by Graeme Davis
The most common kenning referring to Thor was “giant-slayer.” His fondness for fighting giants will be seen in a later chapter.
Determined to find out, Gylfi sets out for Asgard, but is tricked along the way and finds himself in a great palace where three men (named High, Just-as-High, and Third) challenge him to show his wisdom by questioning them. The questions he asks are about the gods and the world’s beginning and end, and the answers of these three mysterious strangers make up most of the chapter’s text.
Skaldskaparmal
Skaldskaparmal (“The Language of Poetry”) is a chapter of about 50,000 words and takes the form of a dialogue between Aegir, the god of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry. The two discuss the finer points of poetic style, and along the way Bragi gives the origins of a number of kennings, many of which owe their origins to myths and legends.
Hattatal
Hattatal (“List of Verse-Forms”) is a chapter of about 20,000 words. It is a poem of praise in traditional skaldic style lauding King Hakon Hakonarson of Norway (1204-63) and his coregent and future father-in-law Earl Skuli (1188/9-1240) for their generosity and valor. It exemplifies a wide variety of 13th-century Norse verse-forms and is accompanied by a prose commentary that points out the main features of each verse-form.
Hattatal contains no significant mythological content.
HOW THOR GOT HIS HAMMER
This tale from the Skaldskaparmal tells how the great magical hammer named Mjolnir came to Thor as a result of one of Loki’s pranks. Thor’s wife, the earth-goddess Sif, was renowned for the beauty of her golden hair until one day Loki cut it off in a fit of mischief. Thor was so angry that Loki feared for his life, and promised to make good the damage he had caused. Being Loki, of course, he could not do it without playing a prank on someone else.
A group of dwarves called the Sons of Ivaldi had made several great magical treasures for the Aesir. These included Odin’s spear Gungnir, which never missed its target, and Frey’s magical ship Skidbladnir, which always had a following wind and was large enough to carry all the Aesir, despite the fact that Frey could fold it up like cloth and carry it in his pouch.
Sindri creates Mjolnir while Brokk is tormented by Loki in the form of a fly. Arthur Rackham, 1901. (PD-US)
Loki persuaded these talented dwarves to make new hair for Sif out of pure gold, and they succeeded. Not only did Sif’s new hair look real, but it also grew like natural hair. Then Loki saw an opportunity for further mischief.
He approached two more dwarves, a pair of brothers called Brokk and Sindri, and bet them that they could not create anything to compete with these wonders. He offered them his own head as a wager, and they accepted eagerly.
To make sure he would not lose the bet, Loki turned himself into a fly and buzzed around the brothers’ forge, biting them to distract them from their work. Despite being stung on the hand, Brokk was able to keep the bellows working without a stop until Sindri had made a magical boar named Gullinbursti (“Golden Bristles”). Gullinbursti could run through air and over water, and its golden hide was so bright that it banished darkness wherever it went. Gullinbursti was presented to the god Frey and pulled his chariot.
THOR’S TREASURES
According to myth, Thor owned a number of magical treasures:
The magical hammer Mjolnir (“Crusher”) was made by the dwarves Brokk and Sindri, who also made the most of the Norse gods’ other magical treasures. It was a fearsome weapon, capable of flattening mountains. When he threw it, Mjolnir never failed to strike its target, and always flew back to his hand. When Thor wanted, Mjolnir could become so small that he could keep it inside his tunic. The tale repeated here is the only place in Norse myth that refers to Mjolnir being short in the handle, and it seems that this reference was only put in for the sake of the story: on his third attempt to distract the dwarves from their task, Loki manages to ruin one item in a small way. Otherwise the hammer is depicted at various sizes.
The belt Megingjord (“Belt of Power”) doubled Thor’s strength, which was already prodigious. The gloves Jarngreipr (“Iron Gripper”) allowed Thor to wield Mjolnir. It is not clear whether the gloves gave Thor the necessary strength, or whether they were needed for some other reason.
