f them, whose name was Brok.

"Hair for Sif, a spear for Odin, and a ship for Frey," answered Loki.

"Let us see them," said Brok.

Loki kindly showed them the strange gifts, and told them, that, in
his belief, no dwarfs in all the world had ever before wrought such
wonderful things.

"Who made them?" inquired Brok.

"Ivald's sons."

"Ah! Ivald's sons sometimes do good work, but there are many other
dwarfs who can do better. For instance, my brother Sindre, who stands
here, can make three other treasures altogether as good as those you
have."

"It cannot be!" cried Loki.

"I tell you the truth," said the dwarf. "And, to show you that I mean
just what I say, I will wager against your head all the diamonds in
the ceiling above us, that he will make not only as good treasures, but
those which the Asas will esteem much higher."

"Agreed!" cried Loki,--"agreed! I take the wager. Let your brother try
his skill at once."

The three went straightway to Sindre's forge, and the brothers began
their task. When the fire was roaring hot, and the sparks flew from the
chimney like showers of shooting-stars, Sindre put a pig-skin into the
furnace, and bade Brok blow the bellows with all his might, and never
stop until he should speak the word. The flames leaped up white and
hot, and the furnace glowed with a dazzling light, while Brok plied the
bellows, and Sindre, with unblinking eyes, watched the slowly changing
colors that played around the melted and shapeless mass within. While
the brothers were thus intent upon their work, Loki changed himself to
a great horse-fly, and settled upon Brok's hand, and bit him without
mercy. But the dwarf kept on blowing the bellows, and stopped not until
his brother cried out,--

"Enough!"

Then Sindre drew out of the flickering blue flames a huge wild boar with
long tusks of ivory, and golden bristles that glittered and shone like
the beams of the sun.

"This is Golden Bristle," said the dwarf. "It is the gift of Brok and
his brother to the gentle Frey. His ship Skidbladner can carry him only
over the sea; but Golden Bristle shall be a trusty steed that will bear
him with the speed of the wind over the land or through the air."

Next the dwarfs threw gold into the furnace, and Brok plied the bellows,
and Sindre gazed into the flames, as before. And the great horse-fly
buzzed in Brok's face, and darted at his eyes, and at last settled upon
his neck, and stung him until the pain ca