Note V.—Loki (Thr. 2, 2).

There is another god reckoned in the number of the Æsir whom some call the calumniator of the gods, the contriver of all fraud and mischief, and the disgrace of gods and men. His name is Loki or Loptur. He is the son of the giant Farbauti; his mother is Laufey or Nál; his brothers are Byleist and Helblendi. Loki is handsome and well-made, but of a very fickle mood and most cunning disposition. He surpasses all beings in these arts called Cunning and Perfidy. Many a time has he exposed the gods to very great perils, and often extricated them again by his artifices. (Prose Edda, cap. 33.) Loki having exasperated the gods by causing the death of Baldur (P. E., 49), they seized and confined him in a cavern with "a serpent suspended over him in such a manner that the venom should fall on his face, drop by drop; but Siguna his wife stands by him, and receives the drops as they fall in a cup, which she empties as often as it is filled. But while she is doing this, venom falls upon Loki, which makes him howl with horror, and twist his body about so violently that the whole earth shakes; and this produces what men call earthquakes." There will Loki lie till Ragnarök—the twilight of the gods. (Prose Edda, cap. 50.)