Hero Tales

by James Baldwin

  THE HOARD OF THE ELVES

  REGIN'S STORY[1]

  When the earth was still very young, and men were feeble and few, andthe Dwarfs were many and strong, the Asa-folk were wont oft-times toleave their halls in heaven-towering Asgard in order to visit thenew-formed mid-world, and to see what the short-lived sons of men weredoing. Sometimes they came in their own god-like splendor and might;sometimes they came disguised as feeble men folk, with all man'sweaknesses and all his passions. Sometimes Odin, as a beggar, wanderedfrom one country to another, craving charity; sometimes, as a warriorclad in coat of mail, he rode forth to battle for the cause of right;or as a minstrel he sang from door to door, and played sweet music inthe halls of the great; or as a huntsman he dashed through brakes andfens, and into dark forests, and climbed steep mountains in search ofgame; or as a sailor he embarked upon the sea, and sought new scenes inunknown lands. And many times did men folk entertain him unawares.

  Once on a time he came to the mid-world in company with Hoenir andLoki; and the three wandered through many lands and in many climes,each giving gifts wherever they went. Odin gave knowledge andstrength, and taught men how to read the mystic runes; Hoenir gavegladness and good cheer, and lightened many hearts with the glow of hiscomforting presence; but Loki had naught to give but cunning deceit andbase thoughts, and he left behind him bitter strife and many achingbreasts.

  At last, growing tired of the fellowship of men, the three Asas soughtthe solitude of the forest, and as huntsmen wandered long among thehills and over the wooded heights of Hunaland. Late one afternoon theycame to a mountain stream at a place where it poured over a ledge ofrocks and fell in clouds of spray into a rocky gorge below. As theystood, and with pleased eyes gazed upon the waterfall, they saw nearthe bank an otter lazily making ready to eat a salmon which he hadcaught. Then Loki, ever bent on doing mischief, hurled a stone at theharmless beast, and killed it. And he boasted loudly that he had donea worthy deed. He took both the otter and the fish which it hadcaught, and carried them with him as trophies of the day's success.

  Just at nightfall the three huntsmen came to a lone farmhouse in thevalley, and asked for food, and for shelter during the night.

  "Shelter you shall have," said the farmer, whose name was Hreidmar,"for the rising clouds foretell a storm. But food I have none to giveyou. Surely huntsmen of skill should not want for food, since theforest teems with game, and the streams are full of fish."

  Then Loki threw upon the ground the otter and the fish, and said, "Wehave sought in both forest and stream, and we have taken from them atone blow both flesh and fish. Give us but the shelter you promise, andwe will not trouble you for food."

  The farmer gazed with horror upon the lifeless body of the otter andcried out, "This creature which you mistook for an otter, and which youhave robbed and killed, is my son, Oddar, who for mere pastime hadtaken the form of the furry beast. You are but thieves and murderers!"

  Then he called loudly for help: and his two sons, Fafnir and Regin,sturdy and valiant kin of the dwarf-folk, rushed in, and seized uponthe huntsmen, and bound them hand and foot; for the three Asas, havingtaken upon themselves the forms of men, had no more than humanstrength, and were unable to withstand them.

  Then Odin and his fellows bemoaned their ill fate. And Loki said,"Wherefore did we foolishly take upon ourselves the likenesses of punymen? Had I my own power once more, I would never part with it inexchange for man's weaknesses."

  And Hoenir sighed, and said, "Now, indeed, will darkness win: and thefrosty breath of the Northern giants will blast the fair handiwork ofthe sunlight and the heat; for the givers of life and light and warmthare helpless prisoners in the hands of these cunning and unforgivingjailers."

  "Surely," said Odin, "not even the highest are free from obedience toheaven's behests and the laws of right. I, whom men call the Preserverof Life, have debased myself by being found in evil company; and,although I have done no other wrong, I suffer rightly for the doings ofthis mischief-maker with whom I have stooped to have fellowship. Forall are known, not so much by what they are as by what they seem to be,and they bear the bad name which their comrades bear. Now I am fallenfrom my high estate. Eternal right is higher than I."

  Then the Asas asked Hreidmar, their jailer, what ransom they should payfor their freedom; and he, not knowing who they were, said, "I mustfirst know what ransom you are able to give."

  "We will give you anything you may ask," hastily answered Loki.

  Hreidmar then called his sons, and bade them strip the skin from theotter's body. When this was done, they brought the furry hide andspread it upon the ground; and Hreidmar said, "Bring shining gold andprecious stones enough to cover every part of this otter skin. Whenyou have paid so much ransom, you shall have your freedom."

