y catch your death of cold, and be food for the fishes--if,
indeed, they would deign to eat such a scrawny scrap!"

These taunting words made Thor so angry, that he grasped his hammer, and
was sorely tempted to crush the giant's skull. But he checked himself,
and coolly said,--

"I pray you not to trouble yourself on my account I have set my head on
going with you, and go I will. Tell me where I can find something that I
can use for bait, and I will be ready in a trice."

"I have no bait for you," roughly answered Hymer "You must look for it
yourself."

Half a dozen oxen, the very finest and fattest of Hymer's herd, were
grazing on the short grass which grew on the sunnier slopes of the
hillside; for not all of the giant's cattle had yet taken to the water.
When Thor saw these great beasts, he ran quickly towards them, and
seizing the largest one, which Hymer called the Heaven-breaker, he
twisted off his head as easily as he would that of a small fowl, and ran
back with it to the boat. Hymer looked at him in anger and amazement,
but said nothing; and the two pushed the boat off from the shore. The
little vessel sped through the water more swiftly than it had ever done
before, for Thor plied the oars.

In a moment the long, low beach was out of sight; and Hymer, who had
never travelled so fast, began to feel frightened.

"Stop!" he cried. "Here is the place to fish: I have often caught great
store of flat-fish here. Let us out with our lines!"

"No, no!" answered Thor; and he kept on plying the oars. "We are not yet
far enough from shore. The best fish are still many leagues out."

And the boat skimmed onwards through the waters, and the white spray
dashed over the prow; and Hymer, now very much frightened, sat still,
and looked at his strange fellow-fisherman, but said not a word. On and
on they went; and the shore behind them first grew dim, and then sank
out of sight; and the high mountain-tops began to fade away in the sky,
and then were seen no more. And when at last the fishermen were so far
out at sea that nothing was in sight but the rolling waters on every
side, Thor stopped his rowing.

"We have come too far!" cried the giant, trembling in every limb. "The
great Midgard snake lies hereabouts. Let us turn back!"

"Not yet," answered Thor quietly. "We will fish here a little while."

Without loss of time he took from his pocket a strong hook, wonderfully
made, to which he fastened a long line as stron