Perhaps he was a little ashamed of the
trick which he had played the Vanir. Odin's new wisdom showed him how
to prepare Mimer's head with herbs and charms, so that it stood up by
itself quite naturally and seemed not dead. Thenceforth Odin kept it
near him, and learned from it many useful secrets which it had not
forgotten.
So in the end Odin fared better than the unhappy Mimer, whose worst
fault was that he knew more than most folk. That is a dangerous fault,
as others have found; though it is not one for which many of us need
fear being punished.
CHAPTER XIII
THE QUEST OF THE HAMMER
One morning Thor the Thunderer awoke with a yawn, and stretching out his
knotted arm, felt for his precious hammer, which he kept always under
his pillow of clouds. But he started up with a roar of rage, so that all
the palace trembled. The hammer was gone!
Now this was a very serious matter, for Thor was the protector of
Asgard, and Mioelnir, the magic hammer which the dwarf had made, was his
mighty weapon, of which the enemies of the AEsir stood so much in dread
that they dared not venture near. But if they should learn that Mioelnir
was gone, who could tell what danger might not threaten the palaces of
heaven?
Thor darted his flashing eye into every corner of Cloud Land in search
of the hammer. He called his fair wife, Sif of the golden hair, to aid
in the search, and his two lovely daughters, Thrude and Lora.
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