his sage counsels; then Hermod the Nimble, with his quick wit and ready
hands; and lastly, a great company of elves and wood-sprites and
trolls. Then a whirlwind caught them up in its swirling arms, and
carried them through the air, over the hilltops and the countryside,
and the meadows and the mountains, and set them down in the gorge of
the Fanander Force.

But Loki was not caught napping. His wakeful ears had heard the tumult
in the air, and he guessed who it was that was coming. He threw the
net, which he had just finished, into the fire, and jumped quickly into
the swift torrent, where, changing himself into a salmon, he lay hidden
beneath the foaming water.

When the eager Asa-folk reached Loki's dwelling, they found that he
whom they sought had fled; and although they searched high and low,
among the rocks and the caves and the snowy crags, they could see no
signs of the cunning fugitive. Then they went back to his house again
to consult what next to do. And, while standing by the hearth, Kwaser,
a sharp-sighted elf, whose eyes were quicker than the sunbeam, saw the
white ashes of the burned net lying undisturbed in the still hot
embers, the woven meshes unbroken and whole.

"See what the cunning fellow has been making!" cried the elf. "It must
have been a trap for catching fish."

"Or rather for catching men," said Bragi; "for it is strangely like the
Sea-queen's net."

"In that case," said Hermod the Nimble, "he has made a trap for
himself; for, no doubt, he has changed himself, as is his wont, to a