with Thor. Then he said, "All my men are too large, I shall have to send
for one of the women!" Soon a bent old woman came hobbling in, and Thor
thought it would be nothing to overcome her; but the longer they
wrestled, the stronger the old woman became, and at last, when it was
plain that she was going to win, and Thor had been thrown down upon the
floor, the king called to them to stop.
Thor and his friends were then invited to sit down at the feast, and the
next morning, after a good breakfast, they started on their journey
homeward. Utgard-Loki, the giant king, went with them to the city gate,
and when he was about to leave them, said, "Do you find it as easy as
you expected to overthrow the giants?"
"No," said Thor, who was too honest to hide his shame, "I am vexed that
I have done so little, and I know that after this failure, you will all
laugh at my weakness."
"No, indeed," replied the king; "since you are now well outside our
stronghold I will tell you the truth about what you saw there, and I
will take good care not to let you get in again. You have greatly
surprised us all, for we did not dream that you were so strong, and I
have had to use magic to hold out against you.
"When you met the first giant in the forest you would have killed him
with your hammer, if he had not put a mountain between himself and you.
Loki was a wonderful eater, but we matched him against fire, and who can
devour more than fire? The boy was a swift runner, and I had to make him
race against thought, in order to beat him; what can be swifter than
thought? The horn, from which you drank, was the ocean, and you took
such a mighty draught, that the people in Midgard saw the tide ebb. It
was really not a cat you tried to lift, but the Midgard Serpent, and you
pulled him so far that we feared he would let go his hold. Then you
wrestled with Old Age, and who is there that can overcome Old Age?"
With these words the giant king vanished, and Thor, upon looking around,
saw the city of Utgard was also gone.
Then silently, but with many thoughts of these strange things, Thor and
Loki, with the boy and the girl, made their way back to Asgard.
[Illustration]
HOW THOR LOST HIS HAMMER.
"Come, Loki, are you ready? My goats are eager to be off!" cried Thor,
as he sprang into his chariot, and away they went, thundering over the
hills. All day long they journeyed, and at night they lay down to rest
by the side of a brook.
When Baldur, the bright sun-god, awoke them in the morning, the first
thing Thor did was to reach out for Miölnir, his magic hammer, which he
had carefully laid by his side the night before.
"Why, Loki!" cried he. "Alas, my hammer is gone! Those evil frost giants
must have stolen it from me while I slept. How shall we hold Asgard
against them without my hammer? They will surely take our stronghold!"
"We must go quickly and find it!" replied Loki. "Let us ask Freyja to
lend us her falcon garment."
Now the goddess, Freyja, had a wonderful garment made of falcon
feathers, and whoever wore it looked just like a bird. As you may
suppose, this was sometimes a very useful thing. So Thor and Loki went
quickly back to Asgard, and drove with all speed to Freyja's palace,
where they found her sitting among her maidens. "Asgard is in great
danger!" said Thor, "and we have come to you, fair goddess, to ask if
you will lend us your falcon garment, for my hammer has been carried
off, and we must go in search of it."
"Surely," answered Freyja, "I would lend you my falcon cloak, even if it
were made of gold and silver!"
Then Loki quickly dressed himself in Freyja's garment and flew away to
the land of the frost giants, where he found their king making collars
of gold for his dogs, and combing his horses. As Loki came near, he
looked up and said, "Ah, Loki, how fare the mighty gods in Asgard?"
"The Æsir are in great trouble," replied Loki, "and I am sent to fetch
the hammer of Thor."
"And do you think I am going to be foolish enough to give it back to
you, after I have had all the trouble of getting it into my power?" said
the king. "I have buried it deep, deep, down in the earth, and there is
only one way by which you can get it again. You must bring me the
goddess Freyja to be my wife!"
Loki did not know what to say to this, for he felt sure that Freyja
would never be willing to go away from Asgard to live among the fierce
giants; but as he saw no chance of getting the hammer, he flew back to
Asgard, to see what could be done.
Thor was anxiously looking out for him. "What news do you bring, Loki?"
cried he. "Have you brought me my hammer again?"
"Alas, no!" said Loki. "I bring only a message from the giant king. He
will not give up your hammer until you persuade Freyja to marry him!"
