long greedy fingers to seize whatever booty might come near her.

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

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

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

And Loki answered, "I have heard of the net which you spread upon the
waves, and from which no creature once caught in its meshes can ever
escape. I have found a salmon where the Rhine spring gushes from
beneath the mountains, and a very cunning salmon he is, for no common
skill can catch him. Come, I pray, with your wondrous net, and cast it
into the stream where he lies. Do but take the wary fish for me, and
you shall have more gold than you have taken in a year from the wrecks
of stranded vessels."

"I dare not go," cried Ran. "A bound is set, beyond which I may not
venture. 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 will
bring 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 into