e going up and down in the streets. They were not so huge as
Skyrmir would have them believe, Loki noticed.

Utgard was the Asgard of the Giants. But in its buildings there was not
a line of the beauty that there was in the palaces of the Gods,
Gladsheim and Breidablik or Fensalir. Huge but shapeless the buildings
arose, like mountains or icebergs. O beautiful Asgard with the dome
above it of the deepest blue! Asgard with the clouds around it heaped up
like mountains of diamonds! Asgard with its Rainbow Bridge and its
glittering gates! O beautiful Asgard, could it be indeed that these
Giants would one day overthrow you?

Thor and Loki with the lad Thialfi went to the palace of the King. The
hammer that Thor gripped would, they knew, make them safe even there.
They passed between rows of Giant guards and came to the King's seat.
"We know you, Thor and Loki," said the Giant King, "and we know that
Thor has come to Utgard to try his strength against the Giants. We shall
have a contest tomorrow. Today there are sports for our boys. If your
young servant should like to try his swiftness against our youths, let
him enter the race today."

Now Thialfi was the best runner in Midgard and all the time he had been
with them Loki and Thor had trained him in quickness. And so Thialfi was
not fearful of racing against the Giants' youths.

The King called on one named Hugi and placed him against Thialfi. The
pair started together. Thialfi sped off. Loki and Thor watched the race
anxiously, for they thought it would be well for them if they had a
triumph over the dwellers in Utgard in the first contest. But they saw
Hugi leave Thialfi behind. They saw the Giant youth reach the winning
post, circle round it, and come back to the starting place before
Thialfi had reached the end of the course.

Thialfi, who did not know how it was that he had been beaten, asked that
he be let run the race with Hugi again. The pair started off once more,
and this time it did not seem to Thor and Loki that Hugi had left the
starting place at all--he was back there almost as soon as the race had
started.

They came back from the racing ground to the palace. The Giant King and
his friends with Thor and Loki sat down to the supper table. "Tomorrow,"
said the King, "we shall have our great contest when Asa Thor will show
us his power. Have you of Asgard ever heard of one who would enter a
contest in eating? We might have a contest in eating at this suppe