Page:Once a Week Dec 1860 to June 61.pdf/138

26, 1861.] It now no man

E’er may bring back,

Save when he fetches me

Freyja to wife.”

Away then flew Loki,

Feather-fledge flutter’d,

Till he came outside

Ogreland ugly,

Till he came inside

Asa-garth holy;

Met him there Thorr,

Moody in mid-yard,

And this was the speech

He first of all spoke:

Hast thou thy errand’s toil

Taken in vain?

Utter aloft now

All thy long story;

Often a sitting man’s

Mind misses something,

And lying men’s stories

Are lengthened with lies.”

Loki quoth: Sped has my errand,

Not mis-spent my toil;

Thrym hath thy hammer,

Lord of the Thursa-kin;

It now no man

E’er may bring back,

Save when he fetches him

Freyja to wife.”

Off they go fair

Freyja to find,

And this was the speech

He first of all spoke:

Bind thyself, Freyja,

In bridal array,

We two must drive off

To Ogreland down.”

Wrath then waxed Freyja,

Fiercely she foam’d,

All that high Asa-hall

Under her quivered,

Up on her bosom leapt

Brising’s broad jewel:

Wanton and wedding-sick

Call thou this woman,

If I drive with thee

To Ogreland down.”

Then the great Gods all

Gather’d in meeting,

Goddesses proud too

In parley there met,

And they devised then,

Those deities mighty,

How they the Hardhitter’s

Hammer might get.

Then thus spoke Heimdall,

Fairest-hued As,

Wise-minded master,

More cunning than most:

Bind we now Thorr here

In bridal array;

Brising’s broad collar

We’ll clasp round his throat;

Down at his girdle

The house-keys shall dangle;

Full round his knees, too,

Women’s weeds fall;

Broad stones and bright

He shall bear on his breast;

Tidily, too, let us

Top up his head.”

Out stuttered Thorr,

Sturdiest of Asa-stock:

Me will ye Asa-kin

Craven heart call,

If o’er my body

These bride-weeds ye bind.”

Then thus spoke Loki,

Laufey’s son shifty:

Hush, Thorr! nor utter

These idle words;

Straightway will Ogres

As-garth abide in,

Save thou thy hammer

May’st hope to get back.”

Then they bound Thorr

In bridal array;

Clasp’d round his throat

Brising’s broad collar;

Down at his girdle

The housewife’s keys dangled;

Full round his knees, too,

Women’s weeds fell;

Broad stones and bright

He bore on his breast;

Ay, and so tidily

Topp’d up his head.

Then thus spoke Loki,

Laufey’s son shifty:

I too with thee now

Will go as thy maid;

We two will drive off

To Ogreland down.”

Then were Thorr’s he-goats

Soon driven home;

Tied to the traces

They trotted off fast:

Rocks rent asunder,

Earth roar’d with flame:

So drove great Odin’s son

Down into Ogreland.

Then thus quoth Thrym,

Lord of the Thursa-kin: