t the Forge there,' Puck pointed towards Hobden's
cottage. 'It was too early for any workmen, but it passed through my
mind that the breaking day was Thor's own day. A slow North-East wind
blew up and set the oaks sawing and fretting in a way I remembered; so I
slipped over to see what I could see.'

'And what did you see?'

'A smith forging something or other out of Cold Iron. When it was
finished, he weighed it in his hand (his back was towards me), and
tossed it from him a longish quoit-throw down the valley. I saw Cold
Iron flash in the sun, but I couldn't quite make out where it fell.
_That_ didn't trouble me. I knew it would be found sooner or later by
some one.'

'How did you know?' Dan went on.

'Because I knew the Smith that made it,' said Puck quietly.

'Wayland Smith?'[2] Una suggested.

[2] See 'Weland's Sword' in _Puck of Pook's Hill_.

'No. I should have passed the time o' day with Wayland Smith, of course.
This other was different. So'--Puck made a queer crescent in the air
with his finger--'I counted the blades of grass under my nose till the
wind dropped and he had gone--he and his Hammer.'

'Was it Thor then?' Una murmured under her breath.

'Who else? It was Thor's own day.' Puck repeated the sign. 'I didn't
tell Sir Huon or his Lady what I'd seen. Borrow trouble for yourself if
that's your nature, but don't lend it to your neighbours. Moreover, I
might have been mistaken about the Smith's work. He might have been
making things for mere amusement, though it wasn't like him, or he might
have thrown away an old piece of made iron. One can never be sure. So I
held my tongue and enjoyed the babe. He was a wonderful child--and the
People of the Hills were so set on him, they wouldn't have believed me.
He took to me wonderfully. As soon as he could walk he'd putter forth
with me all about my Hill here. Fern makes soft falling! He knew when
day broke on earth above, for he'd thump, thump, thump, like an old
buck-rabbit in a bury, and I'd hear him say "Opy!" till some one who
knew the Charm let him out, and then it would be "Robin! Robin!" all
round Robin Hood's barn, as we say, till he'd found me.'

'The dear!' said Una. 'I'd like to have seen him!'

'Yes, he was a boy. And when it came to learning his words--spells and
such like--he'd sit on the Hill in the long shadows, worrying out bits
of charms to try on passers-by. And when the bird flew to him, or the
tree bowed to him for pure love's sak