Various - Myths That Every Child Should Know
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Various >> Myths That Every Child Should Know
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So first they made their way to Folkvang, the house of maidens, where
Freia dwelt, the loveliest of all in Asgard. She was fairer than fair,
and sweeter than sweet, and the tears from her flower eyes made the dew
which blessed the earth flowers night and morning. Of her Thor borrowed
the magic dress of feathers in which Freia was wont to clothe herself
and flit like a great beautiful bird all about the world. She was
willing enough to lend it to Thor when he told her that by its aid he
hoped to win back the hammer which he had lost; for she well knew the
danger threatening herself and all the AEsir until Mioelnir should be
found.
"Now will I fetch the hammer for you," said Loki. So he put on the
falcon plumage, and, spreading his brown wings, flapped away up, up,
over the world, down, down, across the great ocean which lies beyond all
things that men know. And he came to the dark country where there was no
sunshine nor spring, but it was always dreary winter; where mountains
were piled up like blocks of ice, and where great caverns yawned
hungrily in blackness. And this was Jotunheim, the land of the Frost
Giants.
And lo! when Loki came thereto he found Thrym the Giant King sitting
outside his palace cave, playing with his dogs and horses. The dogs were
as big as elephants, and the horses were as big as houses, but Thrym
himself was as huge as a mountain; and Loki trembled, but he tried to
seem brave.
"Good-day, Loki," said Thrym, with the terrible voice of which he was so
proud, for he fancied it was as loud as Thor's. "How fares it,
feathered one, with your little brothers, the AEsir, in Asgard halls? And
how dare you venture alone in this guise to Giant Land?"
"It is an ill day in Asgard," sighed Loki, keeping his eye warily upon
the giant, "and a stormy one in the world of men, I heard the winds
howling and the storms rushing on the earth as I passed by. Some mighty
one has stolen the hammer of our Thor. Is it you, Thrym, greatest of all
giants--greater than Thor himself?"
This the crafty one said to flatter Thrym, for Loki well knew the
weakness of those who love to be thought greater than they are.
Then Thrym bridled and swelled with pride, and tried to put on the
majesty and awe of noble Thor; but he only succeeded in becoming an
ugly, puffy monster.
"Well, yes," he admitted. "I have the hammer that belonged to your
little Thor; and now how much of & lord is he?"
"Alack!" sighed Loki again, "weak enough he is without his magic weapon.
But you, O Thrym--surely your mightiness needs no such aid. Give me the
hammer, that Asgard may no longer be shaken by Thor's grief for his
precious toy."
But Thrym was not so easily to be flattered into parting with his stolen
treasure. He grinned a dreadful grin, several yards in width, which his
teeth barred like jagged boulders across the entrance to a mountain
cavern.
"Mioelnir the hammer is mine," he said, "and I am Thunder Lord, mightiest
of the mighty. I have hidden it where Thor can never find it, twelve
leagues below the sea caves, where Queen Ran lives with her daughters,
the white-capped Waves. But listen, Loki. Go tell the AEsir that I will
give back Thor's hammer. I will give it back upon one condition--that
they send Freia the beautiful to be my wife."
"Freia the beautiful!" Loki had to stifle a laugh. Fancy the AEsir giving
their fairest flower to such an ugly fellow as this! But he only said
politely, "Ah, yes; you demand our Freia in exchange for the little
hammer? It is a costly price, great Thrym. But I will be your friend in
Asgard. If I have my way, you shall soon see the fairest bride in all
the world knocking at your door. Farewell!"
So Loki whizzed back to Asgard on his falcon wings; and as he went he
chuckled to think of the evils which were likely to happen because of
his words with Thrym. First he gave the message to Thor--not sparing of
Thrym's insolence, to make Thor angry; and then he went to Freia with
the word for her--not sparing of Thrym's ugliness, to make her shudder.
The spiteful fellow!
Now you can imagine the horror that was in Asgard as the AEsir listened
to Loki's words. "My hammer!" roared Thor. "The villain confesses that
he has stolen my hammer, and boasts that he is Thunder Lord! Gr-r-r!"
"The ugly giant!" wailed Freia. "Must I be the bride of that hideous old
monster, and live in his gloomy mountain prison all my life?"
"Yes; put on your bridal veil, sweet Freia," said Loki maliciously, "and
come with me to Jotunheim. Hang your famous starry necklace about your
neck, and don your bravest robe; for in eight days there will be a
wedding, and Thor's hammer is to pay."
