A NORSE MYTH RETOLD FOR CHILDREN This is a story about dwarfs, little dark men who lived far down under ground and made wonderful things. Sif, Thor's wife, was most beautiful, with her blue eyes, fair skin, and golden hair. Her hair! It was the most glorious hair that had ever grown on anyone's head--bright and soft and fine, and so long and heavy that when she let it down it covered her from head to foot like a golden veil Of course she was very proud of it, and of course Thor was proud of it too and loved to watch her shake it out so that it shone and rippled like a golden waterfall in the sun. One morning when she woke, Sif found that her hair had been cut off close to her head. A look into her polished silver mirror showed her that the most of her beauty had gone with her hair, and she scarcely dared face her husband; but when she told Thor his anger was terrible to behold. "It is Loki, the wicked Loki, who has done this," he cried, "and he shall suffer for it." For Loki was a crafty schemer, always trying to annoy someone, and particularly fond of troubling Thor. It was no easy task for Thor to catch the thief, for Loki had the power of changing his shape to that of anything he chose, and he made good use of this power now. Finally, however, Thor found him and grabbed him by the throat. "Confess," he cried, "that you stole Sif's hair." But his grip was so strong that Loki could only gasp and wriggle. "Unless you give it back," Thor continued, "I shall kill you here and now," and he loosened his grasp that Loki might answer. "I did it," confessed Loki sullenly, "but I cannot give it back, for I opened my hands and scattered it all over the earth." "Then you shall die!" thundered Thor, and would have kept his word had not Loki promised to get for Sif a new head of hair as beautiful as the first. "Go then," commanded Thor, "and make haste." Loki slunk away and crept into the earth where lived his friends the dwarfs. They were ugly and not always very pleasant, but Loki knew their skill and knew that they were proud to be called on to show it. So he implored them to make for him not only the golden hair, but gifts for Odin and Frey, Thor's powerful friends, of whose anger Loki was afraid. To anyone else it might have seemed like a very difficult matter to have to make a head of golden hair, but the dwarfs thought nothing of it. They brought their gold, and when they had softened it they spun it out into countless fine hairs. These they braided into a huge coil and gave to Loki. "It may seem dead now," said the master-smith, "but when it touches Sif's head it will at once become alive and begin to grow, yet it will always be real gold." Wonderful as this was it was not the most wonderful of the dwarfs' gifts. For how could anything be as wonderful as the spear which they made for Odin, the spear which however it was thrown never missed its aim; or as the ship which they made for Frey? For this ship, while it could be folded up and thrust into the pocket, could be made so large that hundreds of people might ride in it in comfort, and it sailed as well in the air as on the water and always in just the right direction, no matter which way the wind blew. No wonder Loki was pleased, and no wonder be cried aloud to the master-smith: "You are surely the most clever smith in all the world. No one else, I am sure, could make such things." But someone was passing and heard these words and was not pleased to hear them; this was the dwarf Brock, who belonged to a different family of dwarfs. When he heard the flattering words of Loki, whom he hated, he stopped and said: "I do not know what your gifts are, but I know that whatever they are my brother Sindri can make something more wonderful." "Let us make it a wager," cried Loki. "I will meet you tomorrow in Odin's great hall, and you may bring with you there three things made by your brother to present to Thor and Odin and Frey, and then we shall see what we shall see. And whichever one of us brings the most wonderful gifts shall have the other's head." Without a word Brock turned and hurried to his brother's smithy, where he told his story; and Sindri, proud of his brother's faith in him, at once set to work. But first he said to Brock: "You must blow the bellows while the gifts are being made, for I must go outside and work my magic spells or I shall not be able to accomplish anything wonderful; and whatever happens, never leave off blowing the bellows." And with these words he tossed into the fire a pig's skin, and thrusting the bellows into Brock's hands left the smithy. Now Loki, for all his boastful words, was a little bit worried, and to be on the safe side he came to Sindri's smithy to see what was going on there. But Brock did not see him--Loki was not so foolish as to let himself be seen. He turned himself into a gadfly, and settling on Brock's hand, stung him until the pain was almost unendurable. But Brock blew the bellows and blew the bellows and never left off for a minute. When