, her fears vanished and she smiled back at him.

"Whence come you?" asked the beautiful Giant-Maiden.

"I come from a long, long way off," replied the god, "and I am thirsty
after my journey. May I taste the mead that stands in yon vessels?"

Gunlod shook her head till her long golden locks fell in confusion
over her like a shower of laburnum blossom; but Odin set himself so
winningly to coax her that, after she had held out for some long time,
she told him at last that he might take one sip from each jar.

The words were hardly uttered ere Odin seized the first jar and in a
moment had drained it dry. Then he snatched up the second and the
third; and before Gunlod realised what had happened he had kissed her
again, and, passing rapidly through the hole, had flown forth into the
fresh air in the form of an eagle, and was bearing away the precious
mead in his mouth to Asgard.

Meanwhile, Baugi had gone back to the Giant Suttung with the tale of
how he had seen the mysterious serving-man change into a snake and
wriggle through a hole in the mountain; and Suttung at once guessed
that they had to deal with Odin himself. So he hurried to the hole and
sat there to watch for the return of the snake.

But he had to wait so long that at length he grew drowsy, and in
order to keep awake he was just pricking himself with the branch of a
neighbouring thorn-bush, when _birr! whizz!_ a great bird dashed out
of the hole and made off into the upper air.

This awoke Suttung effectually. He knew he had missed a good chance of
killing Odin, and that, in all probability, in the very act of
carrying off the Magic Mead to Asgard; but he would not give up all
hope, and next moment, in the form of another eagle, he was pursuing
his enemy in eager flight.

Now Odin was heavy with the mead he had drunk, and his head was dizzy,
so that he did not always fly along the straightest path. Little by
little Suttung gained on him therefore, till it became very uncertain
whether Odin could first reach the walls of Asgard.

The loud rush of fast-beating wings through the air attracted the
attention of the gods, and they crowded to the walls of Asgard to
watch the progress of the eagle, in whom they easily recognised Odin.

Some prepared great dishes in which to receive the Magic Mead from his
mouth; others, seeing that he might be caught by his pursuer before he
could reach the city, gathered a great pile of wood outside the walls,
and heaped i