LOKI'S CHILDREN

Red Loki, the wickedest of all the Æsir, had done something of which

he was very much ashamed. He had married a giantess, the ugliest,

fiercest, most dreadful giantess that ever lived; and of course he

wanted no one to find out what he had done, for he knew that Father

Odin would be indignant with him for having wedded one of the enemies

of the Æsir, and that none of his brothers would be grateful to him for

giving them a sister-in-law so hideous.

But at last All-Father found out the secret that Loki had been hiding

for years. Worst of all, he found that Loki and the giantess had three

ugly children hidden away in the dark places of the earth,--three

children of whom Loki was even more ashamed than of their mother,

though he loved them too. For two of them were the most terrible

monsters which time had ever seen. Hela his daughter was the least ugly

of the three, though one could scarcely call her attractive. She was

half black and half white, which must have looked very strange; and

she was not easily mistaken by any one who chanced to see her, you can

well understand. She was fierce and grim to see, and the very sight of

her caused terror and death to him who gazed upon her.

But the other two! One was an enormous wolf, with long fierce teeth

and flashing red eyes. And the other was a scaly, slimy, horrible

serpent, huger than any serpent that ever lived, and a hundred times

more ferocious. Can you wonder that Loki was ashamed of such children

as these? The wonder is, how he could find anything about them to love.

But Loki's heart loved evil in secret, and it was the evil in these

three children of his which made them so ugly.

Now when Odin discovered that three such monsters had been living

in the world without his knowledge, he was both angry and anxious,

for he knew that these children of mischievous Loki and his wicked

giantess-wife were dangerous to the peace of Asgard. He consulted the

Norns, the three wise maidens who lived beside the Urdar-well, and who

could see into the future to tell what things were to happen in coming

years. And they bade him beware of Loki's children; they told him

that the three monsters would bring great sorrow upon Asgard, for the

giantess their mother would teach them all her hatred of Odin's race,

while they would have their father's sly wisdom to help them in all

mischief. So Odin knew that his fears had warned him truly. Something

must be done to prevent the dangers which threatened Asgard. Something

must be done to keep the three out of mischief.

Father Odin sent for all the gods, and bade them go forth over the

world, find the children of Loki in the secret places where they were

hidden, and bring them to him. Then the Æsir mounted their horses and

set out on their difficult errand. They scoured Asgard, Midgard the

world of men, Utgard and Jotunheim where the giants lived. And at last

they found the three horrible creatures hiding in their mother's cave.

They dragged them forth and took them up to Asgard, before Odin's high

throne.

Now All-Father had been considering what should be done with the

three monsters, and when they came, his mind was made up. Hela, the

daughter, was less evil than the other two, but her face was dark and

gloomy, and she brought death to those who looked upon her. She must be

prisoned out of sight in some far place, where her sad eyes could not

look sorrow into men's lives and death into their hearts. So he sent

her down, down into the dark, cold land of Niflheim, which lay below

one root of the great tree Yggdrasil. Here she must live forever and

ever. And, because she was not wholly bad, Odin made her queen of that

land, and for her subjects she was to have all the folk who died upon

the earth,--except the heroes who perished in battle; for these the

Valkyries carried straight to Valhalla in Asgard. But all who died of

sickness or of old age, all who met their deaths through accident or

men's cruelty, were sent to Queen Hela, who gave them lodgings in her

gloomy palace. Vast was her kingdom, huge as nine worlds, and it was

surrounded by a high wall, so that no one who had once gone thither

could ever return. And here thenceforth Loki's daughter reigned among

the shadows, herself half shadow and half light, half good and half

bad.

But the Midgard serpent was a more dangerous beast even than Death.

Odin frowned when he looked upon this monster writhing before his

throne. He seized the scaly length in his mighty arms and hurled it

forth over the wall of Asgard. Down, down went the great serpent,

twisting and twirling as he fell, while all the sky was black with

the smoke from his nostrils, and the sound of his hissing made every

creature tremble. Down, down he fell with a great splash into the

deep ocean which surrounded the world. There he lay writhing and

squirming, growing always larger and larger, until he was so huge that

he stretched like a ring about the whole earth, with his tail in his

mouth, and his wicked eyes glaring up through the water towards Asgard

which he hated. Sometimes he heaved himself up, great body and all,

trying to escape from the ocean which was his prison. At those times

there were great waves in the sea, snow and stormy winds and rain upon

the earth, and every one would be filled with fear lest he escape and

bring horrors to pass. But he was never able to drag out his whole

hideous length. For the evil in him had grown with his growth; and a

weight of evil is the heaviest of all things to lift.

The third monster was the Fenris wolf, and this was the most dreadful

of the three. He was so terrible that at first Father Odin decided not

to let him out of his sight. He lived in Asgard then, among the Æsir.

Only Tŷr the brave had courage enough to give him food. Day by day he

grew huger and huger, fiercer and fiercer, and finally, when All-Father

saw how mighty he had become, and how he bid fair to bring destruction

upon all Asgard if he were allowed to prowl and growl about as he saw

fit, Odin resolved to have the beast chained up. The Æsir then went

to their smithies and forged a long, strong chain which they thought

no living creature could break. They took it to the wolf to try its

strength, and he, looking sidewise, chuckled to himself and let them

do what they would with him. But as soon as he stretched himself, the

chain burst into a thousand pieces, as if it were made of twine. Then

the Æsir hurried away and made another chain, far, far stronger than

the first.

