Hilda Ellis Davidson - Gods and Myths of Northern Europe

Another of the monsters to whom Loki gave birth was the mighty serpent called Miðgarðsormr , the World Serpent. Odin flung it into the deep sea that encircled Midgard, and there it lies round the world, biting its own tail. As for Hel, Loki’s daughter, Odin sent her down into the realm of mist and darkness, Niflheim. There she rules a kingdom encircled by a high wall and secured by strong gates, and into it pass men who die of disease or old age.

Outside Asgard there were other powers who possessed considerable strength and wisdom, and who had to be respected by the gods.

Thor’s Journey to Utgard

This is shown by the tale of how Thor himself was once outwitted and found his great might of little avail. He set out one day with Loki for a companion. When they stopped at a farm for food, Thor provided it himself by slaughtering the goats which drew him, so that they could be cooked and eaten. After the meal he spread out the bones on the goatskins, raised his hammer Mjollnir, and blessed them, whereupon the goats stood up, fully restored to life. The farmer’s son had however unthinkingly broken one of the leg-bones for marrow, and the goat to which it belonged was left lame. Thor’s anger was terrible to see, and the farmer in his panic offered him his two children, Thialfi and Roskva, to be his servants.

These four then went on into the land of the giants. They travelled all day through a mighty forest, and at night came to a huge building with a wide opening across one side. They groped their way in and lay down for the night, but before day came there was a great earthquake, and the building shook. In terror they moved down the hall, and found an opening leading into a passage on the right. Here they sat, terrified, while Thor guarded the entrance with his hammer, and all night long they could hear a great roaring noise outside.

When it grew light they ventured out, and found a huge giant lying not far away. They realized that the roaring was caused by his snores. Thor buckled on his belt of strength, but at that moment the giant rose to his feet, and so enormous was he that for once Thor was not prepared to swing his hammer. The giant said his name was Skrymir, ‘Big Fellow’, and he picked up what they had taken to be a building but now saw to be his glove, with the thumb sticking out on the right to make the side-passage in which they had sheltered.

The giant said they could journey together, and suggested that they should put all their provisions into one bag, which he carried. His great strides took him on ahead, and that evening they found him waiting under an oak. He lay down for a nap while they turned to prepare the supper. But when Thor tried to undo the bag, he could not unfasten the strap, strive as he would. At last in a fury he struck Skrymir on the head with his hammer. But the giant only opened his eyes and asked mildly if a leaf had fallen on his head. In the end they lay down without supper, and once more the noise of Skrymir’s snores filled their ears. Thor struck with his hammer a second time, but the only response from Skrymir was to ask whether an acorn had fallen on him. At dawn, when the giant still slept, Thor struck a third time, and this was so mighty a blow that the hammer sank in up to the handle. The giant then sat up and remarked that a bird seemed to have dropped something on him from the tree above. Then he took leave of them, warning Thor to be on his best behaviour when he reached the hall of Utgard, where he assured them there were plenty of fellows bigger even than himself. He strode off through the wood, and to their great relief they saw him no more.

They reached Utgard at midday, and found it no smaller than they had been led to believe. It was indeed so huge that they were able to get in by squeezing between the bars of the mighty gate. In the hall was the king, Utgard-Loki. When at last he noticed his puny visitors, he was not very complimentary in his welcome, but he inquired whether they had any special gifts which they could display before the company. Then followed a series of trials of strength at which Thor and his companions did not acquit themselves as well as might have been expected.

First Loki tried a race at eating with a man called Logi. He was utterly outstripped, for though he rapidly devoured all the meat he was given, Logi swallowed the bones and the trough as well. Next Thialfi, who was a swift runner, ran races with a lad called Hugi, but Hugi was able to reach the end of the course and come back to meet him every time. Then Thor made trial of his strength in a drinking contest. Thor was given a huge horn, which he expected to empty easily, but after three attempts to do so he found that the liquid had only dropped a little below the rim. Next the king suggested that he should try the feat of lifting the cat up from the floor. A great grey cat jumped down in front of him, and Thor grasped it round the middle and exerted all his strength, but was only able to raise one of its paws off the ground. Finally Utgard-Loki called in his old foster-mother to wrestle with Thor. She seemed a decrepit old woman, but Thor with all his power could not get her off her feet. When however she grasped hold of him, he was forced down on one knee before the king stopped the conflict.

The discomfited god and his companions were then given splendid hospitality, and stayed there that night. Next morning Utgard-Loki himself escorted them to the gate, and once they were safely outside, he revealed the truth to them. Thor and his comrades had been deceived by cunning magic, altering the appearance of things. The three blows struck at Skrymir – who in fact was Utgard-Loki himself – had fallen on to the earth, and Thor’s hammer had left three mighty pits in the hill which the giant had interposed between himself and the angry god. The bag which could not be undone had been fastened by iron bands. As for the contests in the hall, they had not been what they seemed. Loki’s opponent was Logi (Fire), which consumes all things more swiftly than any man or god. Thialfi had raced against Hugi (Thought), swifter than any man in its flight. The horn offered to Thor had its tip in the ocean, and the great draughts he had drunk had lowered the sea-level down to ebb tide. The cat was in truth the ancient monster, the World Serpent, so that all were terrified when Thor’s strength proved great enough to raise it a little way from the depths of the sea. His opponent in the wrestling was no other than Elli (Old Age), who can overcome the strongest. When he learned how he had been tricked, Thor in his rage swung his hammer, intending to destroy the stronghold, but even as he did so it vanished from sight, and they were alone on the plain.

Thor’s Fishing

Perhaps it was to take vengeance for this humiliation – or so at least it was suggested to Gangleri – that Thor set out to visit the giant Hymir, in the guise of a youth. He asked to go fishing with Hymir, and when sent off to get some bait, he took the giant’s biggest ox and cut off its head to take along with them. The boat moved so fast once Thor took the oars that Hymir was astounded, and before long they reached the fishing ground. Thor rowed on still further, although Hymir tried to prevent him for fear of disturbing the Midgard Serpent, and when at last he threw the ox-head out into the sea, it was indeed the serpent which took the bait. Thor had to exert all his divine strength, and before long, digging his heels through the boat and pushing hard against the sea bottom, he hauled up the monster, and they stared fiercely into one another’s eyes. At this terrible sight, Hymir was panic-stricken, and as Thor raised his hammer, he cut the line. The serpent sank back into the depths of the sea, and Thor in anger knocked the giant overboard and waded back to shore. Whether he struck off the serpent’s head before it sank, or it still lies coiled round the earth, Gangleri was unable to discover.