Then Freia fell to weeping. "I cannot go! I will not go!" she cried. "I
will not leave the home of gladness and Father Odin's table to dwell in
the land of horrors! Thor's hammer is mighty, but mightier the love of
the kind AEsir for their little Freia! Good Odin, dear brother Frey,
speak for me! You will not make me go?"
The Asir looked at her and thought how lonely and bare would Asgard be
without her loveliness; for she was fairer than fair, and sweeter than
sweet.
"She shall not go!" shouted Frey, putting his arms about his sister's
neck.
"No, she shall not go!" cried all the Asir with one voice.
"But my hammer," insisted Thor. "I must have Mioelnir back again."
"And my word to Thrym," said Loki, "that must be made good."
"You are too generous with your words," said Odin sternly, for he knew
his brother well. "Your word is not a gem of great price, for you have
made it cheap."
Then spoke Heimdal, the sleepless watchman who sits on guard at the
entrance to the rainbow bridge which leads to Asgard; and Heimdal was
the wisest of the AEsir, for he could see into the future, and knew how
things would come to pass. Through his golden teeth he spoke, for his
teeth were all of gold.
"I have a plan," he said. "Let us dress Thor himself like a bride in
Freia's robes, and send him to Jotunheim to talk with Thrym and to win
back his hammer."
But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"
But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
I myself will help to carry it out."
Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.
"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.
Then there was great sport among the AEsir, while they dressed Thor like
a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
ached for but one thing--to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.
"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."
"Come, then," said Thor sulkily, for he was ill pleased, and wore his
maiden robes with no good grace. "It is fitting that you go; for I like
not these lies and masking and I may spoil the mummery without you at my
elbow."
There was loud laughter above the clouds when Thor, all veiled and
dainty seeming, drove away from Asgard to his wedding, with maid Loki by
his side. Thor cracked his whip and chirruped fiercely to his twin goats
with golden hoofs, for he wanted to escape the sounds of mirth that
echoed from the rainbow bridge, where all the AEsir stood watching. Loki,
sitting with his hands meekly folded like a girl, chuckled as he glanced
up at Thor's angry face; but he said nothing, for he knew it was not
good to joke too far with Thor, even when Miloenir was hidden twelve
leagues below the sea in Ran's kingdom.
So off they dashed to Jotunheim, where Thrym was waiting and longing for
his beautiful bride. Thor's goats thundered along above the sea and land
and people far below, who looked up wondering as the noise rolled
overhead. "Hear how the thunder rumbles!" they said. "Thor is on a long
journey to-night." And a long journey it was, as the tired goats found
before they reached the end.
Thrym heard the sound of their approach, for his ear was eager. "Hola!"
he cried. "Someone is coming from Asgard--only one of Odin's children
could make a din so fearful. Hasten, men, and see if they are bringing
Freia to be my wife."
Then the lookout giant stepped down from the top of his mountain, and
said that a chariot was bringing two maidens to the door.
"Run, giants, run!" shouted Thrym, in a fever at this news. "My bride is
coming! Put silken cushions on the benches for a great banquet, and make
the house beautiful for the fairest maid in all space! Bring in all my
golden-horned cows and my coal-black oxen, that she may see how rich I
am, and heap all my gold and jewels about to dazzle her sweet eyes! She
shall find me richest of the rich; and when I have her--fairest of the
fair--there will be no treasure that I lack--not one!"
The chariot stopped at the gate, and out stepped the tall bride, hidden
from head to foot, and her handmaiden muffled to the chin. "How afraid
of catching cold they must be!" whispered the giant ladies, who were
peering over one another's shoulders to catch a glimpse of the bride,
just as the crowd outside the awning does at a wedding nowadays.
Thrym had sent six splendid servants to escort the maidens: these were
the Metal Kings, who served him as lord of them all. There was the Gold
King, all in cloth of gold, with fringes of yellow bullion, most
glittering to see; and there was the Silver King, almost as gorgeous in
a suit of spangled white; and side by side bowed the dark Kings of Iron
and Lead, the one mighty in black, the other sullen in blue; and after
them were the Copper King, gleaming ruddy and brave, and the Tin King,
strutting in his trimmings of gaudy tinsel which looked nearly as well
as silver, but were more economical. And this fine troop of lackey kings
most politely led Thor and Loki into the palace, and gave them of the
best, for they never suspected who these seeming maidens really were.
And when evening came there was a wonderful banquet to celebrate the
wedding. On a golden throne sat Thrym, uglier than ever in his finery of
purple and gold. Beside him was the bride, of whose face no one had yet
caught even a glimpse; and at Thrym's other hand stood Loki, the waiting
maid, for he wanted to be near to mend the mistakes which Thor might
make.
