Loki produced his articles, and Odin, Thor, and Frey were the judges.  Then Loki gave to Odin the spear Gugner, and to Thor the hair that Sif was to have, and to Frey Skidbladnir, and told them what virtues those things possessed.  Brock took out his articles, and gave to Odin the ring, and told him that every ninth night there would drop from it eight other rings as valuable as itself.  To Frey he gave the boar, and said that it would run through air and water, by night and by day, better than any horse, and that never was there night so dark that the way by which he went would not be light from his hide.  The hammer he gave to Thor, and said that it would never fail to hit a troll, and that at whatever he threw it, it would never miss the mark, and that Thor could never throw it so far that it would not return to his hand.  It would also, when Thor chose, become so small that he could put it in his pocket.  The only fault of the hammer was that its handle was a little too short.

Their judgment was that the hammer was the best of all the things before them, and that the dwarf had won his wager.  Then Loki prayed hard not to lose his head, but the dwarf said that could not be.

“Catch me, then!” said Loki, and when the dwarf sought to catch him he was far away, for Loki had shoes with which he could run through air and water.  Then the dwarf prayed Thor to catch him, and he did so.  The dwarf now proceeded to cut off his head, but Loki objected that he was to have the head only, and not the neck.  As he would not be quiet, the dwarf took a knife and a thong, and began to sew his mouth up; but the knife was bad, so the dwarf wished that he had his brother’s awl, and as soon as he wished it, it was there.  So he sewed Loki’s lips together.

THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN DIETRICH.

There once lived in Rambin an honest, industrious man, named James Dietrich.  He had several children, all of a good disposition, especially the youngest, whose name was John.  John Dietrich was a handsome, smart boy, diligent at school, and obedient at home.  His great passion was for hearing stories, and whenever he met any one who was well stored he never let him go till he had heard them all.

When John was about eight years old he was sent to spend a summer with his uncle, a farmer, in Rodenkirchen.  Here John had to keep cows with other boys, and they used to drive them to graze about the Nine-hills.  There was an old cowherd, one Klas Starkwolt who used frequently to join the boys, and then they would sit down together and tell stories.  Klas abounded in these, and he became John Dietrich’s dearest friend.  In particular, he knew a number of stories of the Nine-hills, and the underground people in the old times, when the giants disappeared from the country and the little ones came into the hills.  These tales John swallowed so eagerly that he thought of nothing else, and was for ever talking of golden cups, and crowns, and glass shoes, and pockets full of ducats, and gold rings, and diamond coronets, and snow-white brides, and such like.  Old Klas used often to shake his head at him, and say—­