ied to get away by a sudden leap,
Thor caught him in mid-air and held him so fast, that he could not
escape. The salmon, whose slipperiness is proverbial in the North,
is noted for its remarkably slim tail, and Norsemen attribute this
to Thor's tight grasp upon his foe.

Loki's Punishment

Loki now sullenly resumed his wonted shape, and his captors dragged
him down into a cavern, where they made him fast, using as bonds the
entrails of his son Narve, who had been torn to pieces by Vali, his
brother, whom the gods had changed into a wolf for the purpose. One
of these fetters was passed under Loki's shoulders, and one under
his loins, thereby securing him firmly hand and foot; but the gods,
not feeling quite satisfied that the strips, tough and enduring though
they were, would not give way, changed them into adamant or iron.

"Thee, on a rock's point,
With the entrails of thy ice-cold son,
The gods will bind."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

Skadi, the giantess, a personification of the cold mountain stream,
who had joyfully watched the fettering of her foe (subterranean
fire), now fastened a serpent directly over his head, so that its
venom would fall, drop by drop, upon his upturned face. But Sigyn,
Loki's faithful wife, hurried with a cup to his side, and until the
day of Ragnarok she remained by him, catching the drops as they fell,
and never leaving her post except when her vessel was full, and she was
obliged to empty it. Only during her short absences could the drops
of venom fall upon Loki's face, and then they caused such intense
pain that he writhed with anguish, his efforts to get free shaking
the earth and producing the earthquakes which so frighten mortals.

"Ere they left him in his anguish,
O'er his treacherous brow, ungrateful,
Skadi hung a serpent hateful,
Venom drops for aye distilling,
Every nerve with torment filling;
Thus shall he in horror languish.
By him, still unwearied kneeling,
Sigyn at his tortured side,--
Faithful wife! with beaker stealing
Drops of venom as they fall,--
Agonising poison all!
Sleepless, changeless, ever dealing
Comfort, will she still abide;
Only when the cup's o'erflowing
Must fresh pain and smarting cause,
Swift, to void the beaker going,
Shall she in her watching pause.
Then doth Loki
Loudly cry;
Shrieks of terror,