ered beside him on the throne.

"Thief!" he cried. "Freia sends you _this_ as a wedding gift!" And he
whirled the hammer about his head, then hurled it once, twice, thrice,
as it rebounded to his hand; and in the first stroke, as of lightning,
Thrym rolled dead from his throne; in the second stroke perished the
whole giant household--these ugly enemies of the AEsir; and in the third
stroke the palace itself tumbled together and fell to the ground like a
toppling playhouse of blocks.

But Loki and Thor stood safely among the ruins, dressed in their
tattered maiden robes, a quaint and curious sight; and Loki, full of
mischief now as ever, burst out laughing.

"Oh, Thor! if you could see--" he began; but Thor held up his hammer and
shook it gently as he said:

"Look now, Loki: it was an excellent joke, and so far you have done
well--after your crafty fashion, which likes me not. But now I have my
hammer again, and the joke is done. From you, nor from another, I brook
no laughter at my expense. Henceforth we will have no mention of this
masquerade, nor of these rags which now I throw away. Do you hear, red
laughter?"

And Loki heard, with a look of hate, and stifled his laughter as best he
could; for it is not good to laugh at him who holds the hammer.

Not once after that was there mention in Asgard of the time when Thor
dressed him as a girl and won his bridal gift from Thrym the giant.

But Mioelnir was safe once more in Asgard, and you and I know how it came
there; so someone must have told. I wonder if red Loki whispered the
tale to some outsider, after all? Perhaps it may be so, for now he knew
how best to make Thor angry; and from that day when Thor forbade his
laughing, Loki hated him with the mean little hatred of a mean little
soul.

CHAPTER XIV

THE APPLES OF IDUN

Once upon a time Odin, Loki, and Hoener started on a journey. They had
often travelled together before on all sorts of errands, for they had a
great many things to look after, and more than once they had fallen into
trouble through the prying, meddlesome, malicious spirit of Loke, who
was never so happy as when he was doing wrong. When the gods went on a
journey they travelled fast and hard, for they were strong, active
spirits who loved nothing so much as hard work, hard blows, storm,
peril, and struggle. There were no roads through the country over which
they made their way, only high mountains to be climbed by rocky paths,
deep