Then Thor and Loki went together to Freyja's palace, and the fair
goddess greeted them kindly, but when she heard their errand, and found
they wished her to marry the cruel giant, she was very angry, and said
to Thor, "You should not have been so careless as to lose your hammer;
it is all your own fault that it is gone, and I will never marry the
giant to help you get it again."
Thor then went to tell Father Odin, who called a meeting of all the
Æsir, for it was a very serious matter they were to consider. If the
king of the giants only knew the power of the mighty hammer, he might
storm Asgard, and carry off the fair Freyja to be his bride.
[Illustration: THOR'S BATTLE WITH THE FROST GIANTS.]
So the Æsir met together in their great judgment hall, in the palace of
Gladsheim; long and anxiously they talked over their peril, trying to
find some plan for saving Asgard from these enemies. At last Heimdall,
the faithful watchman of the rainbow bridge, proposed a plan.
"Let us dress Thor," said he, "in Freyja's robes, braid his hair, and
let him wear Freyja's wonderful necklace, and a bridal veil!"
"No, indeed!" cried Thor, angrily, "you would all laugh at me in a
woman's dress; I will do no such thing! We must find some other way."
But when no other way could be found, at last Thor was persuaded to try
Heimdall's plan, and the Æsir went to work to dress the mighty
thunder-god like a bride. He was the tallest of them all, and, of
course, he looked very queer to them in his woman's clothes, but he
would be small enough beside a giant. Then they dressed Loki to look
like the bride's waiting-maid, and the two set off for Utgard, the
stronghold of the giants.
When the giant king saw them coming he bade his servants make ready the
wedding feast, and invited all his giant subjects to come and celebrate
his marriage with the lovely goddess Freyja.
So the wedding party sat down to the feast, and Thor, who was always a
good eater, ate one ox and eight salmon, and drank three casks of mead.
The king watched him, greatly surprised to see a woman eat so much, and
said:--
"Where hast thou seen
Such a hungry bride!"
But the watchful Loki, who stood near by, as the bride's waiting-maid,
whispered in the king's ear, "Eight nights has Freyja fasted and would
take no food, so anxious was she to be your bride!"
This pleased the giant, and he went toward Thor, saying he must kiss his
fair bride. But when he lifted the bridal veil, such a gleam of light
shot from Thor's eyes that the king started back, and asked why Freyja's
eyes were so sharp.
Again Loki replied, "For eight nights the fair Freyja has not slept, so
greatly did she long to reach here!" This again pleased the king, and he
said, "Now let the hammer be brought and given to the bride, for the
hour has come for our marriage!"
All this time Thor was so eager to get his treasure back that he could
hardly keep still, and if it had not been for what the wily Loki said,
he might have been found out too soon. But at last the precious hammer
was brought and handed to the bride, as was always the custom at
weddings; as soon as Thor grasped it in his hand, he threw off his
woman's robes and stood out before the astonished giants.
Then did the mighty Thunderer sweep down his foes, and many of the cruel
frost giants were slain. Once more the sacred city of Asgard was saved
from danger, for Thor was its defender, and he was careful never again
to let his magic hammer be taken from him.
Besides the hammer, Thor had two other precious things, his belt of
strength, which doubled his power when he tightened it, and his iron
glove, which he put on when he was going to throw the hammer.
"I am the God Thor,
I am the War God,
I am the Thunderer!
Here in my Northland,
My fastness and fortress,
Reign I forever!
"Here amid icebergs
Rule I the nations;
This is my hammer,
Miölnir the mighty;
Giants and sorcerers
Cannot withstand it!
"These are the gauntlets
Wherewith I wield it,
And hurl it afar off;
This is my girdle,
Whenever I brace it
Strength is redoubled!"
--LONGFELLOW
[Illustration]
A GIFT FROM FRIGGA.
Long years ago there lived a peasant and his wife, who led a quiet, busy
life on their little farm at the foot of a mountain. While the wife was
busy indoors with her housework, her husband watched his flocks in the
fields, or sometimes wandered up the mountain-side to hunt for game,
which he would carry home for dinner.
One day he had strayed farther than usual, and found himself on the top
of the mountain, where the ground was covered with ice and snow. All at
once he came upon a high arched doorway opening into a great glacier,
and he passed through to see whither it might lead.
The passageway widened out into a wonderful cavern, like a broad hall,
sparkling with precious stones, and long, shining stalactites, that
looked like icicles of marble. In the midst stood a beautiful goddess,
surrounded by fair maidens, all dressed in silvery robes, and crowned
with flowers.
