at skins with his hammer Mioelnir, and immediately the goats sprang up
as lively as before, except that one seemed somewhat lame. Perceiving
that his commands had been disregarded, Thor would have slain the whole
family in his wrath. The culprit acknowledged his fault, however,
and the peasant offered to compensate for the loss by giving the
irate god not only his son Thialfi, but also his daughter Roskva,
to serve him for ever.

Charging the man to take good care of the goats, which he left there
until he should return, and bidding the young peasants accompany
him, Thor now set out on foot with Loki, and after walking all day
found himself at nightfall in a bleak and barren country, which was
enveloped in an almost impenetrable grey mist. After seeking for
some time, Thor saw through the fog the uncertain outline of what
looked like a strangely-shaped house. Its open portal was so wide and
high that it seemed to take up all one side of the house. Entering
and finding neither fire nor light, Thor and his companions flung
themselves wearily down on the floor to sleep, but were soon disturbed
by a peculiar noise, and a prolonged trembling of the ground beneath
them. Fearing lest the main roof should fall during this earthquake,
Thor and his companions took refuge in a wing of the building, where
they soon fell sound asleep. At dawn, the god and his companions
passed out, but they had not gone very far ere they saw the recumbent
form of a sleeping giant, and perceived that the peculiar sounds
which had disturbed their rest were produced by his snores. At that
moment the giant awoke, arose, stretched himself, looked about him
for his missing property, and a second later picked up the object
which Thor and his companions had mistaken in the darkness for a
house. They then perceived with amazement that this was nothing more
than a huge mitten, and that the wing in which they had all slept
was the separate place for the giant's great thumb! Learning that
Thor and his companions were on their way to Utgard, as the giants'
realm was also called, Skrymir, the giant, proposed to be their guide;
and after walking with them all day, he brought them at nightfall to
a spot where he proposed to rest. Ere he composed himself for sleep,
however, he offered them the provisions in his wallet. But, in spite
of strenuous efforts, neither Thor nor his companions could unfasten
the knots which Skrymir had tied.

"Skrymir's thongs