“We will attend to that,” said Thor. “Eat what you will, and all you can. I only ask that, when the feast is finished, you promise to place all the bones together there before the door upon the goat skins. See to it that no bone is forgotten; and that not one—even the smallest—be lost or broken.”
The peasants promised; the meat was eaten, and in due time the household went to bed and to sleep.
Morning came; and with the first flush of light Thor arose, and, with his magic hammer, sat down beside the heap of bones, that lay upon the goat skins before the door.
“Kling! Kling! Kling!” sounded the hammer, striking in turn each little bone; then the two goats leaped forth, as white and plump and round as ever, and as ready to spin across the waters with the golden chariot of their master.
But alas, one goat was lame. He held up one tiny foot and moaned. “Some one of you,” roared Thor, “has broken a bone. Did I not command that you be careful, and see that every bone should be placed, uninjured, upon the goat skins?”
The peasants shook with fear. They knew now who this strange guest might be. “It is Thor!” they whispered to each other. “And that is the mighty hammer whose aim never fails, and whose force is death to all upon whom it falls!”
“O thou great god Thor,” cried the peasants, “spare us! Indeed had we known, not one bone would we have taken in our unhappy fingers; and all night long would we have watched beside the goat skins that no harm should come to them. Spare us, O spare us, great Thor! Take all we have—our house, our cattle, our children, everything—only spare our lives to us!”
Thor seized his hammer in his hand. His great knuckles grew white, so strong was his giant hold upon the handle. The peasants sank upon their knees. Their faces dropped and their eyes closed. Shaking with terror, they awaited the falling of the hammer.
“Up, up, ye peasants,” thundered Thor. “This offense I forgive. Your lives too, shall be spared you; but I will carry away with me these children of yours,—Thjalfe and Roskva; and they shall serve me in my journeys across the lands and over the seas.”
“The goats I leave with you; and I charge you, by your lives see that no harm comes to them in any way. Come Thjalfe, come Roskva, place yourselves before the chariot, and bear me quickly across the seas.”