thor 105 companion, Tyr set off to find Hymir, who lived east of Elivagar in Jotunheim, the land of giants.
When they came to Hymir’ s dwelling, an ogress with 900 heads blocked their path, but there was another Jotun, beautiful and kind, and she welcomed Tyr as her son, and she welcomed Thor. She said she would try to help them and advised them to hide underneath the biggest cauldron in the hall.
Hymir lumbered into the hall, icicles dangling from his bushy beard and his eyes sparkling dangerously. He sensed the presence of strangers.
The Jotun woman explained that Tyr had come to visit and had brought a friend and that they were hiding under the big cauldron, being a little nervous of Hymir. Hymir’ s eyes swept the hall. At his ferocious glance, pillars fell down and cauldrons shattered. But the biggest cauldron stayed whole, and Thor and Tyr crawled out unharmed.
Thor was an awesome sight, with his bristling red hair and beard. Hymir quickly ordered three oxen killed for their supper. Thor, who was famous for his huge appetite, ate two of the oxen. Hymir said that they would have to go hunting for the next meal. Thor suggested that they should fish for it instead.
For bait Thor took the head of a mighty black ox, Himinbrjoter( Skybellower). While Hymir rowed and caught a whale or two, Thor readied his tackle and cast his line into the water. Almost at once the terrible head of Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, appeared above the waves, the ox’ s head in its mouth. Hymir’ s eyes bulged out in terror, but Thor coolly held the line and flung his hammer, Mjollnir, at the ghastly head. Again and again the hammer struck its mark and flew back to its master. Terrified, Hymir cut the line and the bloodied serpent sank beneath the waves.
Shaken, Hymir rowed back to the shore as fast as he could. Once safely on land, he decided to test Thor’ s strength. He asked him to either haul in the boat and tackle or carry the two whales up the cliff to the house. Without wasting a word, Thor took hold of the boat, dragged it out of the water and carried it, whales and all, to the house.
Tyr and the Jotun woman congratulated Thor on his feat of strength, but Hymir had yet another test for Thor. He handed him his goblet and asked Thor to try to break it. Thor hurled the goblet at the wall. Stone and rubble tumbled from the hole made in the wall, but the goblet remained intact.
Thor threw the goblet over and over again until the hall was in ruins. Then the giant’ s lovely wife whispered to him to throw the goblet at Hymir’ s head, which was the hardest object for miles around. Sure enough, when the goblet hit Hymir’ s stony head, it shattered into pieces, though the giant’ s head remained without a dent.
Then Hymir said that Thor could have the cauldron if he could carry it. Tyr tried to lift the cauldron but could not move it. Mighty Thor picked up the huge cauldron easily and wore it like a helmet. Then he and Tyr set off for home. On the way they were attacked by Hymir and many-headed giants, but Thor wielded his magic hammer and put an end to Hymir and his ugly followers.
The Aesir gods drank deeply from Hymir’ s cauldron in Aegir’ s halls for many a night to come.
Thor’ s Duel with Hrungnir This story is from Snorri’ s Prose Edda; Snorri based his telling of this legend partly on the poem Haustlong. The story of the god Thor’ s duel with the mighty giant Hrungnir begins with a horse race between Odin and the giant. On one of his journeys, Odin, mounted on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, had met Hrungnir, the strongest of the giants. Hrungnir challenged Odin to a race on his splendid horse, Gullfaxi.
Odin agreed and was off in a flash, with Hrungnir close behind. Sleipnir knew the way home well and streaked through Valgrind, the gate of Valhalla, Odin’ s hall.
Gullfaxi was going too fast to stop until he and his master were well within Asgard, the realm of the gods. The laws of hospitality dictated that the gods could not hurt their guest, Hrungnir.
The goddess Freya gave Hrungnir Thor’ s great drinking horn and filled it to the brim.( Thor was away that day, fighting trolls in Jarnvid.) Freya had to keep refilling the horn, for Hrungnir emptied it in huge gulps and soon became noisy and quarrelsome. He boasted that he would take all of Valhalla under his arm and carry it back to Jotunheim for a plaything. He would take Freya and golden-haired sif, Thor’ s wife, to be his own wives and servants.
At this the gods grew angry, and Odin had a hard time keeping them from attacking their unpleasant guest. Just then Thor burst into the hall, brandishing Mjollnir, his hammer. He, too, wanted to attack the giant. Instead, he agreed to meet the giant at Giotunagard, the Place of Stones, to fight a duel.
Hrungnir clambered onto Gullfaxi and rode back to Jotunheim with the news. The giants were uneasy, even though Hrungnir was the strongest of them all. They put their heads together and came up with a