Thor lived in a beautiful palace in the valley of the gods which lay
between two mountains. Thor had a beautiful wife with long golden hair.
She was called Sif.
One day when Sif was sitting in the sunshine with her long hair hanging
down over her shoulders she fell asleep. Loke, the god of mischief,
passed by and saw her. Now Loke liked to play tricks on Thor, and when
he saw Sif asleep, he thought, “Thor loves Sif’s beautiful hair. He will
be very angry if anything happens to it.” Then he stole up, cut off
Sif’s hair, and carried it away with him.
When Sif awoke, she was very unhappy. She ran and hid herself. She did
not want Thor to see her without her hair.
Soon Thor came. Sif was not there to meet him. The strong god’s heart
was filled with fear. What was wrong with Sif? He ran quickly about the
palace to look for her. He found her weeping bitterly. When he saw what
had happened he was very angry. Fire, like lightning, flashed from his
eyes. The floors of the palace trembled under his angry footsteps.
“This is the work of that rascal, Loke,” he cried. Then, like a
thundercloud, he strode away from the palace.
He soon found Loke, and, no doubt, would have choked him had not Loke
promised to give back Sif’s hair as beautiful as it had ever been.
Now Loke knew some skillful dwarfs who lived far underground. They made
wonderful things of gold. He hurried away to find them.
When he came to their smithy, he asked, “Can you make me a crown of
golden hair which will grow just as any natural hair grows?”
These dwarfs were very clever. Of course they could make such a crown.
They set their fire ablaze and began pounding with their hammers. In a
short time they had Loke’s treasure ready for him. But that was not all
they gave him. Two other gifts were his. One was a magical spear; and
the other a ship that was more wonderful than any other ship the dwarfs
ever had made.
Loke went back to the land of the gods carrying his three gifts. When he
reached that valley he began bragging about the fine work the dwarfs had
done. “No other dwarfs can do such wonderful work,” he said. “All other
dwarfs are stupid compared with these.”
A dwarf named Brok heard Loke’s boasts. Now Brok had a brother who was a
clever workman too. Many of the gods thought him the best workman of all
the dwarfs. Brok was angry when he heard Loke’s bragging. He said, “My
brother can make more wonderful things of gold and iron and brass than
your dwarfs have made.”
At that Loke laughed and laughed. “Go to your brother,” he said; “if he
can make three such precious gifts as the golden hair, the spear, and
the ship, I will give him my head.”
Brok at once went down to the underworld where his brother lived. He
declared that he would get Loke’s head if any magic could be worked. He
told his brother what Loke had said. Soon that dwarf was hard at work.
In a few hours Brok started off with a golden boar, a shining ring, and
a mighty hammer as his three gifts to the gods.
When he reached the land of the gods he found all the gods waiting to
see what his gifts would be. The gods appointed three judges to decide
whether Loke or Brok had the more wonderful gifts.
Loke brought forth the golden hair and gave it to Thor. Thor placed the
hair upon Sif’s head. Behold it began to grow, and again Sif was the
beautiful maiden she had been. Then Loke brought out the spear and gave
it to the judges. It was a spear that never missed its mark. Then he
gave the gods the wonderful ship which would sail wherever its master
wished to go no matter which way the water ran or what direction the
wind blew.
Loke was very proud of his gifts. Brok would not have any treasures so
fine.
Then Brok came before the judges. He brought out the shining ring. “This
ring,” he said, “will throw off many other rings as bright and shiny as
this one.” Next he brought out the boar, saying, “This animal can run
faster than the fastest horse. On dark nights its bristles will shine so
that the night will be as light as day.” Then he gave Thor the hammer.
“This hammer,” he said, “will crush whatever it strikes, and it will
never fail to come back to your hand no matter where you throw it.”
Thor took the hammer and swung it round his head. Lightning flashed
through the skies and peals of thunder filled the air. The gods gathered
round to see the hammer. Surely such a hammer would be the greatest
protection against the giants. So they said that the hammer was the
greatest gift of all. Brok had won.
But how was Brok to get Loke’s head! He started toward that young
braggart. Loke growled, “I will give you whatever you want, but not my
head.”
“You promised your head, and your head I will have,” answered the angry
dwarf.
“Come and get it,” shouted Loke as he ran away. But when Brok told Thor
what had happened, Thor went and brought Loke back, for Thor always saw
to it that the gods did as they promised.
“Cut off my head if you will,” said Loke, “but you must not touch my
neck. I did not promise you any of my neck.”
Then Brok saw that he could not take Loke’s head after all. For how
could he get the head without touching the neck! But still he was
determined to punish the rascally Loke. So he sewed his lips together,
saying, “I cannot have your head, but I can close your mouth so that you
can no longer go about boasting.”
From that day on the gods felt safe from the frost-giants who were
always trying to get into the valley of the gods. Those giants for more
than half of the year kept the world covered with ice and snow. They
hushed the flowing of the waters and the singing of the birds. They
hated the warm sunshine which made the flowers bloom, and covered the
mountains with grass, and brought the songs from the birds. They hated
the god of the sun. They hated Thor, for it was Thor’s hammer that kept
them from the land of the gods.
Then a morning came when Thor awoke to find that his hammer was gone. He
searched and searched, but the hammer could not be found. Then in great
fear he thought, “The giants have stolen the hammer while I slept.” At
that thought he was very angry. Fire flashed from his eyes and the earth
trembled under his angry voice. “Come, Loke,” he called, “we must be off
at once to the land of the giants. The gods can never be safe if the
hammer is in the hands of our enemies.”
Loke thought of a way to get into the home of the giants. He dressed
himself like a huge bird and on its magical wings flew straight to that
high mountaintop where the giants lived.
The giants were surprised to see Loke, but they gave him welcome. Loke
soon learned that the giants did have the hammer, but search as he
would, he could not find it. At last the mighty giant who was greatest
of all the giants said, “Thor may have his hammer when the gods bring me
a beautiful goddess to be my wife.”
Loke returned to tell Thor what he had heard. Thor was puzzled, for what
goddess would ever consent to be the bride of a giant? Then Thor thought
of a plan to outwit the giant. He would dress as a maiden and go to the
land of the giants with Loke. Perhaps he could trick the giants.
Soon the broad wings of the huge bird were again carrying Loke to the
home of the giants. With Loke, this time, rode Thor dressed as a maiden,
wearing a heavy veil over his face.
They entered the land of the giants and were greeted by the mighty
giant, who was pleased that a goddess had come to be his wife. He said
to his servants, “Make a great feast and invite all the giants to come
to see my bride.”
The giants came and the feast was spread. But all the time, the maiden
kept the veil over her face. The mighty giant begged to look upon the
face of his bride. Then Loke said, “The hammer must be ours before I can
take the veil from the maiden’s face.”
So the mighty giant brought the hammer and placed it on the maiden’s
lap. At that moment, Loke took the veil from the face and the giants saw
before them the mighty Thor with the powerful hammer in his hands. They
ran away in fear, as Thor whirled the hammer round and round and balls
of fire flashed through the sky and peals of thunder filled the air.
Thor and Loke lost no time in getting back to the land of the gods. All
the gods were out to greet them, and great was their joy to see the
wonderful hammer. Once more the gods were safe from the wicked giants.