  "That we will do," answered Odin. "But one of us must have leave to goand fetch it: the other two will stay fast bound until the morningdawns. If, by that time, the gold is not here, you may do with us asyou please."

  Hreidmar and the two young men agreed to Odin's offer; and, lots beingcast, it fell to Loki to go and fetch the treasure. When he had beenloosed from the cords which bound him, Loki donned his magic shoes,which had carried him over land and sea from the farthest bounds of themid-world, and hastened away upon his errand. And he sped with theswiftness of light, over the hills and the wooded slopes, and the deepdark valleys, and the fields and forests and sleeping hamlets, until hecame to the place where dwelt the swarthy elves and the cunning dwarfAndvari. There the River Rhine, no larger than a meadow brook, breaksforth from beneath a mountain of ice, which the Frost giants and theWinter-king had built long years before; for they had vainly hoped thatthey might imprison the river at its fountain head. But the baby brookhad eaten its way beneath the frozen mass, and had sprung out from itsprison, and gone on, leaping and smiling, and kissing the sunlight, inits ever-widening course toward the distant sea.

  Loki came to this place, because he knew that here was the home of theelves who had laid up the greatest hoard of treasures ever known in themid-world. He scanned with careful eyes the mountain side, and thedeep, rocky caverns, and the dark gorge through which the little riverrushed; but in the dim moonlight not a living being could he see, savea lazy salmon swimming in the quieter eddies of the stream. Anyone butLoki would have lost all hope of finding treasure there, at leastbefore the dawn of day; but his wits were quick and his eyes were verysharp.

  "One salmon has brought us into this trouble, and another shall help usout of it!" he cried.

  Then, swift as thought, he sprang again into the air; and the magicshoes carried him with greater speed than before down the Rhine valley,and through Burgundyland and the low meadows, until he came to theshores of the great North Sea. He sought the halls of old Aegir, theOcean-king; but he wist not which way to go--whether across the NorthSea towards Isenland, or whether along the narrow channel betweenBritain land and the main. While he paused, uncertain where to turn,he saw the pale-haired daughters of old Aegir, the white-veiled Waves,playing in the moonlight near the shore. Of them he asked the way toAegir's hall.

  "Seven days' journey westward," said they, "beyond the green Isle ofErin, is our father's hall. Seven days' journey northward, on thebleak Norwegian shore, is our father's hall. Seek it not."

  And they stopped not once in their play, but rippled and danced on theshelving beach, or dashed with force against the shore.

  "Where is your mother, Ran, the Queen of the Ocean?" asked Loki.

  And they answered:

  "In the deep sea-caves By the sounding shore, In the dashing waves When the wild storms roar, In her cold green bowers In the northern fiords, She lurks and she glowers, She grasps and she hoards, And she spreads her strong net for her prey."

  Loki waited to hear no more; but he sprang into the air, and the magicshoes carried him onwards over the water In search of the Ocean-queen.He had not gone far when his sharp eyes espied
her, lurking near arocky shore against which the breakers dashed with frightful fury.Half hidden in the deep dark water, she lay waiting and watching; andshe spread her cunning net upon the waves, and reached out with herlong greedy fingers to seize whatever booty might come near her.

  When the wary queen saw Loki, she hastily drew in her net, and tried tohide herself in the shadows of an overhanging rock. But Loki calledher by name, and said:

  "Sister Ran, fear not! I am your friend Loki, whom once you served asa guest in Aegir's gold-lit halls."

  Then the Ocean-queen came out into the bright moonlight, and welcomedLoki to her domain, and asked, "Why does Loki thus wander so far overthe trackless waters?"

  And Loki answered, "I have heard of the net which you spread upon thewaves, and from which no creature once caught in its meshes can everescape. I have found a salmon where the Rhine spring gushes frombeneath the mountains, and a very cunning salmon he is, for no commonskill can catch him. Come, I pray, with your wondrous net, and cast itinto the stream where he lies. Do but take the wary fish for me, andyou shall have more gold than you have taken in a year from the wrecksof stranded vessels."

  "I dare not go," cried Ran. "A bound is set, beyond which I may notventure. If all the gold of earth were offered me, I could not go."

  "Then lend me your net," entreated Loki. "Lend me your net, and I willbring it back tomorrow filled with gold."