In some stories, Thor rode in a chariot pulled by two magical goats, Tanngrisnir (“Teeth-barer”) and Tanngnjostr (“Teeth-grinder”). Thor could kill and eat them, using the power of Mjolnir to resurrect them for the next day’s travel. In one story, the child of a peasant family with whom Thor shared a goat dinner broke one of their bones to suck out the marrow; as a result, one of the goats (the story does not say which) was left permanently lame.
Sindri put some more gold in the brothers’ furnace and told Brokk to keep working the bellows. Determined to keep his head, Loki remained in his fly-form and bit Brokk twice on the neck. Brokk kept working the bellows, however, and Sindri used the gold to make a gold ring called Draupnir (“dripper”), which was presented to Odin. Draupnir had the magical property of creating, or “dripping” from itself eight gold rings of equal weight on every ninth night.
The brothers kept working, fashioning a mighty hammer (although some sources refer to Mjolnir as an axe or a club). Loki bit Brokk again, this time on the eye, and he stopped working the bellows for a moment. As a result, Mjolnir was a little short in the handle, which is why Thor needed the magical iron gloves Jarngreipr to wield it. Mjolnir’s magic was such that it would never miss a target at which it was thrown, and it would always return to the thrower’s hand.
Even with its short handle, the Aesir all agreed that the hammer was the best of all their treasures. They decided that this mighty weapon belonged in the hands of their mightiest warrior, and it was given to Thor.
Having lost his wager with Brokk and Sindri, Loki tried to flee. Thor caught him and handed him over to the dwarves so that they could collect their due by cutting off the trickster’s head. However, they were thwarted when Loki argued that they could not cut off his head without harming his neck, and his neck was not part of the wager. The two dwarves contented themselves with sewing the trickster’s mouth shut.
THOR AND UTGARDALOKI
This long tale is told in Gylfaginning. Thor shows his usual strength and determination, but they do him little good in the face of an opponent who is both wily and magical. Utgardaloki humbles Thor in a variety of ways, casting doubt upon his strength at every turn until in the end it is revealed that the Thunder God has been the victim of a series of illusions. His strength and prowess are still unsurpassed; only in the face of trickery is he powerless.
In talking with the three mysterious figures he meets in Asgard, Gylfi asks whether Thor has ever been defeated. One of them responds by telling the following tale:
Thjalfi and Roskva
Thor and Loki were traveling together and stopped at a farm for the night. To repay the farmer’s hospitality, Thor killed his goats and made a stew. The farmer’s son, whose name was Thjalfi, cracked one of the bones to eat the marrow, and when Thor used the magic of Mjolnir to resurrect his goats the following morning, he found that one of them was lame.
Thor’s scowl at this discovery so frightened the farmer and his family that they offered him Thjalfi and his sister Roskva as servants. Thjalfi remained in the Thunder God’s service from then on, but Roskva is hardly mentioned.
The Giant Skrymir
Leaving the goats behind, Thor and his companions traveled into Jotunheim. Passing through a great forest, they looked for a place to spend the night, and at last they came upon a great hall and went inside. The hall was empty, but about midnight they were disturbed by a terrible earthquake and took refuge in a small side-chamber. Thor stood guard over the entrance, his hammer in his hand. For the rest of the night, a great moaning and roaring kept the companions awake.
When dawn came, the group emerged from the hall to find a giant sleeping not far from the building. He was snoring very loudly, and Thor realized that this was the noise
they had heard during the night. He put on his strength-boosting belt Megingiord just as the man awoke. As he stood up it was clear he was a giant of immense size, and for once Thor was not prepared to strike him down.
Thor wrestles with an old woman named Elli, who turns out to be old age personified.
The giant said his name was Skrymir (“Big Fellow”), and asked what Thor had done with his glove. Thor and his companions were puzzled until Skrymir reached out and picked up the hall where the travelers had spent the night. It was an immense glove, and the side-chamber where they had taken refuge was the thumb.
After he had put his glove back on, Skrymir asked the companions if he could travel with them, and they agreed. Skrymir offered to carry all the group’s provisions, and the others put their food in his sack.
