“ With another angry howl he sprang towards Thor; but with a quick turn Thor seized one end of the coil, fastened it to a great rock, and before the wolf could set his fangs he hurled him, rock and all, over the walls of the city, down down into the mighty sea.
“And there, chained to his rocky island, he shall abide forever,” cried the gods; “and now peace once more shall rest upon our city.”
But Odin sighed, and to himself he said, “O happy children, there shall yet come a day when darkness shall fall upon us; the Fenris-wolf shall again be loosed; and even the gods shall be no more.” ”

“ Every eye in Asgard was strained; every giant in Jotunheim stood breathless upon his mountain. The great round faces of the giants grew tense; the wrinkled aged faces of the gods grew pale. It was a terrible race. It was a race for life and health and everlasting youth.
“Build fires upon the walls! Heap up the brush! Stand ready with the tapers!” cried Odin, who foresaw the end.
The brush is heaped. Each god stands ready, his haggard face growing whiter and thinner with fright and dread and eagerness.
Already the rush of Loke’s wings are heard. The eagle follows close. ”

“ One happy peaceful day, when there was no danger abroad, and rest and peace had spread themselves above the halls of the city of Asgard, Sif lay sleeping. The Sungod’s covering of soft warm rays fell upon her, and the leaves of Ygdrasil had spread themselves above her in tender, loving protection.
Loke, the idle one, angry and revengeful, as he always was, when happiness and rest and peace had driven out sorrow and care, paced angrily up and down the golden streets, his deep black frowns darkening even the clear, white light of heaven. [49]
He came upon the beautiful sleeping wife of Thor. ”

“ Look now, O, Odin, and Frigg and Thor and Sif and all the gods, at this the last of my three gifts. This hammer, O Thor, I [64] bring to you, the god of thunder. Strike with it, and your thunders shall echo and re-echo from cloud to cloud as never they were heard before. Thrown into the air or at a foe, like Loke’s spear, it shall never miss its aim; but, more than that, it shall return always to the hand of Thor. No foe can conceal it, no foe can destroy it. ”

“ Thor raised his hammer. The lightnings flashed from his eye. “Halt!” roared the giant. “Little credit will it be to the god of Thunder to fall in battle upon a Frost giant unarmed and unprotected. You are a coward! Fight me as becomes a great god on equal [127] grounds and under fair conditions. Come to me in the land of Jotunheim, and there will I challenge you to battle. Then will your victory, if you win, lend lustre to your greatness; and the fear of you throughout the land of the Frost giants be greater than ever before.” ”

“ A cruel, wicked, idle, evil-hearted god was he, the sorrow of his father Odin, the grief of his [47] mother Frigg, and the terror of all the gods and goddesses.
Over this son the great Odin wept often bitter tears. More bitter still since he had drunk from the Well of Wisdom; for since then knowing, as he did, all things past and future, he knew that a day was yet to come, when, because of this wicked Loke, the light would go out from the earth; damp and cold and darkness would fall upon the shining city; the frost giants would overcome the gods; and there would come an end to all life. ”

“ Thor’s hand shut tight upon the handle of his hammer. It was hard to believe that a blow from the hammer would not slay the wicked creature. For an instant Thor’s face grew black. Then forcing a smile, and showing to the wolf the mass of gold, he said, “Come Fenris; come with me into the hall. There the gods are to meet and test our strength upon this magic coil. Whoever breaks it, and so proves himself the strongest, is to win a prize from the great All-father Odin.” ”

“ There was a gloom, a shadow over Asgard; for the gods were growing old. The life had gone out of their eyes; their smooth round faces had grown thin and peaked; their [96] step was halting, and the feebleness of age was falling upon them.
“It is Loke who has done this,” thundered Thor one day, when, from old age and weakness, he had been defeated in a battle with the now ever youthful giants. “It is Loke who has done this, and we will bear it no longer. Look at Odin; even he grows weak and bent and trembling. He is like the old men in Midgard. He, Odin, the All-father.” ”