Sindri came back he said: "Good brother"; and he drew out of the fire a boar with shining bristles of gold. Next he threw into the fire some gold, and warning Brock once more to be careful never to cease blowing the bellows, he again left the smithy. This time Loki settled on Brock's cheek and stung even more sharply than before, so that the poor little dwarf had to set his teeth hard to endure the pain. But still he never left off blowing the bellows, and when Sindri came back, there was found in the fire, instead of the lump of gold that had gone in, a heavy ring of gold, carved most beautifully. "Once more," said Sindri, as he threw a lump of iron into the fire; "and this time be extra careful about the bellows." Brock turned to work bravely, but the gadfly Loki settled just over his eye and stung him so fiercely that the blood ran down into his eye so that he could not see what he was doing. The pain would never have made him stop, but he just had to put up his hand and wipe the blood from his eye, and at that moment Sindri entered the room. "You have spoiled it!" he cried, as he sprang toward the fire; but when he drew out the heavy hammer to which the lump of iron had been changed, he comforted Brock by telling him that it was not entirely spoiled--"only the handle is too short," he added. "Loki declared," said Brock, "that his gifts were not only beautiful and useful, but that they were magic gifts and could do wonderful things." Sindri smiled, then whispered something in Brock's ear which made the little dwarf's eyes shine. The next day he was at Odin's hall promptly at the appointed time, and he stood patiently by while Loki gave his gifts. "It is even more beautiful than the old hair," declared Thor, as Sif shook out about herself the new golden threads. "And such a spear!" cried Odin. "No enemy will ever be able to stand against me now." "But mine is best," said Frey, "for we can all use it. Come," he went on, turning to the crowd which had assembled, "let's go for a ride in this wonderful new ship." "Wait," cried Brock, "I have something, too, to offer." "What, more gifts?" exclaimed Odin. "Of course we will wait." But he looked a little disappointed when Brock put into his hand the heavy gold ring, for he had rings a-plenty, some of them as beautiful as this one. "It is a magic ring," said Brock; "every ninth night, eight rings as large and heavy as this one will drop from it. That one ring alone would make a person rich." Then he pulled from his huge sack the golden boar, glittering in the sunlight. "It is named Gullinbursti," said Brock to Frey, "and it is a magic boar. On his back you can ride through the air as fast as a thought can fly, and even in the darkest night it need never be dark to you, for the bristles of Gullinbursti will give out light as he flits across the sky." "I like him even better than the ship," said Frey; and Odin, who had been looking at his two gifts in silence, now said: "And I like the ring better than the magic spear." Brock grew more and more cheerful, and Loki's frown grew blacker and blacker, but he smiled again when Brock drew out and handed to Thor, the ugly, short-handled hammer. Thor himself looked none too well pleased. Was the dwarf making fun of him? Hammers of this sort were to be had any day for the asking. "But it is a magic hammer," exclaimed Brock. "It hits anything at which it is thrown and it never hits in vain. The strongest mountain will split, the strongest giant will die at a stroke of this hammer, and no matter how far it is thrown it will always fly back to your hand." At the word "giant," Thor's look of displeasure changed. For were not the giants, the huge, ugly frost-giants, his worst enemies? And had he not always, up to this time, tried in vain to overcome them? "Sif's hair is beautiful," he said, looking at his wife with pride in his eyes, "and the hammer is not beautiful, but I like the hammer better." "Brock has won! Brock has won!" cried the crowd, who had heard of the wager and were none too fond of Loki, "and he may have Loki's head." Brock turned for vengeance on Loki, but Loki had disappeared. "I gave you the hammer; you will help me to find him," said the dwarf to Thor, and because he hated Loki and was grateful to Brock, Thor soon brought Loki back. "You may take my head," said Loki; "it is yours by the terms of our wager. But if you touch my neck, or spill one drop of my blood, you will be taking more than belongs to you, and you must die." "I am afraid that is right," said Thor, and Brock was in despair. But at last he decided that if he could not have Loki's head he would at least sew up his lying, boastful mouth; so he borrowed an awl from his brother Sindri, made holes through Loki's lips, and fastened them together with a leather thong. And so for a while there was peace, because Loki could not make trouble with his tongue. But it was not for long. Loki managed to cut the cord and was soon going about making trouble just as he had always done.