Thor's Journey to the Land of the Giants

Today I will tell the myth of Thor’s journey to the land of the giants. Thor, with his quick-footed human servant, Thjalfi and Loki, were on a journey to Jotunheim, the land of the giants. On their way, they met a giant named Skrymir, who offered to accompany them and carry their stuff in his bag. When they made a camp, Skrymir dozed off to sleep. Thor the son of Odin, god of thunder and protector of mankind struggled mightily against his greatest challenge yet, opening a bag of food. Thor, frustrated and hungry, tried to wake the sleeping giant three times by hitting his head with his hammer, Mjolnir as strong as he could. But each time, Skrymir thought it was an acorn falling on his head, then went back to sleep. The next morning Skrymir left and the three travelers eventually reached the fortress called, Utgard. Inside the fortress they met the king of the giants, Utgard-Loki, who greeted his guests with a challenge, Each of them must prove they were best at something. Loki went first, saying he was the world’s fastest eater. To test him, the king summoned his servant, Logi and the two were placed at the other ends of a big table filled with food. Loki ate his way to the middle with speed, but when the two meet in the center, Logi had eaten all of it including the bones and table. It was Thjalfi’s turn next, Thjalfi could outrun anything in the wild. The king summoned Hugi, to race Thjalfi. Went the race started Hugi outraced Thjalfi quickly. But Thjalfi would not give up, so he demanded a rematch. This time Thjalfi finished close behind. Thjalfi tried a third time, running like he would die if he lost. But Hugi was even faster than before. Finally, it was Tour’s turn. The king gave him a drinking horn, saying all his men could finish it in two gulps. Thor raised it to his lips and drank the cold and salty water in the longest gulp he could. Then a second. Then a third. But the level of the water in the horn only lowered slightly. To test Thor’s strength, the king offered a “easy” challenge, all he had to do is lift his pet cat off the ground. But the cat was as tall as Thor. So every time he tried to lift it, it arched its back. Using all his godly might, he  was only able to lift one paw. Enraged, Thor demanded to wrestle any of the giants. The king summoned the old nursemaid, Elli. Though the woman looked weak, Thor could not beat her and became weaker the more he tried, until he was on one knee. The three men were readying to leave, disappointed and humbled. But while the king escorted out, he revealed that nothing in the castle had been what it seemed. Loki lost to Logi, because Logi was wildfire itself, Thjalfi could not outrun Hugi because Hugi was the embodiment of thought, Always faster than action. And Thor could not beat Elli, or old age, which weakens everyone eventually. As for the other challenges they were also illusions. The drinking horn was filled with the ocean, and Thor drank enough to cause the tides. And the cat was the serpent that encircles the world, and Thor’s efforts shifted the Earth. And Skrymir had been Utgard-Loki in disguise. Deflecting Thor’s hammer-blows to form valleys in the surrounding mountain. The end.