As
they were talking about it, and wondering how it could be, a voice
called out from the branches of the oak overhead, "If you will give me
my fill, I'll make the pot boil."
The gods looked first at each other and then into the tree, and there
they discovered a great eagle. They were glad enough to get their supper
on almost any terms, so they told the eagle he might have what he wanted
if he would only get the meat cooked. The bird was as good as his word,
and in less time than it takes to tell it supper was ready. Then the
eagle flew down and picked out both shoulders and both legs. This was a
pretty large share, it must be confessed, and Loki, who was always angry
when anybody got more than he, no sooner saw what the eagle had taken,
than he seized a great pole and began to beat the rapacious bird
unmercifully. Whereupon a very singular thing happened, as singular
things always used to happen when the gods were concerned: the pole
stuck fast in the huge talons of the eagle at one end, and Loki stuck
fast at the other end. Struggle as he might, he could not get loose, and
as the great bird sailed away over the tops of the trees, Loki went
pounding along on the ground, striking against rocks and branches until
he was bruised half to death.
The eagle was not an ordinary bird by any means, as Loki soon found
when he begged for mercy.
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