“ It is Loke! No bird of Midgard flies so high nor sweeps the air with such mighty wings.”
With one great giant pull, he shot his boat upon the shore; with one great giant bound he struck the mountain top.
“The apples of life! the apples of life!” he thundered. “Gone! gone! The apples of life are gone!”
One second, and putting on the guise of a great grey eagle he shot up into the sky in swift pursuit of Loke. The Sungod hid his chariot behind a cloud that the shadows might protect and cover Loke. Thor sent forth his thunder. The skies blackened; the wind beat back the great grey eagle ”

“ But Odin had not forgotten. “Frigg,” [20] said he to his goddess wife, “it is granted to us as gods to possess great wisdom. Still there remain many things we do not know. Below in the valley there have sprung into being a man and a woman. They are like us, Frigg, but they are not very wise. They need our care, even as our own dear Baldur needed our care when he was a very little child. I shall go to the Giant Memory, who guards the Well of Wisdom, and he shall give me a draught from the wonderful water. Then shall I be the all-wise, all-loving All-Father these children of the valley need.” ”

“ See, O Father Odin, I bring you a magic spear. Accept this, my second gift. It is a magic spear that never fails.” [63]
“But behold my second gift,” interrupted Brok. “It is a boar of wonderful strength. It, too, is magic. No horse can run, no bird can fly with such speed. It travels both on land and sea; and in the night its bristles shine with such a light, that it matters not how dense the blackness, the forest or the plain will be as bright as noonday.”
“I, too, have a gift that will travel on land or sea,” cried Loke, pushing himself forward again. ”

“ The giant gave a furious grunt. He did not quite know whether his new workman was stupid, or, whether under all his seeming meekness, it might not be that he was making fun of him.
Well, Bauge set Bolverk to work, and then, lazy fellow that he was, stretched himself out on a mountain side to watch.
“That new workman of mine,” he bellowed, calling the attention of a neighbor giant to Odin at work in the field; “do you see him down there among the corn? He says he can do nine men’s work.”
“A workman usually thinks himself equal to any nine other workingmen,” roared back the neighbor. ”

“ Thor clenched his hammer. He dared not thunder; even his lightnings were as nothing in this great palace hall and before the terrible voice of the Utgard-king.
“But perhaps you are greater than you look,” continued the king, roaring again at his own wit. “Tell me what great feats you can accomplish; for no one is allowed entrance to this castle who cannot perform great deeds.”
“I can perform great deeds—many of them,” boasted Loke, nowise abashed, even in the presence of the terrible king. ”

“ I heard of your wonderful wisdom. In my own country, far away to the west, I too am accounted somewhat wise. Let us test each other and learn which of us is wiser.”
“Test each other! Learn which is wiser!” bellowed the great giant, his voice echoing and re-echoing across the sea, until the very walls of the golden hall upon Mt. Ida trembled and the earth-children in the valley below clung to each other in fear.
“Whichever one fails forfeits his life. You know that, I trust,” added Vafthrudner with a sneer.
“I know,” answered Odin quietly. “But let us begin. ”

“ The giant made no reply. The heavy door creaked again and Loke was alone.
“Are you ready to do what I asked of you?” asked the Frost giant, opening the great door the fourth morning.
“Yes, two of the three apples will I promise to bring you. With even one left, the gods might be content; for even then their lives would be far longer than the life of mortals.” ”

“ There only shall we find fish worthy of the bait of a god.”
Hymer trembled. He feared the Midgard Serpent, whose great coils so lashed the waters of the ocean that they rose, white with foam, even to the very mountain tops. “The fishing just here has never failed. There is no need to row farther into the ocean,” said Hymer, hoping to dissuade the god from rowing farther from the shores of Jotunheim. [160] “But I must fish in mid-ocean, and in the deepest of the waters,” was Thor’s reply. ”

“ For there had never been a time since the beginning of the world when Ygdrasil had not stood there, tall and strong, one great root reaching down, down through the earth to the home of the dead, another stretching away, no one could tell how far, till it reached the home of the terrible giants, so fierce and cruel, so strong, and withal so wise, that even the gods themselves dreaded them and stood ever in terror of their approach. ”