The shepherd was so overcome by the wonder of this sight that he sank
upon his knees. Then the goddess stretched forth her hands and gave him
her blessing, telling him to choose whatever he wished, to carry home
from the cavern. The man was no longer afraid when he heard her kind
voice speaking to him, so he looked about, and at last humbly asked to
have the pretty blue flowers which the fair one held in her hand.
The lovely goddess Frigga, or Holda, as the German people called her,
smiled kindly, and told the poor shepherd he had made a wise choice. She
gave him her bunch of blue flowers, with a measure of seed, saying to
him, "You will live and be prosperous so long as the flowers do not
fade."
The peasant bowed thankfully before the goddess, and when he rose she
had vanished, and he was alone on the mountain-side, just as usual, with
no cavern, no sparkling stones, and no fair maidens to be seen. If it
had not been for the pretty blue flowers and the measure of seed in his
hand, he would have thought it all a dream.
He hurried homeward to tell his wife, who was angry when she heard the
story, for she thought he had made such a foolish choice. "How much
better it would have been," said she, "if you had brought home some of
those precious stones you tell about, which are worth money, instead of
these good-for-nothing flowers!"
The poor man bore her angry words quietly, and made the best of what he
had. He went to work at once to sow his seeds, which he found, to his
surprise, were enough to plant several fields.
Every morning before he led his flock to pasture, and on his way home at
night, he watched the little green shoots growing in his fields. Even
his wife was pleased when she saw the lovely blue blossoms of the flax
opening; then, after they had withered and fallen, the seeds formed.
Sometimes it seemed to the good man, as he stood in the twilight looking
over his field, that he saw a misty form, like the beautiful goddess,
stretching out her hands over the field of flax, to give it her
blessing.
When at length the seeds had ripened, Frigga came again to show the
peasant how to gather his harvest of flax, and to teach his wife to spin
and weave it into fine linen, which she bleached in the sun. The people
came from far and near to buy the linen, and the peasant and his wife
found themselves busy and happy, with money enough and to spare.
When they had lived many years, and were growing old among their
children and grandchildren, the peasant noticed one day that the bunch
of blue flowers, given to him so many years before, and which had always
kept bright, were beginning to fade; then he knew he had not much longer
to stay.
He climbed slowly up the mountain-side, and found the door of the cavern
open. A second time he went in, and the kind goddess Frigga took the
peasant by the hand, and led him away to stay with her, where she always
took care of him.
Frigga was the queen of the gods, and she helped her husband, Odin,
govern the world. It was her part to look after the children, and help
the mothers take care of their families.
[Illustration]
THE STEALING OF IDUNA
I.
Odin, the wise father of the gods, started off one day on a journey
through Midgard, the world of men, to see how his people were getting
on, and to give them help. He took with him his brother Hönir, the
light-giver, and Loki, the fire-god. Loki, you know, was always ready to
go wherever he could have any fun or do any mischief.
All the morning they went about among the homes of Midgard, and whenever
Odin found busy, faithful workers, he was sure to leave behind some
little thing which would hardly be noticed, a straw in the farmer's
barn, or a kernel of grain in the furrow by the plow, or a bit of iron
at the blacksmith's forge; but always happiness and plenty followed his
little gift.
At noontime Loki was so hungry that he begged Odin to stop for dinner;
so when they came to a shady spot by the bank of a river, the three gods
chose it for their resting-place.
Odin threw himself down under a tree and began to read his little book
of runes, or wise sayings, but Loki began to make a fire and get ready
for the feast. Then he started off to a farmhouse near by, leaving Hönir
to cook the meat which they had brought.
As Loki came near the farmhouse, he thought to himself, "I will change
myself into a cat, and then I can have a better chance to spy about." So
he changed himself into a black cat, and jumping upon the kitchen
window-sill, he saw the farmer's wife taking some cakes out of the oven.
They smelled so good and looked so tempting that Loki said to himself,
"What a prize those cakes would be for our dinner!"
Just then the woman turned back to the oven to get more cakes, and Loki
snatched those which she had laid on the table. The good housewife soon
missed her cakes; she looked all about, and could not think what had
become of them, but just as she was taking the last lot from the oven,
she turned quickly around, and saw the tail of a cat whisking out of the
window.