The following night, while Skrymir was asleep, Thor tried to open his sack to get something to eat, but could not loosen the strings at all. In his frustration, Thor grasped his hammer Mjolnir and aimed a mighty blow at Skrymir’s head. The giant woke up and asked mildly if a leaf had fallen on his head.
Thor encounters Skrymir in this 1930s book illustration by Charles Edmund Brock. (The Bridgeman Art Library)
Skrymir went back to sleep, but his snoring kept Thor and the others awake. Thor struck him another blow with his hammer, this time so hard that Mjolnir’s head sank deep into the giant’s crown. Skrymir awoke again and asked if an acorn had fallen on him. Thor retreated and waited for Skrymir to go back to sleep.
Shortly before daybreak, Thor saw that Skrymir was asleep again. He struck him another blow, sinking Mjolnir up to its handle into the giant’s temple. Skrymir sat up and rubbed his head, asking if there was a bird in the branches above him that might have dislodged a piece of moss.
Since the sun was already rising, Skrymir suggested that the group should travel on. There was a hall named Utgard that was not too far off. Before they got there, he warned his companions to be careful of their manners; they might think he was big, but he was quite small compared to Utgard’s ruler, Utgardaloki, and his servants. Thor and the others were puny by comparison, and it would be dangerous for them if they caused offence. As for himself, he would continue his journey to the north. He parted company with the rest of the group and set off.
Utgard
Thor and his companions journeyed on till noon, when they arrived at a vast fortress. Even with his Aesir strength, Thor was unable to open the huge gate that guarded the entrance, and the travelers were forced to squeeze between its bars.
They went to Utgardaloki and greeted him courteously, but he treated them with contempt. He made some disparaging comments about Thor’s small stature, and told the companions that no one could stay in Utgard unless they proved themselves capable of some superhuman feat.
Quick-witted Loki stepped forward and boasted that no one could eat faster than he could. Utgardaloki smiled and ordered a meat-filled trough set up on the floor. Loki was stationed at one end, and at the other sat one of Utgardaloki’s servants, whose name was Logi. Food was brought in, and the two began to eat. They ate their way along the trough until they met exactly in the middle. Even so, Loki lost the contest. While he had eaten all the meat in his half of the trough, his opponent had eaten the meat, the bones, and the trough itself.
Utgardaloki turned to Thor’s servant Thjalfi, and asked what he could do. Thjalfi answered that he would try a foot-race against anyone his host might choose. Utgardaloki summoned another of his servants, whose name was Hugi, and led the company to a flat plain outside the fortress.
The race was run in three heats. In the first heat, Hugi was barely ahead of Thjalfi when he turned at the halfway point. Hugi admitted that he had never met anyone who was faster than Thjalfi. In the second heat, however, Thjalfi lagged behind by a bow-shot when Hugi reached the turning-point. In the third, Thjalfi had not reached the middle of the course by the time Hugi turned around. Everyone agreed that Hugi was the winner.
Thor tries to lift Utgardaloki’s cat, which is actually the Midgard Serpent magically disguised. An unattributed book illustration from 1872. (PD-US)
Now Utgardaloki turned to Thor and asked him what feat he wished to display. Thor chose a drinking-contest, and an ale-horn was brought in. It was not unusually large, although Thor did notice that it seemed very long. Utgardaloki challenged Thor to empty the horn in a single draught. Some men took two draughts, he said, but even the poorest drinker could empty it in three.
Thor raised the horn and swallowed until his breath gave out, but the horn seemed no less full than when he had started. Utgardaloki told him he had expected better from all the tales he had heard of Thor’s exploits, and invited him to drink a second draught. Thor raised the horn and drank again, but did no better than before. Utgardaloki chided him, asking if he had overestimated his ability by leaving more for the third draught than he could manage. Worse, he wondered aloud if Thor’s reputation had been exaggerated.
Stung by this, Thor drank with all his might, but although the level was visibly lower he was still unable to empty the drinking-horn. Utgardaloki observed that Thor’s might was not as great as he had supposed, but offered him the chance of another challenge if he wished to take it. Thor countered that among the Aesir such a drink would not be considered small, and said that he was ready to accept any other challenge.