“ Spare us, O spare us, great Thor! Take all we have—our house, our cattle, our children, everything—only spare our lives to us!”
Thor seized his hammer in his hand. His great knuckles grew white, so strong was his giant hold upon the handle. The peasants sank upon their knees. Their faces dropped and their eyes closed. Shaking with terror, they awaited the falling of the hammer.
“Up, up, ye peasants,” thundered Thor. “This offense I forgive. Your lives too, shall [136] be spared you; but I will carry away with me these children of yours,—Thjalfe and Roskva ”

“ The wolf stretched back his cruel lips, and showed his sharp fangs of teeth. He did not speak; but his wicked grin said, “You do not deceive the Fenris-wolf.”
Together Thor and the Fenris-wolf entered the presence of Odin and the gods and goddesses. [116]
“I have,” said Thor, “a magic coil. It is very strong. The dwarfs made it for me; and Odin has promised a great prize to the one who shall be strong enough to break its links. Come, let us try.” ”

“ But Loke stood defiant. There was but one thing to be done, so the gods thought; [107] and that was to take these terrible creatures from Loke’s power.
“The serpent we will cast into the sea,” said Thor. “But the wolf—what shall we do with the wolf? Certainly he cannot be left to wander up and down in Midgard. The sea would not hold him. Loke must not have him in Jotunheim. What shall be done with him?”
“Kill him,” said some.
“No,” answered Odin. “To him Loke has given the gift of everlasting life. He will not die as long as we the gods have life. There is but one way left open to us ”

“ Because it touches upon the shores of the city of the gods, the Ice King, Njord, has no power over it. His breath cannot freeze it. Year after year, Njord tries to imprison its sparkling waters that you giants may cross upon its crust and attack the shining city. But it will never freeze. You will never cross it. Asgard is forever safe.”
The giant dropped his mighty jaw. His eyes stared like great suns of fire. His terrible frame trembled. Down came his club upon the floor of his great castle. [26]
Again Ask and Embla paled with fear as the valley shook beneath their feet. ”

“ It will never fail thee, O Thor, thou god of thunder.”
“But what a clumsy handle,” sneered Loke, who already began to fear the hammer was to win the favor of the gods.
“Yes,” answered Brok, “the handle is clumsy and it is short. But none knows better than you why it is so.”
Loke colored and moved uneasily. “Do not think,” continued Brok, “that I do not know it was you who sent the poisonous gadfly to sting and bite me as I worked at the [65] blazing forge, pounding out the brass and gold from which this hammer is made. ”

“ All day the chariot wheeled on and on across the skies. Night fell, and the gods, [133] entering a peasant’s cottage, asked for shelter. “Our supper we have with us,” Thor said. And taking the goats from the chariot, he killed them and placed them before the fire.
Never had the peasants taken part in such a feast. “It is a feast for the gods,” they said; “but pray, how will you finish your journey without your goats?”
“We will attend to that,” said Thor. “Eat what you will, and all you can. ”

“ There was a terrible blackness upon the face of Thor, and the thunders rumbled deeply. Never before had Thor known the bitterness of defeat, and he returned to Asgard and to Odin sick at heart.
“Lose not thy courage, Thor,” said the All-wise. “Know that thou art not even now defeated in any test of true strength. Utgard-Loke has triumphed to be sure; but even he trembles now, and has closed the doors of his castle, and has set thousands upon thousands of sentinels to watch against thy return.
“The horn from which thou didst drink reached far down into the depths of the sea ”

“ Then Hrungner departed from the city of Asgard, and assembled the giants together to prepare for the coming battle. “Let us make a giant of clay,” and at once every giant in Jotunheim fell to work. Whole mountains were leveled to the earth, and the great masses [128] of stone and earth heaped high; until, on the third day, there stood a giant nine miles high and three miles broad, ready to defy the power of the Thunder-god when he should come. ”