h with thee;
Draw near if thou canst;
Odin thou shalt see.

So Odin sang, and, in fear of his terrible gaze, Geirrod and his company
shrank away. And as they shrank away they were changed into beasts, into
the wolves that range the forests.

And Agnar came forward, and him Odin declared to be King. All the folk
were glad when Agnar came to rule over them, for they had been oppressed
by Geirrod in his cruel reign. And Agnar was not only kind, but he was
strong and victorious in his rule.

[Illustration]

ODIN WINS FOR MEN THE MAGIC MEAD

It was the Dwarfs who brewed the Magic Mead, and it was the Giants who
hid it away. But it was Odin who brought it from the place where it was
hidden and gave it to the sons of men. Those who drank of the Magic Mead
became very wise, and not only that but they could put their wisdom into
such beautiful words that every one who heard would love and remember
it.

The Dwarfs brewed the Magic Mead through cruelty and villainy. They made
it out of the blood of a man. The man was Kvasir the Poet. He had
wisdom, and he had such beautiful words with it, that what he said was
loved and remembered by all. The Dwarfs brought Kvasir down into their
caverns and they killed him there. "Now," they said, "we have Kvasir's
blood and Kvasir's wisdom. No one else will have his wisdom but us."
They poured the blood into three jars and they mixed it with honey, and
from it they brewed the Magic Mead.

Having killed a man the Dwarfs became more and more bold. They came out
of their caverns and went up and down through Midgard, the World of Men.
They went into Joetunheim, and began to play their evil tricks on the
most harmless of the Giants.

They came upon one Giant who was very simple. Gilling was his name. They
persuaded Gilling to row them out to sea in a boat. Then the two most
cunning of the Dwarfs, Galar and Fialar, steered the boat on to a rock.
The boat split. Gilling, who could not swim, was drowned. The Dwarfs
clambered up on pieces of the boat and came safely ashore. They were so
delighted with their evil tricks that they wanted to play some more of
them.

Galar and Fialar then thought of a new piece of mischief they might do.
They led their band of Dwarfs to Gilling's house and screamed out to his
wife that Gilling was dead. The Giant's wife began to weep and lament.
At last she rushed out of the house weeping and clapping her hands. Now
Galar and Fialar had clamber