They made it out of the noise of a cat’s foot, the beard of a woman, the roots of stones, the breath of a fish and a few other things like that, but when Frey tried to break it he found that he was powerless even to stretch a tiny bit. What made it so strong, and in what manner the dwarfs made it no man ever knew.
Frey carried it back to Odin, and again Fenrir came in to be fed. He seemed afraid of the chain and would not let them put it on him unless he could hold Tyr’s hand in his mouth. Tyr agreed to this, and they tied Fenrir and bound him to a great tree. Fenrir roared and struggled and bit Tyr’s hand off in his efforts to get away. All in vain! The little chain held him. He was bound at last and could not get away.
All the gods set up a shout of joy, and Thor thrust his sword into the wolf man’s mouth. A mighty red river gushed forth and poured over the valley. It is a dark and turbid torrent that roars down the mountain like a great wolf in distress and pain; and it is running to this very day.
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
Part One
Brothers should not be envious of one another. Especially should older brothers be glad of special favor shown to their younger brothers and sisters.
Father Jacob had a big family—twelve boys! What a happy time they could have had together! Let us see why they did not. Ten of the brothers were grown men but Joseph was seventeen. There was only one younger than he. This one’s name was Benjamin. The old father loved Joseph very much, and gave him a beautiful coat of many colors. The older brothers did not love and obey their father as did Joseph, and when their father gave him the beautiful coat, they began to hate Joseph. Soon they hated him so much that they would not even speak kindly to him. The brothers were not having happy times together. Besides this, Joseph had dreamed that they were binding sheaves in a field, and that his sheaf arose and stood upright, and that the sheaves of all the others bowed down before his sheaf.
Joseph dreamed again that the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars had bowed down before him.
When he told those dreams to his brothers, they hated him still more, and said: “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou have dominion over us?”