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The Hammer of Thor · Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five of Esgarth's stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All liber Fox recordings are in the public domain. For
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  Speaker 1: more information or to volunteer, please visit libervox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Read by Juliu Esgard's Stories by Mary H. Foster and
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  Speaker 1: Mabel H. Cummings. The Hammer of Thor. Seth was the
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  Speaker 1: wife of Mighty Thor, the thunder god, and she was
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  Speaker 1: very proud of her beautiful golden hair, which she combed
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  Speaker 1: and braided with great care. One morning, when she awoke,
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  Speaker 1: she was filled with grief and dismay to find that
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  Speaker 1: her lovely hair had been cut off in the night
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  Speaker 1: while she slept. Her husband happened to be away that day,
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  Speaker 1: but when he came home late at night, Seth was
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  Speaker 1: careful to keep out of his sight. She felt so
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  Speaker 1: ashamed of her shord head. Thor, however, soon called for Sif,
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  Speaker 1: and when he saw what had been done to her,
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  Speaker 1: he was very angry. Now Thor had a great temper.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone feared his fierce anger. Who could have done this
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  Speaker 1: wicked deed? Thought he? There is only one man or
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  Speaker 1: the Asia who would think of doing such a thing.
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  Speaker 1: Thor lost no time in finding Loki and that mischief.
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  Speaker 1: God had to admit that he was the guilty one.
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  Speaker 1: But he begged Thor to give him just a few days,
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  Speaker 1: and he promised to get something for Thief that would
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  Speaker 1: make her look more beautiful than ever. So Thor decided
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  Speaker 1: to give him a chance to try, and commanded him
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  Speaker 1: to give back to see if her golden hair. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Loki knew a place where some wonderful workman lived, so
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  Speaker 1: he went off as fast as he could to Niflheim,
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  Speaker 1: the home of the dwarfs under the earth, and asked
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  Speaker 1: one of them to make quickly some golden hair for
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  Speaker 1: safe Besides this, he asked for two gifts to carry
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  Speaker 1: to the gods older than fry, so that they might
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  Speaker 1: be on his side if thoughts should bring this complaint
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  Speaker 1: before the airshaft. Loki did not have to wait long
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  Speaker 1: before the dwarf brought him a quantity of beautiful hair
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  Speaker 1: sprung from the finest golden thread. It had the wonderful
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  Speaker 1: power of growing just like real hair as soon as
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  Speaker 1: it touched anyone's head. Besides this, there was a spear
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  Speaker 1: for olden, which never missed its aim no matter how
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  Speaker 1: far it was thrown, and for fry a ship that
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  Speaker 1: could sail through the air as well as the sea.
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  Speaker 1: Although it was large enough to hold all the gods
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  Speaker 1: and the horses, yet it could be folded, so it
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  Speaker 1: was small enough to put in one's pocket. Loki was
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  Speaker 1: greatly pleased with this wonderful presence and declared that this
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  Speaker 1: dwarf must be the most skillful workmen of them all.
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  Speaker 1: Now it happened that another dwarf named Brock, heard him
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  Speaker 1: say this, and he told Loki that he was sure
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  Speaker 1: he and his brother could make more wonderful things than these.
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  Speaker 1: Loki did not believe that could be done, but he
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  Speaker 1: told Brok to try his skill. The Asia should judge
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  Speaker 1: between them, and the one who should fail in the
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  Speaker 1: trial must lose his head. Then Brok called his brother Sindri,
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  Speaker 1: and they set to work at once. They first built
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  Speaker 1: a great fire, and sindriy threw into it a lum
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  Speaker 1: of gold. Then he told Brok to blow the bellows
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  Speaker 1: while he went out, and be sure not to stop
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  Speaker 1: blowing until he should come back. Brok thought this uneasy task,
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  Speaker 1: but his brother had not long been gone when a
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  Speaker 1: huge fly came in and burst about his face and
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  Speaker 1: bordered him so that he could hardly keep on blowing. Still,
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  Speaker 1: he was able to finish his work so that when
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  Speaker 1: Sindri came back, they took out of the fire an
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  Speaker 1: enormous wild boar, which gave a light and could travel
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  Speaker 1: through the air with wonderful speed. On the second day,
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  Speaker 1: Sinjy threw another lum of gold into the fire and
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  Speaker 1: left his brother to blow the bellows again. The buzzing
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  Speaker 1: stinging fly came and was even more troublesome than before,
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  Speaker 1: but Brok tried very hard to be patient and was
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  Speaker 1: able to bear it without stopping his work until Sindri returned.
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  Speaker 1: Then they took from the fire a magic ring of gold,
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  Speaker 1: from which eight new rains fell off every week. The
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  Speaker 1: third day, a lump of iron was put into the fire,
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  Speaker 1: and Brok was again left alone. In came the cruel fly.
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  Speaker 1: Have you guessed that it was really that mischief maker Loki.
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  Speaker 1: He beat the poor little dwarf so hard on the
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  Speaker 1: forehead that the blood ran down into his eyes and
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  Speaker 1: blinded him so that he could no longer see to
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  Speaker 1: do his work. Poor Brok had to stop just before
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  Speaker 1: Sindri came home, but not before the hammer which they
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  Speaker 1: were making in the fire was nearly finished, only the
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  Speaker 1: handle came out rather too short. This magic hammer was
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  Speaker 1: named Miana. It had the power of never missing its mark,
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  Speaker 1: and would always return to the hand which threw it.
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  Speaker 1: When Thouki appeared at last before the Asher with the
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  Speaker 1: two dwarf brothers and the gifts, it was declared that
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  Speaker 1: they had made the finest things, for the hammer, which
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  Speaker 1: was given to Thor, would surely be most useful in
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  Speaker 1: keeping the giants out of Asgard. When Loki found that
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  Speaker 1: the judgment was against him, he started to run away,
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  Speaker 1: but Thor soon made him turn back by threatening to
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  Speaker 1: throw his hammer after him. Then Loki had to collect
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  Speaker 1: his wits and think of some way to escape loosing
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  Speaker 1: his head instead of making the Dwarfs pay the forefeit
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  Speaker 1: as he had expected. At last he told Brock and
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  Speaker 1: Scendery that they could have his head according to the agreement,
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  Speaker 1: but as nothing had been said about his neck, they
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  Speaker 1: could not of course touch that. Thus the while in Loki,
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  Speaker 1: by his wit, saved his life. End of Chapter five