A Primary Reader | Page 6

golden hair.
Thor was always going on long journeys. One day he went off and left Sif alone. She went out on the porch and fell asleep.
Loki came along. He was always playing tricks.
He saw Sif lying asleep. He said, "I am going to cut off her hair."
[Illustration]
So Loki went up on the porch and cut off Sif's golden hair.
* * * * *
where around crying answer found somebody
When Sif woke up and saw that her hair was gone, she cried and cried. Then she ran to hide. She did not want Thor to see her.
When Thor came home, he could not find Sif.
"Sif! Sif!" he called, "Where are you?"
But Sif did not answer.
Thor looked all around the house. At last he found her crying.
[Illustration: "OH THOR, ALL MY HAIR, IS GONE!"]
"Oh, Thor, look, all my hair is gone! Somebody has cut it off. It was a man. He ran away with it."
* * * * *
angry mischief right getting cutting something
Then Thor was very angry. He said, "I know it was Loki. He is always getting into mischief. Just wait until I get him!"
And Thor went out to find Loki. Pretty soon he found him.
Thor said, "Did you cut off Sif's hair?" Loki said, "Yes, I did."
"Then you must pay for cutting off my wife's hair," said Thor.
[Illustration: "DID YOU CUT OFF SIF'S HAIR?"]
"All right," said Loki, "I will get you something better than the hair."
* * * * *
ground thumb beads dwarfs crooked crown worked
Loki went down, down into the ground to the home of the dwarfs. It was very dark down there. The only light came from the dwarfs' fires.
The dwarfs were ugly little black men. They were not any bigger than your thumb. They had crooked backs and crooked legs. Their eyes looked like black beads.
[Illustration: LOKI AND THE DWARFS.]
Loki said, "Can you make me a gold crown that will grow like real hair?"
The dwarfs said, "Yes, we can." So the busy little dwarfs worked all night.
* * * * *
morning showed laughed spear wonderful three ship standing brother nobody stepped else
When morning came the dwarfs gave Loki his crown of golden hair. They gave him a spear and a ship, too.
[Illustration: THE DWARFS BRING TO LOKI THE SHIP, THE SPEAR AND THE CROWN OF HAIR.]
Loki took the things up to Asgard, where the gods all lived.
Then the gods all came up to him. He showed them the things.
The gods said, "They are very wonderful."
And Loki said, "Oh, nobody else can make such things as my little dwarfs."
A little dwarf, named Brok, was standing near by. He heard Loki say that. Then he stepped up and said, "My brother can make just as good things as these."
Loki laughed and said, "If you can get three things as wonderful as these, I will give you my head."
[Illustration: BROK TELLS LOKI THAT HIS BROTHER CAN MAKE BETTER GIFTS]
* * * * *
anywhere misses spear mark
Brok went down into the ground where his little dwarfs were working.
Brok's brother was named Sindre. He said to his brother, "Loki says that you can't make such nice things as his dwarfs can. He said that he would give me his head if I could get him such wonderful things as his."
This made the dwarfs angry. Their eyes grew big. They said, "He will see what we can do."
Sindre wanted to know what the wonderful things were.
Brok said, "Loki has a golden crown that will grow like real hair. A ship that can go anywhere. A spear that never misses the mark."
"We will show him," said the dwarfs.
* * * * * *
burning blow pigskin bellows blew blowing
The dwarfs soon had the fires burning. Then Sindre put a pigskin into the fire.
He gave the bellows to Brok and said, "Now blow as hard as you can."
Then Sindre went out. Brok blew and blew.
A little fly came in and bit him on the hand.
The fly bit him so hard that Brok thought he would have to stop blowing, but he did not.
Then Sindre came back. He took out a golden pig from the fire. * * * * *
stand lump ring
He next put a lump of gold into the fire.
He said to Brok, "Blow and blow and blow, and do not stop."
Then Sindre went out again.
So Brok blew as hard as he could.
Then the same fly came in and bit him again.
Brok thought that he could not stand it, but he kept on.
When Sindre came back, he took a gold ring from the fire.
* * * * *
hard forehead brush iron blood hammer handle spoiled mean
Then Sindre put a lump of iron into the fire.
He said to Brok, "Now blow as hard as you can."
And Sindre went out. Brok blew and blew. The same mean fly came again, and bit him on the forehead. It