Thor and Utgarda-Loki
Thor, the powerful ruler of thunder. Highly valued for his liberating effect on nature. Lightning occurs when the hammer Mjölner is hurled at the giants. Iron meets stone. Thor kept rigidly to his oaths and is quick to act when betrayal and injustice are sensed. With his goats Tanngnjost and Tanngrisne, Thor sets off on journeys and accomplishes great deeds.
One afternoon Thor harnessed his goats Tanngnjost and Tanngrisne in front of the wagon and roared off with Loki by his side. As the sun set over the sea, they took up land at an isolated farmhouse. They asked the farmer for shelter and were warmly welcomed.
Thor led his goats into an outhouse and slaughtered them both. They were then skinned and placed in a stone pot. Thor invited the farmer, his wife and their two children Tjalve and Roskva to participate in the meal. They all settled down to supper around the table. Thor had spread out the two buckskins on the floor and told everyone to leave the legs alone and throw them on the hides. Tjalve took one of the goats’ femurs and when no one was looking, he split it open to get at the marrow.
The next morning Thor and Loki wanted to leave early. Thor swung his hammer over the legs of the hides and with a crack the goats came to their feet. But what an accident! Tanngnjost was paralyzed on the right hind leg. Thor was furious when he realized that the femur had split. He called out to the farmer and his family. When the farmer saw Thor’s eyebrows lowered and how his knuckles turned white in their hard grip around the hammer, he was close to fainting with fear and offered Thor everything he owned. Thor saw their fear and allowed himself to be appeased. He accepted both the children Tjalve and Roskva as his servants. The two goats were left with the farmer so that Tanngnjost’s leg could have time to heal. Instead, they borrowed the farmer’s fishing boat to sail across the sea to Jotunheim.
It was getting dark when they arrived. They left the boat well moored and began to walk inland. Tjalve, who was a strong youth, carried their bag of food. They soon entered a dark forest, and just before it was too dark to go on, luckily they found a large house with a door as wide as the gable. The four tired hikers stepped in and huddled together against one wall. In the middle of the night they woke up to the whole house shaking and they all thought it was an earthquake. Thor managed to get to his feet and staggered his companions into a smaller room. Then he sat in the doorway, ready with his hammer.
As soon as dawn came Thor stepped out of the house and he was greatly surprised when he saw among the trees an enormous figure lying in deep sleep. The giant snored so that the ground shook. Suddenly the giant awoke abruptly, stretched out one hand and picked up his huge glove. Thor saw that it was the glove they had taken for a house during the night. “Who are you?” Thor asked. The giant replied with a thundering voice “Skrymer! And I don’t have to ask who you are. I could recognize that red hair and beard anywhere”. Skrymer asked if Thor and his companions wished to accompany him and they answered yes. So Skrymer began to untie his bundle and eat breakfast while Thor and the others did the same.
After that, Skrymer suggested that they should have common provisions, and so it was decided. Skrymer stuffed all the food into his bundle and slung it over his shoulder. For the rest of the day Skrymer strode through the forest with giant strides while the others followed like a collection of little mice. As night fell, Skrymer looked around for a place to camp, and he selected a meadow under a very large oak. Skrymer said that he would not bother about the evening supper, but instead go to sleep immediately. “But take the food bundle and help yourselves,” said Skrymer and immediately fell asleep. He snored so that the ground shook and the oak leaves fluttered and rustled with each breath. Thor immediately took the big bundle and tried to untie it. But no matter how he tore, twisted, jerked and pulled, he couldn’t get a single knot out. When Thor saw that the work was in vain, he was seized with a terrible rage and took his hammer Mjölner and struck Skrymer in the skull with all his might! Skrymer woke up and mumbled something about a leaf falling on his head and disturbing his sleep. Then he asked Tor “Have you and your companions eaten your evening meal now, it is probably time to sleep, because we have a long way to walk tomorrow.”
That night Thor didn’t sleep a wink. At dawn Skrymer woke up and immediately wanted to walk on without breakfast. He advised Thor and his entourage not to be too cocky when they came to Utgard. Hastily Skrymer then stepped forward, but in the middle of the day they parted ways. Thor, Loki, Tjalve and Roskva turned away to the east, while Skrymer continued north. In the middle of the day they finally arrived at Utgard. It was a mighty great castle surrounded by a mighty wall, with a gate so heavy that Thor and his companions could not possibly open it. Instead, they had to get through the slats. Inside Utgard’s castle hall, the giants sat on benches along the walls. Thor strode up to the mighty giant Utgarda-Loki, who was evasively asking what the four little lads’ names were. Thor was furious but politely introduced himself and his companions. “Is that tinker really Asa-Thor?”, said Utgard-Loki. “Well, let’s compete in duels so we can see your capability! What kind of sports are you good at?”
