a present for Odin and Frey, whose anger he wished to disarm.

His request was favourably received and the dwarf fashioned the spear
Gungnir, which never failed in its aim, and the ship Skidbladnir,
which, always wafted by favourable winds, could sail through the air
as well as on the water, and which had this further magic property,
that although it could contain the gods and all their steeds, it
could be folded up into the very smallest compass and thrust in
one's pocket. Lastly, he spun the finest golden thread, from which
he fashioned the hair required for Sif, declaring that as soon as it
touched her head it would grow fast there and become as her own.

"Though they now seem dead, let them touch but her head,
Each hair shall the life-moisture fill;
Nor shall malice nor spell henceforward prevail
Sif's tresses to work aught of ill."

The Dwarfs, Oehlenschlaeger (Pigott's tr.).

Loki was so pleased with these proofs of the dwarfs' skill that he
declared the son of Ivald to be the most clever of smiths--words which
were overheard by Brock, another dwarf, who exclaimed that he was sure
his brother Sindri could produce three objects which would surpass
those which Loki held, not only in intrinsic value, but also in magical
properties. Loki immediately challenged the dwarf to show his skill,
wagering his head against Brock's on the result of the undertaking.

Sindri, apprised of the wager, accepted Brock's offer to blow the
bellows, warning him, however, that he must work persistently and
not for a moment relax his efforts if he wished him to succeed; then
he threw some gold in the fire, and went out to bespeak the favour
of the hidden powers. During his absence Brock diligently plied the
bellows, while Loki, hoping to make him pause, changed himself into
a gadfly and cruelly stung his hand. In spite of the pain, the dwarf
kept on blowing, and when Sindri returned, he drew out of the fire
an enormous wild boar, called Gullin-bursti, because of its golden
bristles, which had the power of radiating light as it flitted across
the sky, for it could travel through the air with marvellous velocity.

"And now, strange to tell, from the roaring fire
Came the golden-haired Gullinboerst,
To serve as a charger the sun-god Frey,
Sure, of all wild boars this the first."

The Dwarfs, Oehlenschlaeger (Pigott's tr.).

This first piece of work successfully c