and to win
back his hammer."

But at this word Thor grew very angry. "What! dress me like a girl!" he
roared. "I should never hear the last of it! The Asir will mock me, and
call me 'maiden'! The giants, and even the puny dwarfs, will have a
lasting jest upon me! I will not go! I will fight! I will die, if need
be! But dressed as a woman I will not go!"

But Loki answered him with sharp words, for this was a scheme after his
own heart. "What, Thor!" he said. "Would you lose your hammer and keep
Asgard in danger for so small a whim. Look, now: if you go not, Thrym
with his giants will come in a mighty army and drive us from Asgard;
then he will indeed make Freia his bride, and, moreover, he will have
you for his slave under the power of his hammer. How like you this
picture, brother of the thunder? Nay, Heimdal's plan is a good one, and
I myself will help to carry it out."

Still Thor hesitated; but Freia came and laid her white hand on his arm,
and looked up into his scowling face pleadingly.

"To save me, Thor," she begged. And Thor said he would go.

Then there was great sport among the AEsir, while they dressed Thor like
a beautiful maiden. Brunhilde and her sisters, the nine Valkyrie,
daughters of Odin, had the task in hand. How they laughed as they
brushed and curled his yellow hair, and set upon it the wondrous
headdress of silk and pearls! They let out seams, and they let down
hems, and set on extra pieces, to make it larger, and so they hid his
great limbs and knotted arms under Freia's fairest robe of scarlet; but
beneath it all he would wear his shirt of mail and his belt of power
that gave him double strength. Freia herself twisted about his neck her
famous necklace of starry jewels, and Queen Frigg, his mother, hung at
his girdle a jingling bunch of keys, such as was the custom for the
bride to wear at Norse weddings. Last of all, that Thrym might not see
Thor's fierce eyes and the yellow beard, that ill became a maiden, they
threw over him a long veil of silver white which covered him to the
feet. And there he stood, as stately and tall a bride as even a giant
might wish to see; but on his hands he wore his iron gloves, and they
ached for but one thing--to grasp the handle of the stolen hammer.

"Ah, what a lovely maid it is!" chuckled Loki; "and how glad will Thrym
be to see this Freia come! Bride Thor, I will go with you as your
handmaiden, for I would fain see the fun."

"Come, then," said Thor