars, Thor himself rowed the great boat out into the\nsea. \"Give me the oars,\" bellowed Hymer; \"you have already rowed a\nlong way and must be wearied.\"\n\n\"I wearied!\" thundered Thor. \"Indeed I have not rowed one half the\ndistance. I shall row even into the realm of the Midgard Serpent,\nwhose length lies coiled round about Midgard, and whose home is deep\ndown beneath the raging waters. There only shall we find fish worthy\nof the bait of a god.\"\n\nHymer trembled. He feared the Midgard Serpent, whose great coils\nso lashed the waters of the ocean that they rose, white with foam,\neven to the very mountain tops. \"The fishing just here has never\nfailed. There is no need to row farther into the ocean,\" said Hymer,\nhoping to dissuade the god from rowing farther from the shores of\nJotunheim. \"But I must fish in mid-ocean, and in the deepest of the\nwaters,\" was Thor's reply.\n\nFor hours and hours they rowed. The mountain tops grew dimmer and\ndimmer in the blue distance; no land could be seen; the waters sparkled\nand shone on every side as far as the eye could reach.\n\n\"We will make this our fishing place,\" said Thor, at last, throwing\ndown his oars and preparing the great cable that should serve him\nfor a line. This he gave into the hands of the trembling giant, and\nprepared for himself another. The hours passed, but no fish had been\ndrawn into the boat.\n\n\"Had you listened to me,\" thundered Hymer, \"our boat might long before\nthis have been filled with the fish I have never failed to catch in\nwaters nearer the shores of the land of the Frost giants.\"\n\n\"Do you think a god would be content with less than the greatest fish\nin all the sea?\" thundered Thor. \"Do you not know I shall bring to\nthis boat's edge the terrible Midgard Serpent itself?\"\n\nAnd even as he spoke he gathered in his line, and dashed upon the\nboat floor a whale of such enormous size that even the giant looked\nwith amazement upon so terrible a display of the fisherman's strength\nand power. Surely this must be Thor himself!\n\n\"The whale is yours,\" muttered Thor, unfastening his line and throwing\nit overboard again. \"I have no care for fish as small as this.\"\n\nSuddenly there was a rush of waters. It was as if a terrible tempest\nhad burst upon the sea. The waters seethed and foamed. The great waves\nrose mountain high. The boat rocked and reeled, and the green waters,\npouring over its sides, filled it so that the great whale floated\nout upon the sea.\n\n\"It is the Midgard Serpent!\" roared Thor; and his mighty voice, rising\neven above the rush of the great sea, mingled with the thunder of\nthe breaking waves and echoed out to the shores of the farthest lands.\n\nThor sprang from the boat and planted himself firmly upon the great\nrocks beneath the sea. The giant, dumb with terror, clung to the sides\nof the rocking boat. On, on came the serpent, nearer and nearer, the\nroaring waves and the heaping foam bursting closer and closer upon the\nmountain-like boat that tossed now like seaweed upon the angry waters.\n\nOne burst like thunder, and the terrible serpent's head rose above the\nfoam and glistened in the light. Thor sprang forward; and, with his\nmighty arm, threw the cable about the slimy neck of the Midgard Serpent\nand dragged him to the boat's edge. The giant sprang to his feet.\n\n\"Give me my hammer!\" thundered the god.\n\n\"I will not!\" thundered the giant; and with one quick bound he sprang\nforward, raised his shining sword, and with a sweep miles high,\ncut the great cable which held the writhing serpent.\n\nAnother roar, and the great serpent arched his back even to the blue\ndome of the sky above. Then, with a hiss that sounded through Midgard\nand even up to the shining city of the fair Mt. Ida, he shot down\nbeneath the waters, and over him closed the angry waves.\n\nThe foam dashed mountains high; the caves howled and boomed; the skies\nechoed crash on crash; and the whole earth trembled with the upheaval\nof the troubled waters. A rushing back, a heaping up, a breaking of\ngreat waves--and never again, by man or giant or god, was the loathsome\nserpent seen above the waters, until on that last sad, fateful day when\nthe light had gone out from the sun, and the dread chill of Ragnarok\nhad fallen even upon Valhalla and the beautiful shining city of Asgard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVALKYRIES' SONG.