t the Wanderer to see what he would do; his eyes had become
fierce and he held the auger in his hand as if it were a stabbing
knife.

"Look up to the head of the rock," said the Wanderer. As Baugi looked up
the Wanderer changed himself into a snake and glided into the hole in
the rock. And Baugi struck at him with the auger, hoping to kill him,
but the snake slipped through.

Behind the mighty rock there was a hollow place all lighted up by the
shining crystals in the rock. And within the hollow place there was an
ill-looking witch, with long teeth and sharp nails. But she sat there
rocking herself and letting tears fall from her eyes. "O youth and
beauty," she sang, "O sight of men and women, sad, sad for me it is that
you are shut away, and that I have only this closed-in cavern and this
horrible form."

A snake glided across the floor. "Oh, that you were deadly and that you
might slay me," cried the witch. The snake glided past her. Then she
heard a voice speak softly: "Gunnloed, Gunnloed!" She looked round, and
there standing behind her was a majestic man, clad in a cloak of dark
blue, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods.

"You have come to take the Magic Mead that my father has set me here to
guard," she cried. "You shall not have it. Rather shall I spill it out
on the thirsty earth of the cavern."

"Gunnloed," he said, and he came to her. She looked at him and she felt
the red blood of youth come back into her cheeks. She put her hands with
their sharp nails over her breast, and she felt the nails drive into her
flesh. "Save me from all this ugliness," she cried.

"I will save you," Odin said. He went to her. He took her hands and
held them. He kissed her on the mouth. All the marks of ill favor went
from her. She was no longer bent, but tall and shapely. Her eyes became
wide and deep blue. Her mouth became red and her hands soft and
beautiful. She became as fair as Gerda, the Giant maid whom Frey had
wed.

They stayed looking at each other, then they sat down side by side and
talked softly to each other, Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, and Gunnloed,
the beautiful Giant maiden.

She gave him the three jars of the Magic Mead and she told him she would
go out of the cavern with him. Three days passed and still they were
together. Then Odin by his wisdom found hidden paths and passages that
led out of the cavern and he brought Gunnloed out into the light of the
day.

And he brought with him the jars of the Magic M