least. All the other gods declare, too, that she shall not go with
them, and the giants insist that she shall. The Thunder God is there
and he has a wonderful hammer, a blow of which is like a stroke of
lightning. He is about to strike the giants with it, and that, you may
be sure, would settle the whole matter, big as they are, but the Father
of the Gods will not let him harm them. He has promised, and whatever
happens he cannot break his word.

"While everything is in this dreadful state, the Fire God comes back
from his search. It is not a very cheering story that he has to tell.
He has been through all the world, he says, and he has asked everywhere
what there is that is as good for gods or giants, or anybody else, as
the love of a woman, which makes those who have it always young. But
the people in those days knew more than a good many of the people in
these days, and everywhere they laughed at him and told him that he
might as well give up his search, for he would never find what he
sought."

"What do you mean by 'the people in those days'?" the child asked; "I
thought you said you could see them right here in the fire now."

"So I can, but it is the beauty of these pictures in the fire that I
can see things that happened years ago, thousands of years ago, if I
like, just as well as things that happen now, and perhaps a little
better. So you see the Fire God has not had very good luck, but as he
was coming back, he says, he passed near where the river nymphs were,
and they called to him, telling him that their beautiful gold had been
stolen, and begging him to ask the Father of the Gods to get it back
for them. They told him, too, about the wicked dwarf who stole it, and
how, before he could steal it, he had to swear never again, as long as