Now the dishes at the feast were served in a huge way, as befitted the
table of giants: great beeves roasted whole, on platters as wide across
as a ship's deck; plum puddings as fat as feather beds, with plums as
big as footballs; and a wedding cake like a snow-capped hay mow. The
giants ate enormously. But to Thor, because they thought him a dainty
maiden, they served small bits of everything on a tiny gold dish. Now
Thor's long journey had made him very hungry, and through his veil he
whispered to Loki, "I shall starve, Loki! I cannot fare on these
nibbles. I must eat a goodly meal as I do at home." And forthwith he
helped himself to such morsels as might satisfy his hunger for a little
time. You should have seen the giants stare at the meal which the dainty
bride devoured!
For first under the silver veil disappeared by pieces a whole roast ox.
Then Thor made eight mouthfuls of eight pink salmon, a dish of which he
was very fond. And next he looked about and reached for a platter of
cakes and sweetmeats that was set aside at one end of the table for the
lady guests, and the bride ate them all. You can fancy how the damsels
drew down their mouths and looked at one another when they saw their
dessert disappear; and they whispered about the table, "Alack! if our
future mistress is to sup like this day by day, there will be poor cheer
for the rest of us!" And to crown it all, Thor was thirsty, as well he
might be; and one after another he raised to his lips and emptied three
great barrels of mead, the foamy drink of the giants. Then indeed Thrym
was amazed, for Thor's giant appetite had beaten that of the giants
themselves.
"Never before saw I a bride so hungry," he cried. "And never before one
half so thirsty!"
But Loki, the waiting maid, whispered to him softly, "The truth is,
great Thrym, that my dear mistress was almost starved. For eight days
Freia has eaten nothing at all, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
Then Thrym was delighted, you may be sure. He forgave his hungry bride,
and loved her with all his heart. He leaned forward to give her a kiss,
raising a corner of her veil; but his hand dropped suddenly, and he
started up in terror, for he had caught the angry flash of Thor's eye,
which was glaring at him through the bridal veil. Thor was longing for
his hammer.
"Why has Freia so sharp a look?" Thrym cried. "It pierces like lightning
and burns like fire."
But again the sly waiting maid whispered timidly, "Oh, Thrym, be not
amazed! The truth is, my poor mistress's eyes are red with wakefulness
and bright with longing. For eight nights Freia has not known a wink of
sleep, so eager was she for Jotunheim."
Then again Thrym was doubly delighted, and he longed to call her his
very own dear wife. "Bring in the wedding gift!" he cried. "Bring in
Thor's hammer, Mioelnir, and give it to Freia, as I promised; for when I
have kept my word she will be mine--all mine!"
Then Thor's big heart laughed under his woman's dress, and his fierce
eyes swept eagerly down the hall to meet the servant who was bringing in
the hammer on a velvet cushion. Thor's fingers could hardly wait to
clutch the stubby handle which they knew so well; but he sat quite still
on the throne beside ugly old Thrym, with his hands meekly folded and
his head bowed like a bashful bride.
The giant servant drew nearer, nearer, puffing and blowing, strong
though he was, beneath the mighty weight. He was about to lay it at
Thor's feet (for he thought it so heavy that no maiden could lift it or
hold it in her lap), when suddenly Thor's heart swelled, and he gave a
most unmaidenly shout of rage and triumph. With one swoop he grasped the
hammer in his iron fingers; with the other arm he tore off the veil that
hid his terrible face, and trampled it under foot; then he turned to the
frightened king, who cowered beside him on the throne.
"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you _this_ as a wedding gift!" And he
whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
whole giant household--these ugly enemies of the AEsir; and in the third
stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
toppling playhouse of blocks.
But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.
"Oh, Thor! if you could see--" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
shook it gently as he said:
"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
well--after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
laughter?"
And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.
Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.
But Mioelnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
soul.
CHAPTER XIV
THE APPLES OF IDUN
Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and Hoener started on a journey. They had
often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
deep valleys into which the sun hardly looked during half the year, and
swift-rushing streams, cold as ice, and treacherous to the surest foot
and the strongest arm. Not a bird flew through the air, not an animal
sprang through the trees. It was as still as a desert. The gods walked
on and on, getting more tired and hungry at every step. The sun was
sinking low over the steep, pine-crested mountains, and the travellers
had neither breakfasted nor dined. Even Odin was beginning to feel the
pangs of hunger, like the most ordinary mortal, when suddenly, entering
a little valley, the famished gods came upon a herd of cattle. It was
the work of a minute to kill a great ox and to have the carcass
swinging in a huge pot over a roaring fire.
