Then it was believed that the only honorable form of death was death in battle; and the bravest of the heroes who died in battle were brought by Odin’s messengers, the Valkyries, who always hovered on their cloud-horses above battlefields, to the great palace of Valhalla.  Therefore only the cowards or the weak, who died in their beds, went to the underground realm, and Hela knew that they were not subjects of whom she could be proud.  Nevertheless, she went without a word.

Odin, then, without speaking, suddenly stooped and seized in his strong arms the wriggling, slippery serpent.  Over the wall of the city he threw it, and the gods watched it as it fell down, down, down, until at last it sank from sight into the sea.  This was by no means the last of the serpent, however; under the water it grew and grew until it was so large that it formed a girdle about the whole earth, and could hold its tail in its mouth.

The question as to what should be done with the great wolf, Fenris, was not so easily answered.  It seemed to all the gods that he had grown larger and fiercer in the brief time he had stood before them, and none of them dared touch him.  At length some one whispered, “Let us kill him,” and the wolf turned and showed his teeth at the speaker; for as he was the son of Loki, he could understand and speak the language of the gods.

“That cannot be,” said Odin.  “Have we not sworn that the streets of our city shall never be stained with blood?  Let us leave the matter until another time.”

So the wolf was permitted to roam about Asgard, and the gods all tried to be kind to him, for they thought that by their kindness they might tame him.  However, he grew stronger and stronger and more and more vicious, until only Tyr, [Footnote:  Tyr was the Norse war-god.] the bravest of all the gods, dared go near him to give him food.  One day, as the gods sat in their council hall, they heard the wolf howling through the streets.

“How long,” said Odin, “is our city to be made hideous by such noises?  We must bind Fenris the wolf.”

Silence followed his words, for all knew what a serious thing it was that Odin proposed.  Fenris must be bound—­that was true; but who would dare attempt the task?  And what chain could ever hold him?  At length Thor [Footnote:  Thor, god of thunder, was the strongest of all the gods] arose, and all sighed with relief; for if any one could bind the wolf, it was Thor.  “I will make a chain,” he said, “stronger than ever chain was before, and then we shall find some way to fasten it upon him.”

Thor strode to his smithy, and heaped his fire high.  All night he worked at his anvil; whenever any of the gods awakened they could hear the clank! clank! clank! of his great hammer, and could see from their windows the sparks from his smithy shining through the gloom.  In the morning the chain was finished, and all wondered at its strength, Then Thor called to the huge wolf and said: