The anger and the fierceness of the hawk2 was within Loki as he flew through the Giants' Realm. The heights and the chasms3 of that dread4 land made his spirits mount up like fire. He saw the whirlpools and the smoking mountains and had joy of these sights. Higher and higher he soared until, looking toward the South, he saw the flaming land of Muspelheim. Higher and higher still he soared. With his falcon's eyes he saw the gleam of Surtur's flaming sword. All the fire of Muspelheim and all the gloom of J?tunheim would one day be brought against[Pg 156] Asgard and against Midgard. But Loki was no longer dismayed to think of the ruin of Asgard's beauty and the ruin of Midgard's promise.
He hovered5 around one of the dwellings7 in J?tunheim. Why had he come to it? Because he had seen two of the women of that dwelling6, and his rage against the Asyniur and the Vanir was such that the ugliness and the evil of these women was pleasing to him.
He hovered before the open door of the Giant's house and he looked upon those who were within. Gerri?d, the most savage8 of all the Giants, was there. And beside him, squatting9 on the ground, were his two evil and ugly daughters, Gialp and Greip.
They were big and bulky, black and rugged10, with horses' teeth and hair that was like horses' manes. Gialp was the uglier of the two, if one could be said to be uglier than the other, for her nose was a yard long and her eyes were crooked11.
What were they talking about as they sat there, one scratching the other? Of Asgard and the Dwellers12 in Asgard whom they hated. Thor was the one whom they hated most of all, and they were speaking of all they would like to do to him.
"I would keep Thor bound in chains," said Gerri?d the Giant, "and I would beat him to death with my iron club."
"I would grind his bones to powder," said Greip.
"I would tear the flesh off his bones," said Gialp. "Father, can you not catch this Thor and bring him to us alive?"[Pg 157]
"Not so long as he has his hammer Mi?lnir, and the gloves with which he grasps his hammer, and the belt that doubles his strength."
"Oh, if we could catch him without his hammer and his belt and his gloves," cried Gialp and Greip together.
At that moment they saw the falcon hovering13 before the door. They were eager now for something to hold and torment14 and so the hearts of the three became set upon catching15 the falcon. They did not stir from the place where they were sitting, but they called the child Glapp, who was swinging from the roof-tree, and they bade him go out and try to catch the falcon.
All concealed16 by the great leaves the child Glapp climbed up the ivy17 that was around the door. The falcon came hovering near. Then Glapp caught it by the wings and fell down through the ivy, screaming and struggling as he was being beaten, and clawed, and torn by the wings and the talons18 and the beak19 of the falcon.
Gerri?d and Greip and Gialp rushed out and kept hold of the falcon. As the Giant held him in his hands and looked him over he knew that this was no bird-creature. The eyes showed him to be of Alfheim or Asgard. The Giant took him and shut him in a box till he would speak.
Soon he tapped at the closed box and when Gerri?d opened it Loki spoke20 to him. So glad was the savage Giant to have one of the Dwellers in Asgard in his power that he and his daughters did nothing but laugh and chuckle21 to each other for days. And all this time they left Loki in the closed box to waste with hunger.
When they opened the box again Loki spoke to them.[Pg 158] He told them he would do any injury to the Dwellers in Asgard that would please them if they would let him go.
"Will you bring Thor to us?" said Greip.
"Will you bring Thor to us without his hammer, and without the gloves with which he grasps his hammer, and without his belt?" said Gialp.
"I will bring him to you if you will let me go," Loki said. "Thor is easily deceived and I can bring him to you without his hammer and his belt and his gloves."
"We will let you go, Loki," said the Giant, "if you will swear by the gloom of J?tunheim that you will bring Thor to us as you say."
Loki swore that he would do so by the gloom of J?tunheim—"Yea, and by the fires of Muspelheim," he added. The Giant and his daughters let him go, and he flew back to Asgard.
He restored to Frigga her falcon dress. All blamed him for having stolen it, but when he told how he had been shut up without food in Gerri?d's dwelling those who judged him thought he had been punished enough for the theft. He spoke as before to the Dwellers in Asgard, and the rage and hatred22 he had against them since he had eaten Gulveig's heart he kept from bursting forth23.
He talked to Thor of the adventures they had together in J?tunheim. Thor would now roar with laughter when he talked of the time when he went as a bride to Thrym the Giant.
Loki was able to persuade him to make another journey to J?tunheim. "And I want to speak to you of what[Pg 159] I saw in Gerri?d's dwelling," he said. "I saw there the hair of Sif, your wife."
"The hair of Sif, my wife," said Thor in surprise.
"Yes, the hair I once cut off from Sif's head," said Loki. "Gerri?d was the one who found it when I cast it away. They light their hall with Sif's hair. Oh, yes, they don't need torches where Sif's hair is."
"I should like to see it," said Thor.
"Then pay Gerri?d a visit," Loki replied. "But if you go to his house you will have to go without your hammer Mi?lnir, and without your gloves and your belt."
"Where will I leave Mi?lnir, and my gloves and my belt?" Thor asked.
"Leave them in Valaskjalf, Odin's own dwelling," said cunning Loki. "Leave them there and come to Gerri?d's dwelling. Surely you will be well treated there."
"Yes, I will leave them in Valaskjalf and go with you to Gerri?d's dwelling," Thor said.
