Again they began to drag the river, and this time Loki feared that he could not escape.  But just as the net almost touched him, he gave a mighty leap and sprang clear of the net.  The silvery flash, the sudden splash, startled the gods, so that they almost dropped the net; but it told them what they wanted to know—­Loki was in the stream.  Turning, they dragged the net down the stream, driving Loki nearer and nearer to the sheer drop of the waterfall, down which he dared not plunge.  Desperate, he made another leap, and again he almost escaped; but Thor’s quick eyes saw him, Thor’s strong, iron-gloved hand gripped him.  The great salmon struggled, but Thor held it fast by the tail, and finally flung it out upon the bank.

[Illustration:  Thor’s hand gripped him]

Loki, within the fish, vowed to himself that he would not return to his own shape; but the fish’s body could not live long out of the water, and soon he found himself growing weak and faint.  At length, therefore, he was obliged to assume his own form, and there he stood, handsome, but evil-looking, before the waiting gods.

“It hurts us,” said Odin, “that we should be forced to treat one of our own kind in this way.  Perhaps even now—­tell us that you do regret your past wickedness, that you are sorry for the trouble you have caused the gods, that you grieve sometimes for Balder’s death.”

“I grieve,” said Loki, “only that I have caused so little trouble among the gods; I regret only that the days for pitting my cleverness against your stupidity are at an end—­for I ask for no mercy.  As for Balder’s death, it has been my chief cause for rejoicing as I have dwelt here in this solitary place.”

Shocked by his hardness, the gods led him away to the punishment which they had planned for him.  The other gods met them by the way, and troops of dwarfs and elves and human beings and animals sprang up on every side, and followed them.  And in the hearts of all these followers there was joy, for Loki had never done them anything but harm; and besides, had he not slain Balder, the beautiful, the beloved?

But in the hearts of the gods there was pain, for Loki was of their own number, and far back in the beginnings of time, before he had become wicked, he had been their great pride, by reason of his cleverness.

They passed, a noisy procession, to a dark, underground cavern, a damp, slimy place, where snakes looked out from their holes, and toads sat upon the stones.  Here were three sharp-pointed rocks, which Thor pierced with holes; and to these rocks they bound the wretched Loki with chains of adamant.

“Here he shall stay,” said Odin, “until the last great day shall come for gods and men.”