Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/113

 They took them fresh violets all dripping with dew, Dwarf-women had plucked them, the morn,— And stained with their juice the clear sapphires blue, King Dan in his crown since hath worn.

Then for emeralds they searched out the brightest green Which the young spring meadow wears. And dropped round pearls, without flaw or stain, From widows' and maidens' tears.

And all around the cavern might plainly be shown Where giants had once been at play; For the ground was with heaps of huge muscle-shells strewn, And strange fish were marked in the clay.

Here an ichthyosaurus stood out from the wall, There monsters ne'er told of in story, Whilst hard by the Nix in the waterfall Sang wildly the days of their glory.

Here bones of the mammoth and mastodon, And serpents with wings and with claws; The elephant's tusks from the burning zone Are small to the teeth in their jaws.

When Loke to the dwarfs had his errand made known, In a trice for the work they were ready; Quoth Dvalin: O Lopter, it now shall be shown That dwarfs in their friendship are steady.

We both trace our line from the selfsame stock; What you ask shall be furnished with speed, For it ne'er shall be said that the sons of the rock Turned their backs on a kinsman in need.

They took them the akin of a large wild-boar, The largest that they could find, And the bellows they blew till the furnace 'gan roar, And the fire flamed on high for the wind.

And they struck with their sledge-hammers stroke on stroke, That the sparks from the skin flew on high, But never a word good or bad spake Loke, Though foul malice lurked in his eye.