Thor awoke with a start. His hammer, the mighty Mjöllnir, was missing. He shook his shaggy head, and his beard bristled with anger as he groped around him.

He shouted to Loki, "My hammer has been stolen! No one in heaven or on earth can know what a loss this is for me!"

Forthwith they rushed to Freyja's shining halls.

"Freyja," said Thor, "will you lend me your feathered coat to help me seek my hammer?"

Freyja said, "I would lend it to you even if it were made of gold or silver."

Then Loki put on the feathered coat and, leaving Asgard, winged his way to Jotunheim, the world of giants.

Thrym, the lord of giants, sat upon a mound, smoothing his horses' manes and twisting golden halters for his hounds. He said, "How are the Æsir? How are the elves? Why have you come to Jotunheim?"

Loki said, "It is ill with the Æsir; it is ill with the elves. Tell me, have you hidden the Thunderer's hammer?"