Loki, who was starving after having been without food for two days, exclaimed: “I know an art that I am willing to compete in! I don’t think anyone in this room can eat a good hearty meal faster than I can!” Utgarda-Loki glanced at Loki and said: “Yes, that would be an achievement. We will test you”. He roared across the tables for Låge to come forward and compete with Loki, and without delay a tray was brought in filled to the brim with meat, bones and broth. Loki took a seat at one end of the table, and Låge at the other. At a signal from Utgarda-Loki, they both began gobbling down the food as fast as they could, with the result that they came face to face in the middle of the trough. Loki had gnawed off every scrap of meat on the bones and licked up all the meat spade, but Låge had swallowed it all; the meat, the bones, the spade and half the wooden trough!
The giant king then asked what Tjalve could do. “I am ready to race with anyone,” said Tjalve. “Running is a very noble sport” said Utgårdaloke and summoned a giant boy named Huge. He said they would compete in a best-of-three race. But no matter how Tjalve ran, Huge was several horse lengths ahead! Utgarda-Loki looked at Thor who was silently foaming with rage. “Well, what piece of art are you going to show us? We have heard so much about your exploits.” “I can drink any champion under the table!” roared the enraged Thor. An enormously large horn was then carried in. Thor gripped the rim with both hands and found it filled to the brim. “I must admit that I have never seen a drinking vessel as large and long as this”. “We estimate that a seasoned drinker empties the horn in one go. Some men use two, but no one is so thirsty that he cannot empty it in three drafts”. Thor began to swallow the drink in huge gulps. Finally he lost his breath. No difference was seen in the liquid level. “Well drunk,” teased Utgarda-Loki. Thor drove the edge of the horn to his teeth, determined to take the biggest sip of all, and he drank until the breath was squeezed out of him. The third time he pushed the horn halfway down his throat and sucked a swirl as long as he could. The level had indeed dropped but the horn was far from empty. “Bahh! It tastes salty!”, Thor spat forward, and threw the horn away.
“Your ability is obviously not what we were led to believe,” said Utgarda-Loki. “Are you going to try something else?” Thor growled, “Whatever.” “We have a game here that our boys usually occupy themselves with when they want to make themselves remarkable. It’s picking up my cat.” Thor and his companions suddenly became aware of a cat whose body stretched across the entire width of the hall. Thor walked right up to it and put his right hand under its belly, pushing it up as far as his arm could reach. But every time he tried to lift the cat, it arched its back. Even when he stood on tiptoes and stretched his arms and fingers as far as they could go, nothing more happened than the cat lifting a paw from the floor.
“I thought so,” said Utgarda-Loki. “The cat is quite large, while Thor is short, even small compared to the big people we are used to. Thor snarled back “I may be small, but now let someone come forward and wrestle with me”! “Call for old Elle, and Thor will have a match with her. She has often taken down men whom I consider stronger than Thor,” said Utgarda-Loki. In came a white-haired, wrinkled, old woman with a bent back. Thor circled her and grabbed her waist. The more Thor tried, the firmer the old lady Elle stood. Then Elle herself began to look for a grip, and when she noticed that Thor was a little unsteady on her feet, she wrestled more and more violently. It didn’t take long until she forced the thunderer to his knees. Utgarda-Loki stepped forward. “That’s enough,” he commanded. Now come and sit down to eat, drink and party. The four travelers sat dejectedly at the table and feasted the rest of the evening.
The following morning Thor, Loki, Tjalve and Roskva set off. Utgarda-Loki followed them for a bit “Now that we are outside the walls of Utgard, I will initiate you into a secret, and as long as I live, you will not come inside these walls again”, said Utgarda-Loki to Asa-Thor. “The first time I met you I was disguised as the giant Skrymer. I had sealed the lunch sack with magic straps. When you tried to smash my head with the hammer, I held a large rock in front, and distorted your vision so that you could not see it! Same thing with the competitions! Take the first that Loki participated in. His adversary Låge, yes that was the burning fire that easily devours more than you all. “When Tjalve ran towards the boy Huge, he opposed my own thought. And you yourself Thor! You drank from the horn and thought you had little success. But its tip was sunk into the depths of the sea, and when you come to the shore you shall see the tide-mark and notice for yourself what great gulps you drank. Then when one of the cat’s paws left the ground, we all laughed. That cat was the Midgaard Serpent himself, and we all know what happens when its tail leaves its mouth. Ragnarök, the doom, is then upon us.” Equally strange was the wrestling. No man has and no man will escape defeat by old lady Elle. She is the inevitable age. You should think of all this and not come again, for I shall be ready to defend my castle with similar and stronger sorcery.
Thor became enraged and wildly swung his hammer to kill Utgarda-Loki, who, however, vanished into thin air, as well as the huge stone castle of Utgard! Discouraged, they headed back to Tjalve and Roskva’s farm. The goat Tanngnjost was completely restored and they fetched Thor’s wagon, fastened the goats and drove on with thunder and lightning.