  "Much I would like your gold," answered Ran; "but I cannot lend my net.Should I do so, I might lose the richest prize that has ever come intomy husband's kingdom. For three days, now, a gold-rigged ship, bearinga princely crew with rich armor and abundant wealth, has been sailingcarelessly over these seas. Tomorrow I shall send my daughters and thebewitching mermaids to decoy the vessel among the rocks. And into mynet the ship, and the brave warriors, and all their armor and gold,shall fall. A rich prize it will be. No: I cannot part with my net,even for a single hour."

  But Loki knew the power of flattering words.

  "Beautiful queen," said he, "there is no one on earth, nor even inAsgard, who can equal you in wisdom and foresight. Yet I promise youthat, if you will but lend me your net until the morning dawns, theship and the crew of which you speak shall be yours, and all theirgolden treasures shall deck your azure halls in the deep sea."

  Then Ran carefully folded the net, and gave it to Loki.

  "Remember your promise," was all that she said.

  "An Asa never forgets," he answered.

  And he turned his face again towards Rhineland; and the magic shoesbore him aloft and carried him in a moment back to the ice mountain andthe gorge and the infant river, which he had so lately left. Thesalmon still rested in his place, and had not moved during Loki's shortabsence.

  Loki unfolded the net, and cast it into the stream. The cunning fishtried hard to avoid being caught in its meshes; but, dart which way hewould, he met the skilfully woven cords, and these drew themselvesaround him, and held him fast. Then Loki pulled the net up out of thewater, and grasped the helpless fish in his right hand. But, lo! as heheld the struggling creature high in the air, it was no longer a fish,but the cunning dwarf Andvari.

  "Thou King of the Elves," cried Loki, "thy cunning has not saved thee.Tell me, on thy life, where thy hidden treasures lie!"

  The wise dwarf knew who it was that thus held him as in a vise; and heanswered frankly, for it was his only hope of escape, "Turn over thestone upon which you stand. Beneath it you will find the treasure youseek."

  Then Loki put his shoulder to the rock, and pushed with all his might.But it seemed as firm as the mountain, and would not be moved.

  "Help us, thou cunning dwarf," he cried--"help us, and thou shalt havethy life!"

  The dwarf put his shoulder to the rock, and it turned over as if bymagic, and underneath was disclosed a wondrous chamber, whose wallsshone brighter than the sun, and on whose floor lay treasures of goldand glittering gem stones such as no man had ever seen. And Loki, ingreat haste, seized upon the hoard, and placed it in the magic netwhich he had borrowed from the Ocean-queen. Then he came out of thechamber; and Andvari again put his shoulder to the rock which lay atthe entrance, and it swung back noiselessly to its place.

  "What is that upon thy finger?" suddenly cried Loki. "Wouldst keepback a part of the treasure? Give me the ring thou hast!"

  But the dwarf shook his head, and made answer, "I have given thee allthe riches that the elves of the mountain have gathered since the worldbegan. This ring I cannot give thee, for without its help we shallnever be able to gather more treasures together."

  Loki grew very angry at these words of the dwarf; and he seized thering, and tore it by force from Andvari's finger. It was a wondrouslittle piece of mechanism shaped like a serpent, coiled, with its tailin its mouth; and its scaly sides glittered with many a tiny diamond,and its ruby eyes shone with an evil light. When the dwarf knew thatLoki really meant to rob him of the ring, he cursed it and all whoshould ever possess it, saying:

  "May the ill-gotten treasure that you have seized to-night be yourbane, and the bane of all to whom it may come, whether by fair means orby foul! And the ring which you have torn from my hand, may it entailupon the one who wears it sorrow and untold ills, the loss of friends,and a violent death!"

  Loki was pleased with these words, and with the dark curses which thedwarf pronounced upon the gold; for he loved wrong-doing forwrong-doing's sake, and he knew that no curses could ever make his ownlife more cheerless than it always had been. So he thanked Andvari forhis curses and his treasures; then, throwing the magic net upon hisshoulder, he sprang again into the air, and was carried swiftly back toHunaland; and, just before the dawn appeared in the east, he alightedat the door of the farmhouse where Odin and Hoenir still lay bound withthongs, and guarded by the watchful Fafnir and Regin.

  Then the farmer, Hreidmar, brought the otter's skin, and spread it uponthe ground; and, lo! it grew, and spread out on all sides, until itcovered an acre of ground. And he cried out, "Fulfil now your promise!Cover every hair of this hide with gold or with precious stones. Ifyou fail to do this, then your lives, by your own agreement, areforfeited, and we shall do with you as we list."

