Page:Stories of Norse Gods and Heroes.djvu/56

50 THE SONG MEAD. there lived on earth a poet who sang songs so beautiful that all created things were charmed by them.

Two hill trolls, who hated the poet because he was noble and good, invited him to their home under ground and there killed him.

They caught his blood in two cups and mixed it with honey and made mead. If any man drank the mead it would make him a poet too. But the trolls hid it in a dark place and would give it to no one.

One day the trolls enticed a giant into a boat with them, and drowned him. When his wife came to inquire about him they sent her down to the sea-shore. Then they threw a rock from the cliff and killed her.

Suttung, the son of the giant, came to see what had become of his father and mother. He threatened to kill the trolls.

To save their lives, they gave him the precious song mead. Suttung took it home and put it