"There!" cried she, "that wicked black cat has stolen my nice cakes. I
will go after him with my broom!" But by the time she reached the door
all she could see was a cow walking in her garden, and when she came
there to drive her away, nothing was to be seen except a big raven and
six little ones flying overhead.
Then the mischievous Loki went back to the river bank, where he had left
his two friends, and showed them the six cakes, boasting of the good
joke he had played upon the poor woman. But Odin did not think it was a
joke. He scolded Loki for stealing, and said, "It is a shame for one of
the Æsir to be a thief! Go back to the farmhouse, and put these three
black stones on the kitchen table."
Loki knew that the stones meant something good for the poor woman, and
he did not wish to go back to the house; but he had to do as the
Allfather told him. As he went along he heard his friends the foxes, who
put their heads out of their holes and laughed at his tricks, for the
foxes thought Loki was the biggest thief of them all.
Changing himself into an owl, Loki flew in at the kitchen window, and
dropped from his beak the three stones, which, when they fell upon the
white table, seemed to be three black stains.
The next time the good woman came into her kitchen, she was surprised
to find that the dinner was all cooked. And so the wonderful stones that
Odin had sent brought good luck; the housewife always found her food
ready cooked, and all her jars and boxes filled with good things to eat,
and never again was in need.
The other women all said she was the best housekeeper in the village,
but one thing always troubled her, and that was the table with the three
black stains. She scrubbed, and scrubbed, but could never make it white
again.
And now we must go back to Loki. He was very hungry by this time, and
hoped that Hönir would have the meat nicely cooked when he came back to
the river bank, but when they took it out of the kettle, they found it
was not cooked at all. So Odin went on reading his book of runes, not
thinking about food, while Hönir and Loki watched the fire, and at the
end of an hour they looked again at the meat.
"Now, it will surely be done this time!" said Loki, but again they were
disappointed, for the meat in the kettle was still raw. Then they began
to look about to see what magic might be at work, and at last spied a
big eagle sitting on a tree near the fire. All at once the bird spoke,
and said, "If you will promise to give me all the meat I can eat, it
shall be cooked in a few minutes."
The three friends agreed to this, and in a short time, as the bird had
promised, the meat was well done, Loki was so hungry he could hardly
wait to get it out of the kettle, but suddenly the eagle pounced down
upon it, and seized more than half, which made Loki so angry that he
took up a stick to beat the bird, and what do you think happened? Why,
the stick, as soon as it touched the bird's back, stuck fast there, and
Loki found he could not let go his end of it. Then away flew the eagle,
carrying Loki with him, over the fields and over the tree-tops, until it
seemed as though his arms would be torn from his body. He begged for
mercy, but the bird flew on and on. At last Loki said, "I will give you
anything you ask, if you will only let me go!"
Now the eagle was really the cruel storm giant Thiassi, and he said, "I
will never let you go until you promise to get for me, from Asgard, the
lovely goddess Iduna, and her precious apples!"
When Odin and Hönir saw Loki whisked off through the air, they knew that
the eagle must be one of their giant enemies, so they hurried home to
Asgard to defend their sacred city. Just as they came to Bifröst, the
rainbow bridge, Loki joined them; but he took care not to tell them how
the eagle came to let him go.
Odin felt sure that Loki had been doing something wrong, but knowing
very well that Loki would not tell him the truth, he made up his mind
not to ask any questions.
II.
The goddess Iduna, whom Loki was to tempt away out of Asgard, was the
dearest of them all. She was the fair goddess of spring and of youth,
and all the Æsir loved her. Her garden was the loveliest spot, with all
sorts of bright, sweet flowers, birds singing by day and night, little
chattering brooks under the great trees, and everything happy and fresh.
The gods loved to go and sit with Iduna, and rest in her beautiful
garden, within the walls of Asgard.
There was another delightful thing in the garden, and that was Iduna's
casket. This was a magic box filled with big, golden-red apples, which
she always gave her friends to taste. These wonderful apples were not
only delicious to eat, but whoever tasted them, no matter how tired or
feeble he might be, would feel young and strong again. So the dwellers
in Asgard ate often of this wonderful fruit, which kept them fresh and
young, fit to help the people in the world of Midgard. The casket in
which Iduna kept her apples was always filled, for whenever she took out
one, another came in its place; but no one knew where it came from, and
only the goddess of youth, herself, could take the apples from the box,
for if any one else tried, the fruit grew smaller and smaller, as the
hand came nearer, until at last it vanished away.