  Odin took the magic net from Loki's shoulder; and, opening it, hepoured the treasures of the mountain elves upon the otter skin. AndLoki and Hoenir spread the yellow pieces carefully and evenly overevery part of the furry hide. But, after every piece had been laid inits place, Hreidmar saw near the otter's mouth a single hair uncovered;and he declared, that unless this hair, too, were covered, the bargainwould be unfulfilled, and the treasures and lives of his prisonerswould be forfeited.

  The Asas were filled with dismay; for not another piece of gold, andnot another precious stone, could they find in the net, although theysearched with the greatest care. At last Odin took from his bosom thering which Loki had stolen from the dwarf; for he had been so highlypleased with its form and workmanship, that he had hidden it, hopingthat it would not be needed to complete the payment of the ransom. Andthey laid the ring upon the uncovered hair; and now no portion of theotter's skin could be seen. And Fafnir and Regin, the ransom beingpaid, loosed the shackles of Odin and Hoenir, and bade the threehuntsmen go on their way.

  Odin and Hoenir at once shook off their human disguises, and, takingtheir own forms again, hastened with all speed home to Asgard. ButLoki tarried a little while, and said to Hreidmar and his sons:

  "By your greediness and falsehood you have won for yourselves the Curseof the Earth, which lies before you. It shall be your bane. It shallbe the bane of everyone who holds it. It shall kindle strife betweenfather and son, between brother and brother. It shall make you mean,selfish, beastly. It shall transform you into monsters. The noblestking among men folk shall feel its curse. Such is gold, and such itshall ever be to its worshippers. And the ring which you have gottenshall impart to its possessor its own nature. Grasping, snaky, cold,unfeeling, shall he live; and death through treachery shall be
hisdoom."

  Then he turned away, delighted that he had thus left the curse ofAndvari with Hreidmar and his sons, and hastened northward toward thesea; for he wished to redeem the promise that he had made to theOcean-queen, to bring back her magic net, and to decoy the richly ladenship into her clutches.

  No sooner were the strange huntsmen well out of sight than Fafnir andRegin began to ask their father to divide the glittering hoard withthem.

  "By our strength and through our advice," said they, "this great storehas come into your hands. Let us place it in three equal heaps, andthen let each take his share and go his way."

  At this the farmer waxed very angry; and he loudly declared that hewould keep all the treasure for himself, and that his sons should nothave any portion of it whatever. So Fafnir and Regin, nursing theirdisappointment, went to the fields to watch their sheep; but theirfather sat down to guard his new-gotten treasure. He took in his handthe glittering serpent ring, and gazed into its cold ruby eyes; and, ashe gazed, all his thoughts were fixed upon his gold; and there was noroom in his heart for love toward his fellows, nor for deeds ofkindness, nor for the worship of the All-Father. And behold, as hecontinued to look at the snaky ring, a dreadful change came over him.The warm red blood, which until that time had leaped through his veins,and given him life and strength and human feelings, became purple andcold and sluggish; and selfishness, like serpent's poison, took hold ofhis heart. Then, as he kept on gazing at the hoard which lay beforehim, he began to lose his human shape; his body lengthened into manyscaly folds, and he coiled himself around his loved treasures,--thevery likeness of the ring upon which he had looked so long.

  When the day drew near its close, Fafnir came back from the fields withhis herd of sheep, and thought to find his father guarding thetreasure, as he had left him in the morning; but instead he saw aglittering snake, fast asleep, encircling the hoard like a huge scalyring of gold. His first thought was that the monster had devoured hisfather; and, hastily drawing his sword, with one blow he severed theserpent's head from its body. And, while yet the creature writhed inthe death agony, he gathered up the hoard, and fled with it beyond thehills of Hunaland, until on the seventh day he came to a barren heathfar from the homes or men. There he placed the treasures in oneglittering heap; and he clothed himself in a wondrous mail-coat of goldthat was found among them, and he put on the Helmet of Dread, which hadonce been the terror of the mid-world, and the like of which no man hadever seen; and then he gazed with greedy eyes upon the fateful ring,until he, too, was changed into a cold and slimy reptile,--a monsterdragon. He coiled himself about the hoard; and, with his restless eyesforever open, he gloated day after day upon his loved gold, and watchedwith ceaseless care that no one should come near to despoil him of it.This was ages and ages ago; and still he wallows among his treasures onthe Glittering Heath, and guards as of yore the garnered wealth ofAndvari.

  [1]Regin, one of the last of the race of Dwarfs, was a master smith andby some said to be the teacher of Siegfried. The story is supposed tohave been related to Siegfried in the dusky smithy of the dwarf.