d through Burgundyland and the low meadows, until he came to the
shores of the great North Sea. He sought the halls of old Aegir, the
Ocean-king; but he wist not which way to go--whether across the North
Sea towards Isenland, or whether along the narrow channel between
Britain land and the main. While he paused, uncertain where to turn,
he saw the pale-haired daughters of old Aegir, the white-veiled Waves,
playing in the moonlight near the shore. Of them he asked the way to
Aegir's hall.

"Seven days' journey westward," said they, "beyond the green Isle of
Erin, is our father's hall. Seven days' journey northward, on the
bleak Norwegian shore, is our father's hall. Seek it not."

And they stopped not once in their play, but rippled and danced on the
shelving beach, or dashed with force against the shore.

"Where is your mother, Ran, the Queen of the Ocean?" asked Loki.

And they answered:

"In the deep sea-caves
By the sounding shore,
In the dashing waves
When the wild storms roar,
In her cold green bowers
In the northern fiords,
She lurks and she glowers,
She grasps and she hoards,
And she spreads her strong net for her prey."

Loki waited to hear no more; but he sprang into the air, and the magic
shoes carried him onwards over the water In search of the Ocean-queen.
He had not gone far when his sharp eyes espied her, lurking near a
rocky shore against which the breakers dashed with frightful fury.
Half hidden in the deep dark water, she lay waiting and watching; and
she spread her cunning net upon the waves, and reached out with her
long greedy fingers to seize whatever booty might come near her.

When the wary queen saw Loki, she hastily drew in her net, and tried to
hide herself in the shadows of an overhanging rock. But Loki called
her by name, and said:

"Sister Ran, fear not! I am your friend Loki, whom once you served as
a guest in Aegir's gold-lit halls."

Then the Ocean-queen came out into the bright moonlight, and welcomed
Loki to her domain, and asked, "Why does Loki thus wander so far over
the trackless waters?"

And Loki answered, "I have heard of the net which you spread upon the
waves, and from which no creature once caught in its meshes can ever
escape. I have found a salmon where the Rhine spring gushes from
beneath the mountains, and a very cunning salmon he is, for no common
skill can catch him. Come, I pray, with your wondrous net, a