r, who might have prevailed, prevailed not because
of the loss of Frey's sword.

They found Iduna and they brought her back. But still Care and
Foreboding crept through Asgard. And it was known, too, that the witch
Gulveig was changing the thoughts of the Gods.

At last Odin had to judge Gulveig. He judged her and decreed her death.
And only Gungnir, the spear of Odin, might slay Gulveig, who was not of
mortal race.

Odin hurled Gungnir. The spear went through Gulveig. But still she stood
smiling at the Gods. A second time Odin hurled his spear. A second time
Gungnir pierced the witch. She stood livid as one dead but fell not
down. A third time Odin hurled his spear. And now, pierced for the third
time, the witch gave a scream that made all Asgard shudder and she fell
in death on the ground.

"I have slain in these halls where slaying is forbidden," Odin said.
"Take now the corpse of Gulveig and burn it on the ramparts, so that no
trace of the witch who has troubled us will remain in Asgard."

They brought the corpse of Gulveig the witch out on the ramparts and
they lighted fires under the pile on which they laid her and they called
upon Hraesvelgur to fan up the flame:

Hraesvelgur is the Giant,
Who on heaven's edge sits
In the guise of an eagle;
And the winds, it is said,
Rush down on the earth
From his outspreading pinions.

Far away was Loki when all this was being done. Often now he went from
Asgard, and his journeys were to look upon that wondrous treasure that
had passed from the keeping of the Dwarf Andvari. It was Gulveig who had
kept the imagination of that treasure within his mind. Now, when he came
back and heard the whispers of what had been done, a rage flamed up
within him. For Loki was one of those whose minds were being changed by
the presence and the whispers of the witch Gulveig. His mind was being
changed to hatred of the Gods. Now he went to the place of Gulveig's
burning. All her body was in ashes, but her heart had not been devoured
by the flames. And Loki in his rage took the heart of the witch and ate
it. Oh, black and direful was it in Asgard, the day that Loki ate the
heart that the flames would not devour!

[Illustration]

LOKI THE BETRAYER

He stole Frigga's dress of falcon feathers. Then as a falcon he flew out
of Asgard. Joetunheim was the place that he flew toward.

The anger and the fierceness of the hawk was within Loki as he flew
t