one in disguise, and that his own life hung on the answers he
himself would soon be forced to make.

"Sit here beside me," he said, "for whoever you are, worthier antagonist
has never entered these walls."

Then they sat down together in the rude stone hall, the mightiest of the
gods and the wisest of the giants, and the great contest in wisdom, with
a life hanging in either scale, went on between them. Wonderful secrets
of the time when no man was and the time when no man will be, those
silent walls listened to as Vafthrudner asked Odin one deep question
after another, the answer coming swiftly and surely.

After a time the giant could ask no more, for he had exhausted his
wisdom.

"It is my turn now," said Odin, and one after another he drew out from
Vafthrudner the events of the past and then the wonderful things of the
race of giants, and finally he began to question him of that dim,
mysterious future whose secrets only the gods know; and as he touched
these wonderful things Odin's eyes began to flash, and his form to grow
larger and nobler until he seemed no longer the humble Gangraad, but the
mighty god he was, and Vafthrudner trembled as he felt the coming doom
nearing him with every question.

So hours went by, until at last Odin paused in his swift questioning,
stooped down, and asked the giant, "What did Odin whisper in the ear of
Balder as he ascended the funeral pile?"

Only Odin himself could answer this question, and Vafthrudner replied
humbly and with awe, "Who but thyself, All-Father, knoweth the words
thou didst say to thy son in the days of old? I have brought my doom
upon myself, for in my ignorance I have contended with wisdom itself.
Thou art ever the wisest of all."

So Odin conquered, and Wisdom was victorious, as she always has been
even when she has contended with giants.

266

The story of the splendid courage of Tyr at the
time of the chaining up of the terrible Fenris
wolf has always been one of the favorite Norse
tales. The three repulsive giant monsters in
whom the forces of evil are embodied are well
imagined to suggest to us powers that may
finally be stronger than the gods themselves.
The failures to find a chain strong enough, and
the final success with the magic bond made in
Dwarfland, form a series of powerfully dramatic
steps in the story. The elements of which the
slende