\n\n\n    The Sea-king looked o'er the brooding wave;\n      He turned to the dusky shore,\n    And there seemed, through the arch of a tide-worn cave\n      A gleam, as of snow, to pour;\n        And forth, in watery light,\n        Moved phantoms, dimly white,\n      Which the garb of woman bore.\n\n    Slowly they moved to the billow side;\n      And the forms, as they grew more clear,\n    Seemed each on a tall, pale steed to ride,\n      And a shadowy crest to rear,\n\n        And to beckon with faint hand,\n        From the dark and rocky strand,\n      And to point a gleaming spear.\n\n    Then a stillness on his spirit fell,\n      Before th' unearthly train,\n    For he knew Valhalla's daughters well,\n      The Choosers of the slain!\n        And a sudden rising breeze\n        Bore, across the moaning seas,\n      To his ear their thrilling strain.\n\n    \"Regner! tell thy fair-haired bride\n    She must slumber at thy side!\n    Tell the brother of thy breast,\n    Even for him thy grave hath rest!\n    Tell the raven steed which bore thee,\n    When the wild wolf fled before thee,\n    He too with his lord must fall,--\n    There is room in Odin's Hall!\"\n\n    There was arming heard on land and wave,\n      When afar the sunlight spread,\n    And the phantom forms of the tide-worn cave\n      With the mists of morning fled;\n        But at eve, the kingly hand\n        Of the battle-axe and brand,\n      Lay cold on a pile of dead!--Hemans.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\n\nTHE DYING BALDUR.\n\n\nAges upon ages had rolled away. And now the day of sorrow, which\nalways Odin had known must come, drew near.\n\nAlready the god of song had gone with his beautiful wife Idun down\ninto the dark valley of death; and there was a new strange rustle among\nthe leaves of Ygdrasil, like the rustling of leaves that were dead.\n\nOdin's face grew sad; and, try as he would, he could not join with\nthe happy gods about him in their joys and festal games.\n\n\"Odin,\" said Frigg one day, \"tell me what grieves thee; what weighs\nthee down and puts such sadness into thine eyes and heart.\"\n\n\"Baldur himself shall tell you all,\" answered Odin sadly.\n\nThen Baldur seated himself in the midst of the gods and said: \"Always,\nsince Odin drank at the Well of Wisdom, and learned the secrets of\nthe past and of the future, has he known that a time would come when\nthe light must go out from Baldur's eyes; and he, although a god,\nmust go down into the dark valley. Now that time draws near. Already\nhave Brage and Idun gone from us; and with them have gone song and\nyouth. Soon will Baldur go, and with him must go the light and warmth\nhe has always been so glad to bring to Asgard and to Midgard both.\"\n\n\"O Baldur! Baldur! Baldur! My Child! my child! my child!\" cried\nFrigg. \"This cannot be! this shall not be! I will go down from\nAsgard. I will go up and down the earth, and every rock and tree and\nplant shall pledge themselves to do no harm to thee.\"\n\n\"Dear mother Frigg,\" sighed Baldur, \"you cannot change what is\nforetold. From the beginning of time this was decreed, that one day\nthe light should go out from heaven and the twilight of the gods\nshould fall.\"\n\nThere was a long silence in the hall of Asgard. No god had courage\nto speak. Their hearts were heavy, and they had no wish to speak.\n\nThe sun sank behind the western hills. Its rich sunset glow spread\nover the golden city and over the beautiful earth below. Then darkness\nfollowed slowly, slowly creeping, creeping on, up the mountain side,\nacross the summit, until even the shining city stood dark and shadowy\nbeneath the gathering twilight.\n\n\"Like this, some day, the twilight will fall upon our city,\" said Odin;\n\"and it will never, never rise again.\"\n\nThe mother heart of Frigg would not accept even Odin's word. And when\nthe sun's first rays shot up above the far-off hills, Frigg stole\nforth from Asgard down the rainbow bridge to Midgard.\n\nTo every lake, and river, and sea, she hurried, and said: \"Promise me,\nO waters, that Baldur's light shall never go out because of you.\"\n\n\"We promise,\" the waters answered. And Frigg hurried on to the\nmetals. \"Promise me, O metals, that Baldur's light shall never go\nout because of you.\"\n\n\"We promise,\" answered the metals. And Frigg hurried on to the\nminerals. \"Promise me, O minerals,\" she said, \"that Baldur's light\nshall never go out because of you.