e threw the net into the
fire so that it was burnt, and he sprang into the River and transformed
himself into a salmon. When the Gods entered his dwelling they found
only the burnt-out fire.

But there was one amongst them who could understand all that he saw. In
the ashes were the marks of the burnt net and he knew that these were
the tracing of something to catch fishes. And from the marks left in the
ashes he made a net that was the same as the one Loki had burnt.

With it in their hands the Gods went down the River, dragging the net
through the water. Loki was affrighted to find the thing of his own
weaving brought against him. He lay between two stones at the bottom of
the River, and the net passed over him.

But the Gods knew that the net had touched something at the bottom. They
fastened weights to it and they dragged the net through the River again.
Loki knew that he might not escape it this time and he rose in the water
and swam toward the sea. The Gods caught sight of him as he leaped over
a waterfall. They followed him, dragging the net. Thor waded behind,
ready to seize him should he turn back.

Loki came out at the mouth of the River and behold! There was a great
eagle hovering over the waves of the sea and ready to swoop down on
fishes. He turned back in the River. He made a leap that took him over
the net that the Gods were dragging. But Thor was behind the net and he
caught the salmon in his powerful hands and he held him for all the
struggle that Loki made. No fish had ever struggled so before. Loki got
himself free all but his tail, but Thor held to the tail and brought him
amongst the rocks and forced him to take on his proper form.

He was in the hands of those whose wrath was strong against him. They
brought him to a cavern and they bound him to three sharp-pointed rocks.
With cords that were made of the sinews of wolves they bound him, and
they transformed the cords into iron bands. There they would have left
Loki bound and helpless. But Skadi, with her fierce Giant blood, was not
content that he should be left untormented. She found a serpent that had
deadly venom and she hung this serpent above Loki's head. The drops of
venom fell upon him, bringing him anguish drop by drop, minute by
minute. So Loki's torture went on.

But Siguna with the pitying heart came to his relief. She exiled herself
from Asgard, and endured the darkness and the cold of the cavern, that
she might take some of the to