then made his offerings, and to Odin he gave the ring Drapnir
which had been made with such magic skill that every ninth night eight
other rings dropped off it, though no one could see how they came;
this the greatest of the gods ever wore upon his arm, until the death
of his beautiful son Baldur, when, as token of his great love he
placed it upon the dead youth's breast as he lay on his funeral pyre.
To Frey was given the golden boar, which would run faster than any
horse, over the sea or through the air, and wherever it went, there it
would be light, because the bristles shone so brightly. To Thor Brok
gave the dull-looking hammer, saying, that whatever he struck with it
would be destroyed; that no blow could be hard enough to hurt it; that
if he threw it, it would return to him so that he could never lose it;
and that as he wished so would its size be--yet there was one fault
about it, and that was that the handle was an inch too short.

It was with great joy that Thor took this treasure, knowing that in it
he had something to help him in fighting the evil Rime-giants who were
always trying to get the whole world for themselves until driven back
by him.

Then the gods decided that of all the gifts the hammer was the best,
and that, therefore, Loki had lost his wager and must lose his head.
Loki offered to give all sorts of things to save himself, but the
dwarf would not listen to any of them. "Catch me, then!" cried the
mischievous one; but when Brok stretched his hand upon him Loki had
gone, for he wore shoes which would carry him over the sea or through
the air.

"Catch him!" cried the ugly little dwarf piteously to Thor, and in an
instant Loki stood before them, trembling in Thor's strong grasp.
Then the clever one argued that it was his head only which had been
wagered, and that not one little tiny bit of his neck might be taken,
or the dwarf would have more than his bargain. At this Brok cried
impatiently that the head of a wicked person was of no use to him, all
that he wanted was to stop Loki's tongue so that he could work less
evil, and he took a knife and thread and tried to pierce holes in
Loki's lips, but Loki bewitched the knife so that it would not cut.

"If only I had Sindri's awl," sighed the dwarf, and instantly his
brother's awl was in his hand. Swiftly it pierced the lips of the
mischief-maker, and swiftly Brok sewed them together and broke off the
thread at the end of the sewing.

Then the g