But never were gods so unlucky before! In spite of their hunger, the pot
would not boil. They piled on the wood until the great flames crackled
and licked the pot with their fiery tongues, but every time the cover
was lifted there was the meat just as raw as when it was put in. It is
easy to imagine that the travellers were not in very good humour. As
they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
my fill, I'll make the pot boil."
The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
he was bruised half to death.
The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
when he begged for mercy. The giant Thjasse happened to be flying abroad
in his eagle plumage when the hungry travellers came under the oak and
tried to cook the ox. It was into his hands that Loki had fallen, and he
was not to get away until he had promised to pay roundly for his
freedom.
If there was one thing which the gods prized above their other treasures
in Asgard, it was the beautiful fruit of Idun, kept by the goddess in a
golden casket and given to the gods to keep them forever young and fair.
Without these Apples all their power could not have kept them from
getting old like the meanest of mortals. Without these Apples of Idun,
Asgard itself would have lost its charm; for what would heaven be
without youth and beauty forever shining through it?
Thjasse told Loki that he could not go unless he would promise to bring
him the Apples of Idun. Loki was wicked enough for anything; but when it
came to robbing the gods of their immortality, even he hesitated. And
while he hesitated the eagle dashed hither and thither, flinging him
against the sides of the mountains and dragging him through the great
tough boughs of the oaks until his courage gave out entirely, and he
promised to steal the Apples out of Asgard and give them to the giant.
Loki was bruised and sore enough when he got on his feet again to hate
the giant who handled him so roughly, with all his heart, but he was not
unwilling to keep his promise to steal the Apples, if only for the sake
of tormenting the other gods. But how was it to be done? Idun guarded
the golden fruit of immortality with sleepless watchfulness. No one ever
touched it but herself, and a beautiful sight it was to see her fair
hands spread it forth for the morning feasts in Asgard. The power which
Loki possessed lay not so much in his own strength, although he had a
smooth way of deceiving people, as in the goodness of others who had no
thought of his doing wrong because they never did wrong themselves.
Not long after all this happened, Loki came carelessly up to Idun as she
was gathering her Apples to put them away in the beautiful carven box
which held them.
"Good-morning, goddess," said he. "How fair and golden your Apples are!"
"Yes," answered Idun; "the bloom of youth keeps them always beautiful."
"I never saw anything like them," continued Loki slowly, as if he were
talking about a matter of no importance, "until the other day."
Idun looked up at once with the greatest interest and curiosity in her
face. She was very proud of her Apples, and she knew no earthly trees,
however large and fair, bore the immortal fruit.
"Where have you seen any Apples like them?" she asked.
"Oh, just outside the gates," said Loki indifferently. "If you care to
see them I'll take you there. It will keep you but a moment. The tree is
only a little way off."
Idun was anxious to go at once.
"Better take your Apples with you, to compare them with the others,"
said the wily god, as she prepared to go.
Idun gathered up the golden Apples and went out of Asgard, carrying with
her all that made it heaven. No sooner was she beyond the gates than a
mighty rushing sound was heard, like the coming of a tempest, and before
she could think or act, the giant Thjasse, in his eagle plumage, was
bearing her swiftly away through the air to his desolate, icy home in
Thrymheim, where, after vainly trying to persuade her to let him eat the
Apples and be forever young like the gods, he kept her a lonely
prisoner.
Loki, after keeping his promise and delivering Idun into the hands of
the giant, strayed back into Asgard as if nothing had happened. The next
morning, when the gods assembled for their feast, there was no Idun. Day
after day went past, and still the beautiful goddess did not come.
Little by little the light of youth and beauty faded from the home of
the gods, and they themselves became old and haggard. Their strong,
young faces were lined with care and furrowed by age, their raven locks
passed from gray to white, and their flashing eyes became dim and
hollow. Brage, the god of poetry, could make no music while his
beautiful wife was gone he knew not whither.
Morning after morning the faded light broke on paler and ever paler
faces, until even in heaven the eternal light of youth seemed to be
going out forever.
Finally the gods could bear the loss of power and joy no longer. They
made rigorous inquiry. They tracked Loki on that fair morning when he
led Idun beyond the gates; they seized him and brought him into solemn
council, and when he read in their haggard faces the deadly hate which
flamed in all their hearts against his treachery, his courage failed,
and he promised to bring Idun back to Asgard if the goddess Freyja would
lend him her falcon guise. No sooner said than done; and with eager gaze
the gods watched him as he flew away, becoming at last only a dark
moving speck against the sky.
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