\"\n\n\"We promise,\" answered the minerals. And Frigg hurried on to the fire,\nthe earth, the stones, the trees, the shrubs, the grasses, the birds,\nthe beasts, the reptiles; and even to the abode of pale disease she\nwent. Of each she asked the same earnest, anxious question; and from\neach she received the same kind, honest answer.\n\nAs the sun sank behind the high peaks of the Frost giants' homes,\nFrigg, radiant and happy, her eyes bright and her heart alive with\nhope, sped up the rainbow bridge. Triumphant, she hurried into the\ngreat hall to Odin and Baldur.\n\n\"Be happy again, O Odin! Be happy again, O Baldur! There is no\ndanger, no sorrow to come to us from anything in the earth or under\nthe earth. For every tree has promised me; and every rock and every\nmetal; every animal and every bird. Even the waters and the fire have\npromised that never harm through them shall come to Baldur.\"\n\nBut, alas, for poor Frigg. One little weed, a wee little weed, hidden\nbeneath a rock, she had overlooked. Loke, who had followed closely\nupon her in all her wanderings through the day, had not failed to\nnotice this oversight of Frigg's. His wicked face shone with glee. His\neyes gleamed; and as the radiant Frigg sped up the rainbow bridge,\nhe hurried away to his home among the Frost giants to tell them of\nthe little weed which, by and by, should work such harm to Baldur,\nin shutting out his life and light from Asgard and the earth.\n\nThe ages rolled on. Every one in Asgard, save Odin, had long ago thrown\noff the shadow of fear. \"No harm can come to Baldur,\" they would say;\nand all save Odin believed it.\n\nBut a day came when Odin, looking down into the home of the dead,\nsaw there the spirits moving about, hastening hither and thither.\n\n\"Something is happening there in the pale valley,\" said Odin. \"They\nare preparing for the coming of another shade. And it must be some\ngreat one who is to come. See how great the preparation is they make.\"\n\n\"We prepare for the coming of Baldur,\" answered the shades as Odin\ncame upon them, busy in their work. \"We prepare a throne for Baldur. We\nprepare a throne for Baldur.\"\n\n\"For Baldur?\" asked Odin, his heart sinking. \"For Baldur!\" chanted\nthe shades. \"For Baldur! Baldur cometh! Baldur cometh!\"\n\nAnd Odin, his godlike heart faint and sick at the thought, turned\naway and went slowly up the rainbow bridge.\n\nThere, in the great garden of the gods, he found Thor and Baldur\nand their brother Hodor playing at tests of strength. Behind Hodor,\ninvisible, stood Loke. In his hand he held a spear.\n\n\"Shame upon you, Hodor,\" whispered Loke, \"that you, the strong and\nmighty Hodor, cannot overcome Baldur in a test of strength. Baldur\nmay be beautiful and sunny, and he is a great joy to the world;\nthat we know. But what is he compared with Hodor for strength?\"\n\n\"But the spears will not touch him. See how they glance away. Indeed\nit is true: Light cannot be pierced.\" answered Hodor, good-naturedly.\n\n\"Take this spear,\" said Loke, quietly. \"It is less clumsy than those\nyou throw.\"\n\nHodor took it, never thinking of any harm. Alas for Baldur and\nAsgard and all the happy smiling Earth! It was a spear tipped with\nthe mistletoe--the one plant that Frigg had failed to find. The one\nplant that had not promised to do no harm to Baldur.\n\nQuickly the spear flew through the air. One second, and Baldur the\nSummer Spirit, Baldur the Light of the Earth fell--dead.\n\n\"O, Asgard! Baldur is dead!\" groaned Odin. \"O Asgard, Asgard! Baldur\nis dead!\"\n\nHodor, Thor, the gods, one and all, stood pale and white. A terrible\nfear settled over their faces. They shook with terror.\n\nAnd even as they stood there, speechless in their grief, a twilight\ndimness began to fall lightly, lightly over all. The shining pavements\ngrew less bright; the blue of the great arch overhead deepened;\nand in the valleys of Midgard there were long black shadows. Baldur\nwas dead. The light had failed. The golden age was at an end. Now,\neven the gods must die.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\n\nTHE PUNISHMENT OF LOKE.\n\n\n\"It is Loke that has done this!\" thundered Thor, seizing the great\nhammer in his clenched fists. \"Nor will the gods of Asgard forgive\nthis crime. No promise of his, no begging, no pleading shall save\nhim from the punishment that belongs to him.\n\n\"O Baldur, Baldur! That I had slain the evil Loke ages upon ages\nago--when he stole the hair from the glorious Sif; when he stole\nthe necklace from the beautiful Freyja; when he carried Idun and the\nApples of Life away into the home of the Frost giants; when he stung\nthe dwarf and broke short the handle of my mighty hammer. Had I slain\nhim then, this sorrow need not have come to us. O Baldur, Baldur!