sight of Thor's hammer, angrily brandished by an arm whose power he
knew full well, and he fled incontinently.

"Silence, thou impure being!
My mighty hammer, Mioellnir,
Shall stop thy prating.
I will thy head
From thy neck strike;
Then will thy life be ended."

AEgir's Compotation, or Loki's Altercation (Thorpe's tr.).

The Pursuit of Loki

Knowing that he could now have no hope of being admitted into Asgard
again, and that sooner or later the gods, seeing the effect of his
evil deeds, would regret having permitted him to roam the world, and
would try either to bind or slay him, Loki withdrew to the mountains,
where he built himself a hut, with four doors which he always left
wide open to permit of a hasty escape. Carefully laying his plans,
he decided that if the gods should come in search of him he would
rush down to the neighbouring cataract, according to tradition the
Fraananger force or stream, and, changing himself into a salmon,
would thus evade his pursuers. He reasoned, however, that although
he could easily avoid any hook, it might be difficult for him to
effect his escape if the gods should fashion a net like that of the
sea-goddess Ran.

Haunted by this fear, he decided to test the possibility of making
such a mesh, and started to make one out of twine. He was still
engaged upon the task when Odin, Kvasir, and Thor suddenly appeared
in the distance; and knowing that they had discovered his retreat,
Loki threw his half-finished net into the fire, and, rushing through
one of his ever-open doors, he leaped into the waterfall, where, in the
shape of a salmon, he hid among some stones in the bed of the stream.

The gods, finding the hut empty, were about to depart, when Kvasir
perceived the remains of the burnt net on the hearth. After some
thought an inspiration came to him, and he advised the gods to weave
a similar implement and use it in searching for their foe in the
neighbouring stream, since it would be like Loki to choose such a
method of baffling their pursuit. This advice seemed good and was
immediately followed, and, the net finished, the gods proceeded to
drag the stream. Loki eluded the net at its first cast by hiding
at the bottom of the river between two stones; and when the gods
weighted the mesh and tried a second time, he effected his escape by
jumping up stream. A third attempt to secure him proved successful,
however, for, as he once more tr