How Thor Got The Hammer

          proud         porch           lying           journeys      tricks          wife           always        alone           asleep  Sif was Thor's wife. Sif had long golden hair. Thor was very proud of Sif's golden hair. Thor was always going on long journeys. One day he went off and left Sif alone. She went out on the porch and fell asleep. Loki came along. He was always playing tricks. He saw Sif lying asleep. He said, "I am going to cut off her hair."  So Loki went up on the porch and cut off Sif's golden hair.              where         around          crying           answer        found           somebody  When Sif woke up and saw that her hair was gone, she cried and cried. Then she ran to hide. She did not want Thor to see her. When Thor came home, he could not find Sif. "Sif! Sif!" he called, "Where are you?" But Sif did not answer. Thor looked all around the house. At last he found her crying.  "Oh, Thor, look, all my hair is gone! Somebody has cut it off. It was a man. He ran away with it."              angry         mischief        right           getting       cutting         something  Then Thor was very angry. He said, "I know it was Loki. He is always getting into mischief. Just wait until I get him!" And Thor went out to find Loki. Pretty soon he found him. Thor said, "Did you cut off Sif's hair?" Loki said, "Yes, I did." "Then you must pay for cutting off my wife's hair," said Thor.  "All right," said Loki, "I will get you something better than the hair."              ground        thumb           beads           dwarfs        crooked         crown                         worked  Loki went down, down into the ground to the home of the dwarfs. It was very dark down there. The only light came from the dwarfs' fires. The dwarfs were ugly little black men. They were not any bigger than your thumb. They had crooked backs and crooked legs. Their eyes looked like black beads.  Loki said, "Can you make me a gold crown that will grow like real hair?" The dwarfs said, "Yes, we can." So the busy little dwarfs worked all night.             morning       showed          laughed           spear         wonderful       three           ship          standing        brother           nobody        stepped         else  When morning came the dwarfs gave Loki his crown of golden hair. They gave him a spear and a ship, too.  Loki took the things up to Asgard, where the gods all lived. Then the gods all came up to him. He showed them the things. The gods said, "They are very wonderful." And Loki said, "Oh, nobody else can make such things as my little dwarfs." A little dwarf, named Brok, was standing near by. He heard Loki say that. Then he stepped up and said, "My brother can make just as good things as these." Loki laughed and said, "If you can get three things as wonderful as these, I will give you my head."               anywhere      misses           spear         mark  Brok went down into the ground where his little dwarfs were working. Brok's brother was named Sindre. He said to his brother, "Loki says that you can't make such nice things as his dwarfs can. He said that he would give me his head if I could get him such wonderful things as his." This made the dwarfs angry. Their eyes grew big. They said, "He will see what we can do." Sindre wanted to know what the wonderful things were. Brok said, "Loki has a golden crown that will grow like real hair. A ship that can go anywhere. A spear that never misses the mark." "We will show him," said the dwarfs.         *           burning       blow            pigskin           bellows       blew            blowing  The dwarfs soon had the fires burning. Then Sindre put a pigskin into the fire. He gave the bellows to Brok and said, "Now blow as hard as you can." Then Sindre went out. Brok blew and blew. A little fly came in and bit him on the hand. The fly bit him so hard that Brok thought he would have to stop blowing, but he did not. Then Sindre came back. He took out a golden pig from the fire.             stand         lump            ring  He next put a lump of gold into the fire. He said to Brok, "Blow and blow and blow, and do not stop." Then Sindre went out again. So Brok blew as hard as he could. Then the same fly came in and bit him again. Brok thought that he could not stand it, but he kept on. When Sindre came back, he took a gold ring from the fire.             hard          forehead        brush           iron          blood           hammer           handle        spoiled         mean  Then Sindre put a lump of iron into the fire. He said to Brok, "Now blow as hard as you can." And Sindre went out. Brok blew and blew. The same mean fly came again, and bit him on the forehead. It bit so hard that the blood ran into his eyes. Brok put up his hand to brush away the fly. Just then Sindre came back. He took the hammer out of the fire.  "There!" he said, "You have almost spoiled it. The handle is too short, but it cannot be helped now."              hurried       proud           came          pocket  Brok hurried up to Asgard with his things. All the gods came around to see. Then Loki came up to show his things. He put the crown of gold on Sif's head and it began to grow like real hair. He gave the spear to Odin and said, "This spear will never miss its mark."  Then he took out the ship. He said, "This is a wonderful ship. It will sail on any sea, and yet you can fold it up and put it into your pocket." Loki felt very proud, for he thought his things were the best.             fold          sail            afraid           sorry         each            ring           shining       faster          gave  All the gods felt very sorry for little Brok. They thought Loki's things were fine. They were afraid Brok's would not be so nice.  They said, "Now, Brok, show your things." Brok took out the gold ring. He said, "Each night this ring will throw off a ring just like it. He gave the ring to Odin." Then Brok took out the golden pig. He said, "This pig can go anywhere, on the ground or in the air. It can go faster than any horse. If the night is dark, the shining pig will make it light."             