\"\n\nAnd the whole earth shook with the grief of Thor. The skies grew\nblack. The wind shrieked. The lightnings flashed across the sky. His\ntears fell in torrents down the mountain sides; trees were swept away,\nand the swollen rivers rushed and roared along their course.\n\nNever, even in the memory of the gaunt old giant at the Well of\nWisdom, had such a storm of wind and rain and thunder and lightning\nbeen known. The earth-people fled to the mountain caves in terror.\n\n\"It is the wrath of Thor!\" cried Loke, gasping with dread. \"Let\nme hide myself till it is over.\" And changing himself into a fish,\nhe dived deep into the great seething mass of angry waters.\n\nBut Thor and Odin were close upon him. The fiery eye of Thor had\ncaught the sparkle of its shiny coat as the great fish shot down from\nthe mountain side into the sea. Then, too, of what use was it to hide\nfrom the great, all-seeing eye of Odin? Did he not see and hear all\nsights and sounds? And, more than that, did he not know all things\neven from the beginning?\n\n\"We will take a great net, and we will drag the sea,\" said Odin\nquietly.\n\nLoke heard these words and trembled. He hid himself beneath the\nsea-weed; but so muddy were the waters that he was driven out to\nbreathe. The great net was spread. Held by the hands of Odin and of\nThor, there was no escape for Loke. Sullenly he allowed the net to\nclose over him. There was no other way; for it stretched from shore\nto shore and from above the waters even to the ocean bed.\n\nAnd so, at last, because it was to be, the fish held; and Loke was\nin the power of the angry Thor.\n\n\"Come back,\" commanded Odin, \"to your own shape and size.\" Loke obeyed;\nand in his own form was borne to Asgard. The angry gods fell, one and\nall, upon him. Not one showed pity for him. They hated him. And well\nthey might; for had he not slain Baldur, and so loosed the power of\nthe Frost giants upon their shining city.\n\n\"Let him be bound! Let him be bound!\" they cried.\n\n\"Let him be bound even as the Fenris-wolf is bound!\"\n\n\"Let him be bound with iron fetters!\"\n\n\"Let him be nailed to the great rocks in the sea!\"\n\n\"Let a poisonous serpent hang over him; and let the serpent drop,\nmoment by moment, through all the time to come, his burning poison upon\nhim! Let him lie there, chained and suffering till the last great day!\"\n\n\"All this shall be,\" thundered Thor. And thus it was that the cruel,\nevil-hearted, peace-destroyer Loke, suffered ages upon ages of\npunishment for his malice and his crime.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\n\nTHE DARKNESS THAT FELL ON ASGARD.\n\n\nThe gods had avenged themselves upon the cruel Peace-destroyer,\nand he lay suffering the tortures they had put upon him.\n\nBut even this could not bring back the sunny god, the happy, cheerful,\nlife-giving Baldur. Brage had gone, and there was no sound of music\nin Asgard; Idun had gone, and signs of age were again creeping over\nthe faces of the gods; now Baldur was gone, and with him the long\nlight and warm softness of the summer time.\n\n\"He may come back,\" Frigg would say; and every morning she strained\nher eyes to see if he had risen from behind the far-off hills with\nthe soft light she had learned to know so well. \"Baldur is late,\"\nshe would say, as the days rolled on.\n\nBut all this time, from the cold north land, the Frost giants,\ntriumphant, were drawing near. Their chill breath was in the air. The\ndays grew short; the nights grew long. The rivers were locked in\nice. Great drifts of snow were everywhere. The sky was gray; and\nthere were no stars. The sun shone pale and white through the dull\nclouds and the blinding drifts of snow. It grew bitter, bitter cold.\n\n\"The Fimbul-winter!\" whispered the earth-people. \"Has the Fimbul-winter\ncome?\" And Odin answered, \"Yes; it is true. The Fimbul-winter, foretold\nby the Norns, even from the beginning of time, has come. Soon the\ngreat wolf will spring forth from the under world, and he will seize\nupon the sun and devour it. Then dense darkness will fall upon us;\nand Ragnarok--the end of all things--will be upon us.\"\n\nAnd it came to pass as Odin said. One day there was heard a mighty\nrumbling. This time it was not the thunder from the mighty hammer of\ngreat Thor. His hands were frozen; nor had he heart to try to wield\nhis hammer.