not lose his chance of Valhalla. Here they spent a happy life, fighting all day and feasting at night on the flesh of a boar that daily came to life again, and drinking mead.
Next to Odin came his mighty son, Thor the Thunderer, dreaded by the giants, the enemies of gods and men. He was terrible to behold when he stood before them, grasping with his iron glove his hammer, Miœlnir, and girded with a belt that doubled his strength. When he was angry he would draw his brows over his flaming eyes and blow into his fiery red beard. When he drove forth in his chariot, drawn by two goats, the earth shook to its foundations, the rocks burst asunder, the abysses howled, and sparks flew from the stones. His wife was the golden-haired Sif.
The best-beloved of the gods was Balder, the beautiful, the god of light and of springtime. Nothing evil could approach his dwelling, where he lived with Nanna, his wife. Other gods were Freyr, the sun god, who owned a sword that could fight by itself; Hoenir; Bragi the wise; Loki, the evil doer; Hœder, the blind winter god. Then there was Heimdall, the warder of the bridge Bifrœst, called by men the rainbow, connecting heaven and earth, or Asgard and Midgard, as men named them. He had a horn with which to summon the gods if the giants tried to cross the bridge; he was so sharp of sight that he could see over a distance of a hundred miles by day and by night, so keen of ear that he could hear the grass grow in the fields and the wool on the sheep’s back, and he needed less sleep than a bird.
Chief among the goddesses were Odin’s wife, Frigg; Freyr’s beautiful sister Freya, who drove abroad in a chariot drawn by cats, and wore a necklace of exceeding beauty; and Iduna, Bragi’s wife, who guarded the apples of youth, without which the gods would grow old and haggard.
Odin, Loki, and Hoenir went forth together to see how it fared in the world. They came to a river, and went along its banks till they reached a waterfall, where an otter sat, with blinking eyes, devouring a salmon he had caught. Loki hurled a stone at him; it struck him on the head and killed him. Proud was Loki of his skill as they lifted up otter and salmon. Soon they reached a great farm owned by Hreidmar, a mighty man, learned in magic. They besought him that he would take them in for the night.
