<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</SPAN></span></p>
<h1>How Thor Lost His Hammer</h1>
<p> </p>
<p>“<span class="smcap">Come</span>, 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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!”</p>
<p>“We must go quickly and find it!” replied Loki.
“Let us ask Freyja to lend us her falcon garment.”<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“Surely,” answered Freyja, “I would lend you my
falcon cloak, even if it were made of gold and
silver!”</p>
<p>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?”</p>
<p>“The Æsir are in great trouble,” replied Loki,
“and I am sent to fetch the hammer of Thor.”</p>
<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</SPAN></span>
again. You must bring me the goddess Freyja to be
my wife!”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Thor was anxiously looking out for him. “What
news do you bring, Loki?” cried he. “Have you
brought me my hammer again?”</p>
<p>“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!”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<div class="figcenter"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</SPAN></span> <ANTIMG src="images/if06.png" width-obs="420" height-obs="652" alt="THOR’S BATTLE WITH THE FROST GIANTS." title="" />
<br/><span class="caption">THOR’S BATTLE WITH THE FROST GIANTS.</span>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</SPAN></span></div>
<p>So the Æsir met together in their great judgment<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>“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!”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>So the wedding party sat down to the feast, and
Thor, who was always a good eater, ate one ox and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</SPAN></span>
eight salmon, and drank three casks of mead. The
king watched him, greatly surprised to see a woman
eat so much, and said:—</p>
<div class="centered"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0a">“Where hast thou seen<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Such a hungry bride!”<br/></span></div>
</div></div>
<p>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!”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!”</p>
<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<div class="centered"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0a">“I am the God Thor,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">I am the War God,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">I am the Thunderer!<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Here in my Northland,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">My fastness and fortress,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Reign I forever!<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0a">“Here amid icebergs<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Rule I the nations;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">This is my hammer,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Miölnir the mighty;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Giants and sorcerers<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Cannot withstand it!<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0a">“These are the gauntlets<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Wherewith I wield it,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And hurl it afar off;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">This is my girdle,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Whenever I brace it<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Strength is redoubled!”<br/></span>
<span class="sign3">—Longfellow<br/></span></div>
</div></div>
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