other rings as valuable as itself. To Frey he gave the boar, and said
that it would run through air and water, by night and by day, better
than any horse, and that never was there night so dark that the way by
which he went would not be light from his hide. The hammer he gave to
Thor, and said that it would never fail to hit a troll, and that at
whatever he threw it, it would never miss the mark, and that Thor could
never throw it so far that it would not return to his hand. It would
also, when Thor chose, become so small that he could put it in his
pocket. The only fault of the hammer was that its handle was a little
too short.

Their judgment was that the hammer was the best of all the things before
them, and that the dwarf had won his wager. Then Loki prayed hard not to
lose his head, but the dwarf said that could not be.

"Catch me, then!" said Loki, and when the dwarf sought to catch him he
was far away, for Loki had shoes with which he could run through air and
water. Then the dwarf prayed Thor to catch him, and he did so. The dwarf
now proceeded to cut off his head, but Loki objected that he was to have
the head only, and not the neck. As he would not be quiet, the dwarf
took a knife and a thong, and began to sew his mouth up; but the knife
was bad, so the dwarf wished that he had his brother's awl, and as soon
as he wished it, it was there. So he sewed Loki's lips together.




THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN DIETRICH.