returned home to Thrud-vang, where Sif's loving efforts
were equally unsuccessful. She therefore resolved to send for Groa
(green-making), a sorceress, noted for her skill in medicine and for
the efficacy of her spells and incantations. Groa immediately signified
her readiness to render every service in her power to the god who had
so often benefited her, and solemnly began to recite powerful runes,
under whose influence Thor felt the stone grow looser and looser. His
delight at the prospect of a speedy deliverance made Thor wish to
reward the enchantress forthwith, and knowing that nothing could give
greater pleasure to a mother than the prospect of seeing a long-lost
child, he proceeded to tell her that he had recently crossed the
Elivagar, or ice streams, to rescue her little son Orvandil (germ) from
the frost giants' cruel power, and had succeeded in carrying him off
in a basket. But, as the little rogue would persist in sticking one of
his bare toes through a hole in the basket, it had been frost-bitten,
and Thor, accidentally breaking it off, had flung it up into the sky,
to shine as a star, known in the North as "Orvandil's Toe."

Delighted with these tidings, the prophetess paused in her incantations
to express her joy, but, having forgotten just where she left off,
she was unable to continue her spell, and the flint stone remained
embedded in Thor's forehead, whence it could never be dislodged.

Of course, as Thor's hammer always did him such good service, it was
the most prized of all his possessions, and his dismay was very great
when he awoke one morning and found it gone. His cry of anger and
disappointment soon brought Loki to his side, and to him Thor confided
the secret of his loss, declaring that were the giants to hear of it,
they would soon attempt to storm Asgard and destroy the gods.

"Wroth waxed Thor, when his sleep was flown,
And he found his trusty hammer gone;
He smote his brow, his beard he shook,
The son of earth 'gan round him look;
And this the first word that he spoke:
'Now listen what I tell thee, Loke;
Which neither on earth below is known,
Nor in heaven above: my hammer's gone."

Thrym's Quida (Herbert's tr.).

Thor and Thrym

Loki declared he would try to discover the thief and recover the
hammer, if Freya would lend him her falcon plumes, and he immediately
hastened off to Folkvang to borrow them. His errand was successful and