ons who work in the
smithies without. I have a third son also. It is he who does the fishing
for us. And who may ye be, O wayfaring men?"

Loki and Odin gave names to Hreidmar that were not the names by which
they were known in Asgard or on Midgard. Hreidmar served fish to them
and they ate. "And what adventures have ye met upon your travels?"
Hreidmar asked. "Few folk come this way to tell me of happenings."

"I killed an otter with a cast of a stone," Loki said with a laugh.

"You killed an otter!" Hreidmar cried. "Where did you kill one?"

"Where I killed him is of no import to you, old man," said Loki. "His
skin is a good one, however. I have it at my belt."

Hreidmar snatched the skin out of Loki's belt. As soon as he held the
skin before his eyes he shrieked out, "Fafnir, Regin, my sons, come here
and bring the thralls of your smithies. Come, come, come!"

"Why dost thou make such an outcry, old man?" said Odin.

"Ye have slain my son Otter," shrieked the old man. "This in my hands is
the skin of my son."

As Hreidmar said this two young men bearing the forehammers of the
smithies came in followed by the thralls. "Strike these men dead with
your forehammers, O Fafnir, O Regin," their father cried. "Otter, who
used to stay in the river, and whom I changed by enchantment into a
river beast that he might fish for me, has been slain by these men."

"Peace," said Odin. "We have slain thy son, it would seem, but it was
unwittingly that we did the deed. We will give a recompense for the
death of thy son."

"What recompense will ye give?" said Hreidmar, looking at Odin with eyes
that were small and sharp.

Then did Odin, the Eldest of the Gods, say a word that was unworthy of
his wisdom and his power. He might have said, "I will bring thee a
draught of Mimir's well water as a recompense for thy son's death." But
instead of thinking of wisdom, Odin All-Father thought of gold. "Set a
price on the life of thy son and we will pay that price in gold," he
said.

"Maybe ye are great kings traveling through the world," Hreidmar said.
"If ye are ye will have to find gold that will cover every hair upon the
skin of him whom ye have killed."

Then did Odin, his mind being fixed upon the gold, think upon a certain
treasure, a treasure that was guarded by a Dwarf. No other treasure in
the nine worlds would be great enough to make the recompense that
Hreidmar claimed. He thought upon this treasure and he thought on how i