"If you can break this, O Fenrir," they said, "you will be famous

indeed."

Again the wolf blinked at his chain; again he chuckled and let them

fasten him without a struggle, for he knew that his own strength had

been increased since he broke the other; but as soon as the chain

was fastened, he shook his great shoulders, kicked his mighty legs,

and--snap!--the links of the chain went whirling far and wide, and once

more the fierce beast was free.

Then the Æsir were alarmed for fear that they would never be able to

make a chain mighty enough to hold the wolf, who was growing stronger

every minute; but they sent Skirnir, Frey's trusty messenger, to the

land of the dwarfs for help. "Make us a chain," was the message he bore

from the Æsir,--"make us a chain stronger than any chain that was ever

forged; for the Fenris wolf must be captured and bound, or all the

world must pay the penalty."

The dwarfs were the finest workmen in the world, as the Æsir knew; for

it was they who made Thor's hammer, and Odin's spear, and Balder's

famous ship, besides many other wondrous things that you remember. So

when Skirnir gave them the message, they set to work with their little

hammers and anvils, and before long they had welded a wonderful chain,

such as no man had ever before seen. Strange things went to the making

of it,--the sound of a cat's footsteps, the roots of a mountain, a

bear's sinews, a fish's breath, and other magic materials that only the

dwarfs knew how to put together; and the result was a chain as soft and

twistable as a silken cord, but stronger than an iron cable. With this

chain Skirnir galloped back to Asgard, and with it the gods were sure

of chaining Fenrir; but they meant to go about the business slyly, so

that the wolf should not suspect the danger which was so near.

"Ho, Fenrir!" they cried. "Here is a new chain for you. Do you think

you can snap this as easily as you did the last? We warn you that it

is stronger than it looks." They handed it about from one to another,

each trying to break the links, but in vain. The wolf watched them

disdainfully.

"Pooh! There is little honor in breaking a thread so slender!" he said.

"I know that I could snap it with one bite of my big teeth. But there

may be some trick about it; I will not let it bind my feet,--not I."

"Oho!" cried the Æsir. "He is afraid! He fears that we shall bind

him in cords that he cannot loose. But see how slender the chain is.

Surely, if you could burst the chain of iron, O Fenrir, you could break

this far more easily." Still the wolf shook his head, and refused to

let them fasten him, suspecting some trick. "But even if you find that

you cannot break our chain," they said, "you need not be afraid. We

shall set you free again."

"Set me free!" growled the wolf. "Yes, you will set me free at the end

of the world,--not before! I know your ways, O Æsir; and if you are

able to bind me so fast that I cannot free myself, I shall wait long to

have the chain made loose. But no one shall call me coward. If one of

you will place his hand in my mouth and hold it there while the others

bind me, I will let the chain be fastened."

The gods looked at one another, their mouths drooping. Who would do

this thing and bear the fury of the angry wolf when he should find

himself tricked and captured? Yet this was their only chance to bind

the monster and protect Asgard from danger. At last bold Tŷr stepped

forward, the bravest of all the Æsir. "Open your mouth, Fenrir," he

cried, with a laugh. "I will pledge my hand to the trial."

Then the wolf yawned his great jaws, and Tŷr thrust in his good right

hand, knowing full well that he was to lose it in the game. The Æsir

stepped up with the dwarfs' magic chain, and Fenrir let them fasten

it about his feet. But when the bonds were drawn tight, he began to

struggle; and the more he tugged, the tighter drew the chain, so that

he soon saw himself to be entrapped. Then how he writhed and kicked,

howled and growled, in his terrible rage! How the heavens trembled

and the earth shook below! The Æsir set up a laugh to see him so

helpless--all except Tŷr; for at the first sound of laughter the wolf

shut his great mouth with a click, and poor brave Tŷr had lost the

right hand which had done so many heroic deeds in battle, and which

would never again wave sword before the warriors whom he loved and

would help to win the victory. But great was the honor which he won

that day, for without his generous deed the Fenris wolf could never

have been captured.

And now the monster was safely secured by the strong chain which the

dwarfs had made, and all his struggles to be free were in vain, for

they only bound the silken rope all the tighter. The Æsir took one end

of the chain and fastened it through a big rock which they planted far

down in the earth, as far as they could drive it with a huge hammer

of stone. Into the wolf's great mouth they thrust a sword crosswise,

so that the hilt pierced his lower jaw while the point stuck through

the upper one; and there in the heart of the world he lay howling and

growling, but quite unable to move. Only the foam which dripped from

his angry jaws trickled away and over the earth until it formed a

mighty river; from his wicked mouth also came smoke and fire, and the

sound of his horrible growls. And when men hear this and see this they

run away as fast as they can, for they know that danger still lurks

near where the Fenris wolf lies chained in the depths of the earth; and

here he will lie until Ragnarök,--until the end of all things.