skin could be seen. And Fafnir and Regin, the ransom being
paid, loosed the shackles of Odin and Hoenir, and bade the
three huntsmen go on their way.

Odin and Hoenir at once shook off their human disguises,
and, taking their own forms again, hastened with all speed
back to Asgard. But Loki tarried a little while, and said to
Hreidmar and his sons,--

"By your greediness and falsehood you have won for
yourselves the Curse of the Earth, which lies before you. It
shall be your bane. It shall be the bane of every one who
holds it. It shall kindle strife between father and son,
between brother and brother. It shall make you mean,
selfish, beastly. It shall transform you into monsters. The
noblest king among men-folk shall feel its curse. Such is
gold, and such it shall ever be to its worshippers. And the
ring which you have gotten shall impart to its possessor its
own nature. Grasping, snaky, cold, unfeeling, shall he live;
and death through treachery shall be his doom."

Then he turned away, delighted that he had thus left the
curse of Andvari with Hreidmar and his sons, and hastened
northward toward the sea; for he wished to redeem the
promise that he had made to the Ocean-queen, to bring back
her magic net, and to decoy the richly laden ship into her
clutches.

No sooner were the strange huntsmen well out of sight than
Fafnir and Regin began to ask their father to divide the