Utgardaloki pointed out a sleeping cat and challenged Thor to lift it. He said that the young men of Utgard did such things for sport; he would not have offered Thor such a puny challenge if he had not already seen that Thor’s strength was far less than he had previously believed.
The cat was gray and rather large, but Thor grabbed it around the middle and tried to lift it up. Although he was able to raise the cat’s middle, its paws stayed on the floor. Thor stretched as high as he could and finally one paw left the ground, but that was as much as he could do. Utgardaloki admitted that the cat was rather large, and pointed out that Thor was rather small by the standards of Utgard.
Mad with frustration by now, Thor retorted that whatever his size might be, he was ready to wrestle with anyone who dared take him on. Utgardaloki looked around at the benches where his servants were seated, and mused that it would be hard to find anyone who would regard a wrestling-match with Thor as any kind of challenge. Finally he called upon his foster-mother, an old woman named Elli, and bade her wrestle with the Thunder God.
Thor took hold of Elli and tried to grapple with her, but the tighter his hold the firmer she seemed to stand. They stood deadlocked. Then Elli moved slightly and Thor lost his footing. They wrestled for a long time, but finally Elli was able to force Thor down onto one knee.
Utgardaloki stopped the bout and declared that it was time to eat. For the rest of the evening, the visitors enjoyed the best of hospitality.
An 11th–12th century tapestry in a church at Skog in Sweden. The image may depict three Christian kings, but is thought by some to show the Norse gods Odin, Thor, and Freyr. (PD-US)
The Truth Revealed
The following morning, Utgardaloki provided his visitors with the best of breakfasts and sent them on their way. Before they left, however, he spoke to Thor, asking if he had ever before met anyone who was stronger than he was. Thor admitted that he had been humiliated and embarrassed by his experience in Utgard. Utgardaloki said that he would now tell Thor the truth, since he did not expect Thor ever to return to Utgard. Indeed, he said, he would never have permitted Thor to enter his hall if he had known how strong he truly was.
Firstly, said Utgardaloki, the giant Skrymir with whom the companions had traveled was Utgardaloki himself, in disguise. Thor could not open Skrymir’s sack because he had tied it with iron bands and made sure that Thor could not find them. When Thor struck three times at Skrymir’s head, Skrymir had woven an illusion that made Thor hit a nearby mountain instead; the mountain was now cloven by three square valleys, each deeper than the last.
An image of Thor from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscri
pt. (PD-US)
Next Utgardaloki explained why his visitors had lost their contests with his servants. Logi, to whom Loki lost the eating contest, was really Wildfire, which consumes everything in its path with frightening speed. Hugi, who beat Thjalfi in the foot-race, was actually Thought, and nothing is swifter than thought.
Finally, Utgardaloki revealed the truth behind Thor’s three challenges.
Thor was unable to drain the drinking-horn because its far end was in the sea. Although Thor could not drink up all the oceans, he had drunk enough to lower the waters to ebb tide. Utgardaloki admitted that he had never thought such a feat was possible.
The large gray cat that Thor had failed to lift up was actually the world-encircling Midgard Serpent, disguised by another of Utgardaloki’s illusions. When Thor picked it up his hands almost reached the stars, and the Midgard Serpent’s head and tail almost left the ground.
Elli, the old woman who had wrestled Thor to one knee, was none other than Old Age itself, which overcomes everyone in the end.
Having revealed his deceptions, Utgardaloki warned Thor never to return, promising that he would defend Utgard with equally powerful illusions if the Thunder God ever troubled him.
Enraged by Utgardaloki’s duplicity, Thor raised his hammer to strike him down, but the giant was no longer there. Thor turned toward Utgard, intending to batter it to rubble, but the fortress had also vanished, leaving only a beautiful but empty plain.
In frustration, Thor returned to his hall at Thrudvang. He never forgot his humiliation at Utgardaloki’s hands, though, and he promised himself a reckoning against the giants and against the Midgard Serpent itself.