Then the giant knew that he was discovered, and he was mad with rage.  “It was a trick!” he bellowed, assuming his own proper form, which was huge as a mountain, and towered high beside the fortress that he had built.  “It was a wicked trick.  You shall pay for this in one way or another.  I cannot tear down the castle which, ungrateful ones, I have built you, stronger than the strength of any giant.  But I will demolish the rest of your shining city!” Indeed, he would have done so in his mighty rage; but at this moment Thor, whom Heimdal had called from the end of the earth by one blast of the golden horn, came rushing to the rescue, drawn in his chariot of goats.  Thor jumped to the ground close beside the giant, and before that huge fellow knew what had happened, his head was rolling upon the ground at Father Odin’s feet; for with one blow Thor had put an end to the giant’s wickedness and had saved Asgard.

“This is the reward you deserve!” Thor cried.  “Not Freia nor the Sun and Moon, but the death that I have in store for all the enemies of the AEsir.”

In this extraordinary way the noble city of Asgard was made safe and complete by the addition of a fortress which no one, not even the giant who built it, could injure, it was so wonder-strong.  But always at the top of the gate were lacking three great stones that no one was mighty enough to lift.  This was a reminder to the AEsir that now they had the race of giants for their everlasting enemies.  And though Loki’s trick had saved them Freia, and for the world the Sun and Moon, it was the beginning of trouble in Asgard which lasted as long as Loki lived to make mischief with his guile.

CHAPTER XII

HOW ODIN LOST HIS EYE

In the beginning of things, before there was any world or sun, moon, and stars, there were the giants; for these were the oldest creatures that ever breathed.  They lived in Jotunheim, the land of frost and darkness, and their hearts were evil.  Next came the gods, the good AEsir, who made earth and sky and sea, and who dwelt in Asgard, above the heavens.  Then were created the queer little dwarfs, who lived underground in the caverns of the mountains, working at their mines of metal and precious stones.  Last of all, the gods made men to dwell in Midgard, the good world that we know, between which and the glorious home of the AEsir stretched Bifroest, the bridge of rainbows.

In those days, folk say, there was a mighty ash tree named Yggdrasil, so vast that its branches shaded the whole earth and stretched up into heaven where the AEsir dwelt, while its roots sank far down below the lowest depth.  In the branches of the big ash tree lived a queer family of creatures.  First, there was a great eagle, who was wiser than any bird that ever lived—­except the two ravens, Thought and Memory, who sat upon Father Odin’s shoulders and told him the secrets which they learned in their