They entered the land of the giants and were greeted by the mighty giant, who was pleased that a goddess had come to be his wife. He said to his servants, “Make a great feast and invite all the giants to come to see my bride.” The giants came and the feast was spread. But all the time, the maiden kept the veil over her face. The mighty giant begged to look upon the face of his bride. Then Loke said, “The hammer must be ours before I can take the veil from the maiden’s face.” So the mighty giant brought the hammer and placed it on the maiden’s lap. At that moment, Loke took the veil from the face and the giants saw before them the mighty Thor with the powerful hammer in his hands. They ran away in fear, as Thor whirled the hammer round and round and balls of fire flashed through the sky and peals of thunder filled the air. Thor and Loke lost no time in getting back to the land of the gods. All the gods were out to greet them, and great was their joy to see the wonderful hammer. Once more the gods were safe from the wicked giants. Buried Treasures of the Old Sea Kings Many secrets of the long, long ago lie buried deep under the ground. In every land there are people who dig for such buried treasures. Only a few years ago some men in Norway dug down to a most wonderful treasure. What do you suppose they found? It was an old, old ship that the early sailors of that northland had sailed upon the seas more than two thousand years ago. You can imagine how eagerly they worked to get every piece of the old ship out of the ground and to patch the pieces together to rebuild the old craft. And what a beautiful ship they finally had! That ship, called the Oseborg Ship, stands today in a shed in an open-air museum near Oslo. School girls and boys go there with their teachers to see the old ship. They almost always look the longest at the big dragon’s head that rode on the front of the boat, or at the _prow_ of the boat as sailors call it. How many, many questions those pupils ask about the old ship and about the old kings of the seas, who were called _Vikings_. And you can imagine how eagerly they listen to the tales of those daring sailors who ventured far, far out into the unknown seas in their long, black boats, each of which looked like a huge animal with its head sticking up out of the water. [Illustration: THE VIKING SHIP AS IT WAS FOUND] Other treasures have been dug from the earth in Sweden too. One old chest had in it many queer things. One object from that old chest which interests Swedish girls and boys is a large gold ring with eight small rings upon it. Those rings of gold had been used for money long ago before people made coins. In those early days a man buying something would break off a piece of gold from one of the rings to pay for his purchase. Tales of the Old Sea Kings