Then Tyr stepped forward and bravely put his right hand in the monster’s mouth.  The gods then tied up the wolf, who forcibly stretched himself, as he had formerly done, and exerted all his powers to disengage himself; but the more efforts he made the tighter he drew the chain about him, and then all the gods, except Tyr, who lost his hand, burst out into laughter at the sight.  Seeing that he was so fast tied that he would never be able to get loose again, they took one end of the chain, which was called Gelgja, and having drilled a hole for it, drew it through the middle of a large broad rock, which they sank very deep in the earth.  Afterwards, to make all still more secure, they tied the end of the chain, which came through the rock to a great stone called Keviti, which they sank still deeper.  The wolf used his utmost power to free himself, and, opening his mouth, tried to bite them.  When the gods saw that they took a sword and thrust it into his mouth, so that it entered his under jaw right up to the hilt, and the point reached his palate.  He howled in the most terrible manner, and since then the foam has poured from his mouth in such abundance that it forms the river called Von.  So the wolf must remain until Ragnaroek.

Such a wicked race has Loki begot.  The gods would not put the wolf to death because they respected the sanctity of the place, which forbade blood being shed there.

THE STRANGE BUILDER.

Once upon a time, when the gods were building their abodes, a certain builder came and offered to erect them, in the space of three half-years, a city so well fortified that they should be quite safe in it from the incursions of the forest-giants and the giants of the mountains, even although these foes should have already penetrated within the enclosure Midgard.  He asked, however, for his reward, the goddess Freyja, together with the sun and moon.  The gods thought over the matter a long while, and at length agreed to his terms, on the understanding that he would finish the whole work himself without any one’s assistance, and that all was to be finished within the space of one single winter.  If anything remained to be done when the first day of summer came, the builder was to entirely forfeit the reward agreed on.  When the builder was told this he asked that he might be allowed the use of his horse, Svadilfari, and to this the gods, by the advice of Loki, agreed.

On the first day of winter the builder set to work, and during the night he caused his horse to draw stones for the building.  The gods beheld with astonishment the extraordinary size of these, and marked with wonder that the horse did much more work than his master.  The contract between them and the giant had, however, been confirmed with many oaths and in the presence of many witnesses, for without such a precaution a giant would not have trusted himself among the gods, especially at a time when Thor was returning from an expedition he had made into the east against the giants.