Till he bring me Freya to share my bed.”
Thrym’s Quida (Herbert’s tr.).
Indignant at the giant’s presumption, Loki returned to Thrud-vang, where Thor, hearing what he had learned, declared it would be well to visit Freya and try to prevail upon her to sacrifice herself for the general good. But when the Æsir told the goddess of beauty what they wished her to do, she flew into such a passion that even her necklace burst. She told them that she would never leave her beloved husband for any god, and much less to marry an ugly old giant and dwell in Jötun-heim, where all was dreary in the extreme, and where she would soon die of longing for the green fields and flowery meadows, in which she loved to roam. Seeing that further persuasions would be useless, Loki and Thor returned home and there devised another plan for recovering the hammer. By Heimdall’s advice, Thor borrowed and reluctantly put on all Freya’s clothes and her necklace, and enveloped himself in a thick veil. Loki, having attired himself as a handmaiden, then mounted with him in the goat-drawn chariot, to ride to Jötun-heim, where they intended to play the respective parts of the goddess of beauty and of her attendant.
“Home were driven
Then the goats,
And hitched to the car;
Hasten they must—
The mountains crashed,
The earth stood in flames:
Odin’s son