A few days after Loki's bargain with the giant Thiassi, Iduna was in her
bright garden one morning, watering the flowers, when her husband,
Bragi, came to say good-by to her, because he must go on a journey.
Loki watched him start off, and thought, "Now, here is my chance to
tempt Iduna away from Asgard." After a while he went to the garden, and
found the lovely goddess sitting among her flowers and birds. She looked
up at Loki with such a sweet smile, as he came near, that he felt almost
ashamed of his cruel plan; but he sat down on a grassy bank, and asked
Iduna for one of her magic apples.
After tasting it, he smacked his lips, saying, "Do you know, fair Iduna,
as I was coming home toward Asgard one day, I saw a tree full of apples
which were really larger and more beautiful than yours; I do wish you
would go with me and see them."
"Why, how can that be?" said Iduna, "for Father Odin has often told me
that my apples were the largest and finest he ever saw. I should so like
to see those others, and I think I will go with you now, to compare them
with mine."
"Come on, then!" said Loki; "and you'd better take along your own
apples, so that we can try them with the others."
[Illustration: IDUNA GIVING LOKI THE APPLE.]
Now Bragi had often told Iduna that she must never wander away from
home, but, thinking it would do no harm to go such a little way, just
this once, she took the casket of apples in her hand and went with Loki.
They had hardly passed through the garden gate, when she began to wish
herself back again, but Loki, taking her by the hand, hurried along to
the rainbow bridge.
They had no sooner crossed over Bifröst than Iduna saw a big eagle
flying toward them. Nearer and nearer he came, until at last he swooped
down and seized poor Iduna with his sharp talons, and flew away with her
to his cold, barren home. There she stayed shut up for many long dreary
months, always longing to get back to Asgard, to see Bragi and her
lovely garden.
The giant Thiassi had long been planning that if he could only once get
the fair goddess of youth in his power, he would eat her magic apples,
and so get strength enough to conquer the Æsir; but now, after all, she
would not give him even one of them, and when he put his hand into the
casket, the apples grew smaller and smaller, until at last they
vanished, so that he could not get even a taste.
This cruel storm giant kept poor Iduna closely shut up in a little rock
chamber, hoping that some day he could force her to give him what he
wanted. All day long she heard the sea beating on the rocks below her
gloomy cell, but she could not look out, for the only window was a
narrow opening in the rock, high up above her head. She saw no one but
the giant, and his serving-women, who waited upon her.
When these women first came to her, Iduna was surprised to see that they
were not ugly or stern-looking, and, when she looked at their fair,
smiling faces, she hoped they would be friendly and pitiful to her in
her trouble. She begged them to help her, and, with many tears, told
them her sad story; but still they kept on smiling, and when they turned
their backs, Iduna saw that they were hollow. These were the Ellewomen,
who had no hearts, and so could never be sorry for any one. When one is
in trouble, it is very hard to be with Ellewomen.
Every day the giant came to ask Iduna, in his terrible voice, if she
had made up her mind to give him the apples. Iduna was frightened, but
she always had courage enough to say "No," for she knew it would be
false and cowardly to give to a wicked giant these precious gifts which
were meant for the high gods. Although it was hard to be a prisoner, and
to see no one but the cold, fair Ellewomen who kept on smiling at her
tears, she knew it was far better to belong to the bright Æsir, even in
prison, than to be a giant, or an Ellewoman, no matter how free or
smiling they might be.
III.
All this while the dwellers in Asgard were sad and lonely without their
dear Iduna. At first they went to her garden, as before, but they missed
the bright goddess, and soon the garden itself grew dreary. The fresh
green leaves turned brown and fell, the flowers faded, no new buds
opened. No bird-songs were heard, and the saddest thing of all was that
now the gods had no more of the wonderful apples to keep them fresh and
strong, while two strangers, named Age and Pain, walked about the city
of Asgard, and the Æsir felt themselves growing tired and feeble.
Every day they watched for Iduna's return; at last, when day after day
had passed, and still she did not come, a meeting of all the gods and
goddesses was called to talk over what they should do, and where they
should search for their lost sister.