All the gods leaped up, and they drove Loki from the palace, commanding him never to appear in their presence again; but scarcely had they seated themselves to resume their interrupted feast, when the crafty god again entered the room.  Not waiting for them to speak, he began to revile them.  His words came in a rapid stream; he stopped not to draw breath.  Beginning with Odin, he attacked the gods in turn, mocking their physical peculiarities, recounting every deed which they had done that was not to their credit, shaming them because he had always been able to elude them easily, and because only he could help them out of their difficulties.  Finally he came to Sif, Thor’s golden-haired wife, whom long before he had robbed of her tresses.

“As for Sif,” he began, “I could tell a tale of her that—­”

But he went no further, for a peal of thunder drowned his words, and a blinding flash of lightning made him cover his eyes with his hands.  The gods sighed in relief, for Thor stood among them, his eyes shooting fire.

“Already,” he cried, “has Aegir’s palace been stained with blood to-day.  I will not, therefore, kill you here.  But if ever you appear before my eyes again, I shall smite you; and if ever you dare to speak Sif’s name, I shall hear it though I am in the uttermost parts of the earth, and I shall have vengeance.”

“Well spoken, son Thor,” said Odin.  “But I too have something to say to Loki.  We shall permit you to go unharmed to-day, but if you care for your life, hide yourself.  We shall seek you; and the gods have keen eyes.  And if we find you out, you shall die.”

Sullen, frightened, Loki withdrew.  He wandered about long in the most barren, desolate parts of the earth, cursing the gods and hating himself.  At length he found a spot which he felt sure would be hidden even from Odin’s eyes.  It was in a steep, rocky valley, where nothing grew, and where no sound ever came except the weird noise of the wind as it swept through the narrow passes, and the chatter of a mountain stream as it leapt down the rocks.

Here, in this solitary place, Loki built himself a hut of piled-up rocks.  Four walls had the hut, and in each wall was a door, for Loki wished to be able to see the gods, from whatever direction they approached, and to make his escape.  He had always been a famous fisherman, and now the fish which he took from the stream formed his only food.

Sometimes he changed himself into a salmon and floated about in the quieter places of the stream.  He never talked with the other fish who lived in the stream, but somehow he felt less lonely with those living things about him than he did in his solitary hut on the mountain side.