Thor left his hammer, his gloves, and his belt in Valaskjalf. Then he and Loki went toward J?tunheim. When they were near the end of their journey, they came to a wide river, and with a young Giant whom they met on the bank they began to ford24 it.
Suddenly the river began to rise. Loki and the young Giant would have been swept away only Thor gripped both of them. Higher and higher the river rose, and rougher and rougher it became. Thor had to plant his feet firmly on the bottom or he and the two he held would have been swept down by the flood. He struggled[Pg 160] across, holding Loki and the young Giant. A mountain ash grew out of the bank, and, while the two held to him, he grasped it with his hands. The river rose still higher, but Thor was able to draw Loki and the young Giant to the bank, and then he himself scrambled25 up on it.
Now looking up the river he saw a sight that filled him with rage. A Giantess was pouring a flood into it. This it was that was making the river rise and seethe26. Thor pulled a rock out of the bank and hurled27 it at her. It struck her and flung her into the flood. Then she struggled out of the water and went yelping28 away. This Giantess was Gialp, Gerri?d's ugly and evil daughter.
Nothing would do the young Giant whom Thor had helped across but that the pair would go and visit Grid29, his mother, who lived in a cave in the hillside. Loki would not go and was angered to hear that Thor thought of going. But Thor, seeing that the Giant youth was friendly, was willing enough to go to Grid's dwelling.
"Go then, but get soon to Gerri?d's dwelling yonder. I will wait for you there," said Loki. He watched Thor go up the hillside to Grid's cave. He waited until he saw Thor come back down the hillside and go toward Gerri?d's dwelling. He watched Thor go into the house where, as he thought, death awaited him. Then in a madness for what he had done, Loki, with his head drawn30 down on his shoulders, started running like a bird along the ground.
Grid, the old Giantess, was seated on the floor of the cave grinding corn between two stones. "Who is it?" she[Pg 161] said, as her son led Thor within. "One of the ?sir! What Giant do you go to injure now, Asa Thor?"
"I go to injure no Giant, old Grid," Thor replied. "Look upon me! Cannot you see that I have not Mi?lnir, my mighty31 hammer, with me, nor my belt, nor my gloves of iron?"
"But where in J?tunheim do you go?"
"To the house of a friendly Giant, old Grid—to the house of Gerri?d."
"Gerri?d a friendly Giant! You are out of your wits, Asa Thor. Is he not out of his wits, my son—this one who saved you from the flood, as you say?"
"Tell him of Gerri?d, old mother," said the Giant youth.
"Do not go to his house, Asa Thor. Do not go to his house."
"My word has been given, and I should be a craven if I stayed away now, just because an old crone sitting at a quernstone tells me I am going into a trap."
"I will give you something that will help you, Asa Thor. Lucky for you I am mistress of magical things. Take this staff in your hands. It is a staff of power and will stand you instead of Mi?lnir."
"I will take them since you offer them in kindness, old dame, these worn old mittens."[Pg 162]
"And take this length of string. It will serve you for your belt of prowess."
"'Tis well indeed for you, Asa Thor, that I am mistress of magical things."
Thor put the worn length of string around his waist, and as he did he knew that Grid, the old Giantess, was indeed the mistress of magical things. For immediately he felt his strength augmented35 as when he put on his own belt of strength. He then drew on the mittens and took the staff that she gave him in his hands.
He left the cave of Grid, the old Giantess, and went to Gerri?d's dwelling. Loki was not there. It was then that Thor began to think that perhaps old Grid was right and that a trap was being laid for him.
No one was in the hall. He came out of the hall and into a great stone chamber36 and he saw no one there either. But in the center of the stone chamber there was a stone seat, and Thor went to it and seated himself upon it.
No sooner was he seated than the chair flew upwards37. Thor would have been crushed against the stone roof only that he held his staff up. So great was the power in the staff, so great was the strength that the string around him gave, that the chair was thrust downward. The stone chair crashed down upon the stone floor.
There were horrible screams from under it. Thor lifted up the seat and saw two ugly, broken bodies there. The Giant's daughters, Gialp and Greip, had hidden them[Pg 163]selves under the chair to watch his death. But the stone that was to have crushed him against the ceiling had crushed them against the floor.
Thor strode out of that chamber with his teeth set hard. A great fire was blazing in the hall, and standing38 beside that fire he saw Gerri?d, the long-armed Giant.
He held a tongs39 into the fire. As Thor came toward him he lifted up the tongs and flung from it a blazing wedge of iron. It whizzed straight toward Thor's forehead. Thor put up his hands and caught the blazing wedge of iron between the mittens that old Grid had given him. Quickly he hurled it back at Gerri?d. It struck the Giant on the forehead and went blazing through him.
Gerri?d crashed down into the fire, and the burning iron made a blaze all around him. And when Thor reached Grid's cave (he went there to restore to the old Giantess the string, the mittens, and the staff of power she had given him) he saw the Giant's dwelling in such a blaze that one would think the fires of Muspelheim were all around it.
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1
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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2
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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4
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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5
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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7
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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8
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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9
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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10
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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11
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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12
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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13
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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14
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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15
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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16
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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17
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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18
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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20
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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21
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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22
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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23
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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24
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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25
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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26
seethe
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| vi.拥挤，云集；发怒，激动，骚动 | |
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27
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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28
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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29
grid
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| n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅 | |
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30
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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31
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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32
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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33
mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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34
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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35
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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36
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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37
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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38
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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39
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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