\n\nThe thunder and the rumble came this time from within the earth. The\ngreat earth trembled and shook. Great gaping mouths opened and\nswallowed up the children; the mountains crumbled and fell; the\ngreat serpent lashed the sea; the great rocks rocked and swayed and\ntore themselves apart. Loke and the Fenris-wolf, freed from their\nfetters, sprang forth, burning with hate and wild for vengeance. The\nFrost giants already were upon the rainbow bridge. A terrible battle\nfollowed.\n\nThe gods fell, one by one: Thor by the deadly flood of poison from\nthe Midgard serpent; Tyre in the great jaws of the Fenris-wolf, who,\nages before, had torn from him his strong right hand.\n\nAnd now the battle was over. The gods lay dead--even Odin. The\nshining city of Asgard was a blackened, smoking ruin; the rainbow\nbridge was gone. The giants sent forth their cold winds, howling with\ncruel glee. Loke's evil heart was glad; the great serpent lashed the\nwaters mountain high; and the earth-people perished in the flood. The\nFenris-wolf stretched its great jaw from heaven to earth and shook\nthe skies.\n\nThere was a strange hush! A great ball of fire had fallen upon the\nbattle field. There was a sudden rush of air! A great wave of heat\nspread out across all space! A burst of thunder! A crackling as of\nfire! Then one hiss, and the whole earth was one great scorching blaze.\n\nOne second--a fierce red tongue of flame had shot up the trunk of\nYgdrasil, and it fell, a mass of blackened ashes. The sea hissed\nand steamed. The earth melted. The Frost giants, Loke, the serpent,\nthe Fenris-wolf, all, all were wrapped in flame. A second more, and\nthere was no living thing in all the earth. For Ragnarok, the Reign\nof Fire, had come; and with it came an end to Life--and end alike\nto gods and giants; an end to all creatures of the land and sea;\nan end even to the great earth itself.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVOCABULARY.\n\n\nAs'gard: (s like z) Abode of the gods.\n\nAsk: The first woman; made from a tree.\n\nBaldur: (Bal'-dur) The god of summer sunshine.\n\nBauge: (Bo\u00fagh-ge: hard g) A giant brother of Suttung.\n\nBr\u00e1-ge: (a as in far: hard ge) A son of Odin and famed for wisdom\nand eloquence.\n\nBrok: (pronounced Brock) A dwarf.\n\nB\u00f6lverk: (o like e in heard, B\u00e9l-verk) A name assumed by Odin.\n\nElle: Old age.\n\nEmbla: The first man; made from a tree.\n\nFenris wolf: Monster wolf, son of Loki.\n\nFrigg: Wife of Odin.\n\nFrey: (Fray) Ruler over the light elves.\n\nFrey-ja: (e as in let, j like y, Fr\u00e9y-ya) Sister of Frey; half the\nfallen in battle belonged to her.\n\nF\u00edmbul: The terrible winter just before the destruction of the earth.\n\nGold-fax: Hrungner's horse.\n\nHuge: (Ho\u00f3-ge: hard g) Thought.\n\nH\u00f6dor: (o as e in heard, H\u00f6'-der) The slayer of Baldur.\n\nHrung-ner: (Hroon'-gner) A giant.\n\nHy'-mer: A giant, owner of the kettle, Mile-deep.\n\nIdun: (Idoon) Keeper of the Apples of Youth.\n\nI-fing: Name of a river.\n\nJ\u00f6tunheim: (j like y, o like e in heard: Y\u00e9r-toon-he\u00e9m) Home of\nthe giants.\n\nLoke, or Loki: (Lo-ke) The evil giant god.\n\nLoge: (Lo-ge: hard g) Wild-fire.\n\nM\u00edd-gard: The abode of men.\n\nMagne: (M\u00e1g-ne) Thor's son.\n\nNorn: (N\u00f4rn) The Three fates represented as three young women.\n\nNjord: (often spelled Ni-\u00f6rd pronounced Nee-y\u00e8rd) Father of Frey\nand Freyja.\n\nOdin: (o-din) The fountain head of wisdom.\n\nRagnar\u00f6k: (rag'-na-r\u00e9k) Twilight of the gods.\n\nRoskva: (r\u00f3sk-va) A peasant girl who went with Thor to Utgard Loki's.\n\nSindre, or Sindri: (s\u00edn-dre) A dwarf.\n\nSif: (Seef) Thor's wife.\n\nSuttung: (supposed to be derived from Sup-tung) The giant who obtained\nthe precious wine.\n\nSleip-ner: Odin's horse.\n\nSkry-mer: (Skry-mer) The giant who met Thor in the forest.\n\nThjal-fe: (Thy'al-fe) A peasant boy who went with Thor to Utgard\nLoki's.\n\nThrym: A giant who stole Thor's hammer.\n\nThor: Thunder-god.\n\nUtgard: The abode of Loki.\n\nValhalla: (val-h\u00e1l-la) The hall to which Odin took those slain\nin battle.\n\nValkyrie: (Val-ky'-rie) Handmaidens of Odin\n\nVafthrudnur: (Vaf-thr\u00f3od-neer) A giant visited by Odin.\n\nYgdrasil: (\u00edg-dras-il) The world-embracing ash tree.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTE\n\n\n[1] duel.","title":"Legends of Norseland","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":22482}