and drove furiously up the mountain gorgeș right in the faces of the heroes.

But Odin stepped forth unruffled, and câlled out to the spirits of the wind to cease, and tell in what manner the heroes had offended them.

The winds laughed, but after a few low titterings sank into silence, and each sound grew into a shāpe; one by one the loose-limbed uncertain forms stepped fōrth from caves, from gorges, dropped from tree tops, or rose out of the grass, each gust a separate Van.

Then Niord their leader stood forwârd, and said, "We know mighty Odin, ÿoû are lord of the whōle earth. Wē, too, are lords, lords of the sea and thē air, and we thought to have had sport in fighting; but if that be not your pleaŝure let us shake hands." And he held out along, cold hand, like a wind bag. Odin grasped it heärtily, and sō did they âll, for they liked the good nātūred, gusty chief, whom they begged to live thenceforth with them.

To this Niord consented, whistled good bye to his kinfōlk, and strōde along cheerfully westward, with his new friends When they came to a lofty mountain câlled Meeting Hill, and sat in a cîrcle, Niord pointed out the snowy region of Gianthōme, where lived the giant who escaped drowning in his father's blood, and where he built cities and brought up his hideous children.

This is terrible news," said Frigga, "for the giants will come out again and waste the earth.”

"Not sō," said Odin, "not sō; we will build a city

upon this very hill, and keep guärd over the poor earth with its weak men and women, and thence we will make wâr upon Gianthōme."

'That is well, Fäṭher Odin, cried Thor, laughing amidst his red beard. Tyr shouted and Vidär smiled, and âll set to work with their whole strength to build a glorious city on the summit of the mountain. They worked for years, and never wearied. Even Frigga and her ladies brought stones in their märble wheel-barrows, and wâter in golden buckets, and mixed the mortar with their delicate hands on silver plātes. And so the city roșe, height above height, till it crowned the hill.

At a giddy height in the center rose Odin's seat, Air Throne, whence he could see the whole Earth. On one side of it stood the Palace of Friends, where Frigga was to live; on the other Gladhōme, a palace roofed with golden shields, whoṣe great hâll Valhalla had a ceiling of spears, benches spread with coats of mail, and five hundred and forty entrances through which eight hundred men might ride abreast. There ŵaş âlsō a lärge iron smithy, to fōrge ärmṣ and shāpe ärmor. Their new hōme was câlled ASGARD, that iş, the home of the Gods.

27.-FREY AND THE LIGHT ELVES.

In the morning Odin mounted Air Thrōne and looked over the whole earth, whilst âll stood round waiting to hear what he thought about it.

"The earth is very beautifül," said Odin, “very

beautiful in every pärt, even to the shores of the därk North Sea; but the men, alas! are fearful. Even now I see a three-headed giant strīding out of Gianthōme; he throws a shepherd-boy into the sea and puts the whōle flock into his pocket; hē tākes them out again one by one, and cracks their bōneş as if they were hazel-nuts, whilst the men all the time look on and do nothing."

"Father," cried Thor in a rage, "I will gō alōne to Gianthōme with the belt and glove and hammer I forged last night." And Thor went.

Then said Odin again, "The men of the earth are idle and stupid. There are dwârfs and elves who live among them and play tricks they do not know how to prevent. I see a husbandman sowing wheat in the furrows while a dwârf runs after him and changes them into stōnes. Two hideous little beings, again, hold the head of a strange man under wâter till hē dies; they mix his blood with honey; they put it into a jär and give it to a giant to keep for them.”

Then Odin was very angry with the dŵârfs, for hẽ saw they were bent on mischief; so he câlled to Hermod, his Flying Word, and sent him to the dwarfs and light elves, to say, with Odin's compliments, that he would be glad to speak with them, in his palace of Gladhōme, upon a matter of some importance.

When the dwârfs and light elves received this summons they were very much surprised, not knowing whether to feel honored or afraid; but they put on

their pertest manners and went clustering after Hermod like a swârm of lady-bîrds.

Upon their arrival Odin came down from his throne and sat with the rest of the Lords in the Judgment Hâll. Hermod flew in and having saluted Odin, pointed to the dwârfs and elves hanging like a cloud in the doorway, to show that he had fültlled hiş mission. Then Odin beckoned the little people to come forward. Cowering and whispering they peeped over one another's shoulders; now ran a little way into the hâll, then back again, hälf curious, hälf afraid; and it was not until Odin had beckoned three times that they finally reached his footstool. Then Odin spōke to them in cälm, lōw, sērious tōneṣ about the badness of mischievous ways. The very worst only laughed in a forward härdened manner; but many looked up surprised and a little pleased at the novelty of serious words; the light elves âll wept, for they were tender-heärted little things. At length Odin spōke by name to the two dwârfs whom hē had seen drowning the strange man. "Whose blood was it that yoû mixed with honey and püt into the jär?"

Oh," cried the two dwârfs, jumping up into the air and clapping their hands, "that was Kvāṣîr'ṣ blood, don't you know who Kvaşîr was? He sprang up out of the peace made between the Lords of the sea and air and yourselves, and has been wândering about these seven years or more, and sō wiṣe he was that men thought hẽ must bẽ a god,

Well, we found him lying in a meadow drowned in his own wisdom, sō wē mixed his blood with honey and gave it to giant Suttung to keep; was not that well done, Odin?"

"Well done?" answered Odin, "well done? ÿoû cowardly crûël dwârfs! I myself saw yoû kill him. For shame, for shame!" And then Odin passed sentence upon them all. Those who had been mōst wicked were to live thenceforth a long way underground, and spend their time in throwing füël upon the great central fire of the earth; thōṣe who had ōnly been mischievous were to work in the gōld and diamond mines, fashioning precious stones and metals. All might come up at night, but must vanish at dawn. Then Odin waved his hand, and the dwarfs, chattering shrilly, turned round and scampered down the palace steps and out of the city, over the green fields, to their deep-buried hōmes in the earth.

But the light elves still lingered with upturned, tearful, smiling faces, like morning dew in the sunshine. “And ÿoû,” said Odin, lọọking them through and through with his serious eỹeş, “and ÿoû

"Oh! indeed, Odin," interrupted they, speaking âll together in quick, uncertain tones, "Oh! indeed Odin, we are not very wicked; we have never done anybody any härm.”

"Have you ever done anybody any good?" asked Odin.

"Oh no, indeed, we have never done any thing at âll."