Thor and His Hammer
Thor lived in a beautiful palace in the valley of the gods which lay between two mountains. Thor had a beautiful wife with long golden hair. She was called Sif.
One day when Sif was sitting in the sunshine with her long hair hanging down over her shoulders she fell asleep. Loke, the god of mischief, passed by and saw her. Now Loke liked to play tricks on Thor, and when he saw Sif asleep, he thought, “Thor loves Sif’s beautiful hair. He will be very angry if anything happens to it.” Then he stole up, cut off Sif’s hair, and carried it away with him.
When Sif awoke, she was very unhappy. She ran and hid herself. She did not want Thor to see her without her hair.
Soon Thor came. Sif was not there to meet him. The strong god’s heart was filled with fear. What was wrong with Sif? He ran quickly about the palace to look for her. He found her weeping bitterly. When he saw what had happened he was very angry. Fire, like lightning, flashed from his eyes. The floors of the palace trembled under his angry footsteps.
“This is the work of that rascal, Loke,” he cried. Then, like a thundercloud, he strode away from the palace.
He soon found Loke, and, no doubt, would have choked him had not Loke promised to give back Sif’s hair as beautiful as it had ever been.
Now Loke knew some skillful dwarfs who lived far underground. They made wonderful things of gold. He hurried away to find them.
When he came to their smithy, he asked, “Can you make me a crown of golden hair which will grow just as any natural hair grows?”
These dwarfs were very clever. Of course they could make such a crown. They set their fire ablaze and began pounding with their hammers. In a short time they had Loke’s treasure ready for him. But that was not all they gave him. Two other gifts were his. One was a magical spear; and the other a ship that was more wonderful than any other ship the dwarfs ever had made.