frost         giants           turned        blowing   Then Brok showed the hammer. He said, "This is not a very pretty hammer. When I was making it, Loki turned himself into a fly and made me spoil it. The fly bit me so hard that I had to stop blowing. So the handle is a little short. But it is a wonderful hammer. If you throw it at anything, it will hit the mark and come back to you." The gods picked up the hammer and passed it around. They said, "It will be just the things with which to keep the Frost Giants out of Asgard."             touch         neck           without       way  The gods said, "Brok's things are the best." Brok gave the hammer to Thor. That is the way Thor got his wonderful hammer. Then Brok said to Loki, "You said I could have your head if my things were the best." And Loki was angry and said, "Yes, I told you that you could have my head. But you can't touch my neck." Of course, Brok could not get his head without touching his neck. So Brok did not get Loki's head.  THE HAMMER LOST AND FOUND.           everything    planned  The Frost Giants did not like the sunshine. They did not like to see the flowers. They did not like to hear the birds sing. They wanted to spoil everything. The Frost Giants wanted to get into Asgard. But they did not know how. They were afraid of Thor and his hammer. They said, "If we can only get the hammer, we can get into Asgard." They talked and planned all night. At last one Frost Giant said, "I know how we can get the hammer. I will dress in a bird suit. Then I will fly up to Thor's house and get the hammer."              Freyja  The next night the Frost Giant flew into the house while Thor was asleep. He took the hammer and flew away with it. When Thor woke, he put out his hand to get the hammer. It was gone. He said, "Loki, the hammer is gone. The Frost Giants have taken it. We must get it back."  Loki said, "I can get it back, if Freyja will let me have her falcon suit." So he went to Freyja and said, "Will you let me have your falcon suit? I can get the hammer back if you will." Freyja said, "Yes, of course I will. If I had a gold suit you could have it. Any thing to get the hammer back."             people        city            Thrym           strange       buried          eight           miles         deep            falcon  Loki took the falcon suit and put it on. He flew over the city. All the people saw him flying. They said, "What a strange bird!" They did not know that it was Loki going for the hammer.  When Loki came to the city of the Frost Giants, he took off the falcon suit. He walked and walked until he came to Thrym's house. Thrym was the giant who took the hammer. Thrym was sitting on the porch, making gold collars for his dogs. When he saw Loki, he said, "What do you want?" Loki said, "I have come for the hammer." The old giant laughed and said, "You will never get that hammer. It is buried eight miles deep in the ground. "But there is one way you can get it. I will give you the hammer if you get Freyja for my wife."             clothes       shook           necklace  So Loki went back to Asgard. Thor said, "Well, did you get the hammer?" "No, but we can get it if Freyja will be Thrym's wife." Then they went to Freyja's house. They said, "Put on your very best clothes and come with us. You must be Thrym's wife." Freyja said, "Do you think I will be the Frost Giant's wife? I won't be his wife." Thor said, "We can get the hammer back if you will." But Freyja said, "No, I will not be his wife." Loki said, "You will have to, if we get the hammer back." Still Freyja said, "I will not go." And she was very angry. She shook so hard that she broke her necklace and it fell to the floor.             bride         braided         wagon           vail          servant         goat  Then the gods said, "Thor, you must dress like Freyja. You will have to play you are the bride." Thor said, "I won't do it. You will all laugh at me. I won't dress up like a girl." They said, "Well, that is the only way we can get the hammer back." Thor said, "I do not like to dress like a girl, but I will do it." Then they dressed Thor up like Freyja. They put on Freyja's dress, necklace and vail, and braided his hair. Loki said, "I will dress up too, and be your servant." They got into Thor's goat wagon and went to the Giants' home.              dinner        salmon          mead           whole         thirsty         barrels  When the Frost Giants saw them coming, they said, "Get ready, here comes the bride! We will sit down to the table as soon as they come." The dinner was ready on time. The table was full of good things. All sat down. The bride ate a whole ox and eight salmon before the others had a bite. "She must be very hungry," the Frost Giants said. "Yes," Loki said, "she was so glad to come. She hasn't eaten anything for eight days." Then they brought in the mead.  The bride drank three barrels of mead. "How thirsty she is!" said the Frost Giants. Loki said, "Yes, she is very thirsty. She was so glad to come. She did not drink anything for eight days."             kiss          stepped         whirled           lifted        shone           lap  Old Thrym said, "I had every thing I wanted but Freyja. Now I have Freyja." And Thrym went to kiss the bride. He lifted her vail, but her eyes shone like fire.   Thrym stepped back. He said, "What makes Freyja's eyes shine so?" Loki said, "Oh, she was so glad to come. She did not sleep for eight nights." Then Loki said, "It is time for the hammer. Go and get it and put it in the bride's lap." As soon as the hammer was in his lap, Thor tore off the vail. He took the hammer and whirled it around. Fire flew from it. The fire burned the house and the Frost Giants ran away. So Thor got his hammer back. The following stories by Miss Smythe were originally published under the title of "The Golden Fleece." They have been carefully revised and illustrated for this book.