But the dwarf shook his head, and made answer, "I have given
thee all the riches that the elves of the mountain have
gathered since the world began. This ring I cannot give
thee, for without its help we shall never be able to gather
more treasures together."

And Loki grew angry at these words of the dwarf; and he
seized the ring, and tore it by force from Andvari's
fingers. It was a wondrous little piece of mechanism shaped
like a serpent, coiled, with its tail in its mouth; and its
scaly sides glittered with many a tiny diamond, and its ruby
eyes shone with an evil light. When the dwarf knew that Loki
really meant to rob him of the ring, he cursed it and all
who should ever possess it, saying,--

"May the ill-gotten treasure that you have seized tonight be
your bane, and the bane of all to whom it may come, whether
by fair means or by foul! And the ring which you have torn
from my hand, may it entail upon the one who wears it sorrow
and untold ills, the loss of friends, and a violent death!
The Norns have spoken, and thus it must be."

Loki was pleased with these words, and with the dark curses
which the dwarf pronounced upon the gold; for he loved
wrong-doing, for wrong-doing's sake, and he knew that no
curses could ever make his own life more cheerless than it
always had been. So he thanked Andvari for his curses and
his treasures; and, throwing the magic net upon his
shoulder, he sprang again into the air, and was carried