Seemed to thee hard,
When at the food thou couldst not get,
When, in full health, of hunger dying."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

Utgard-loki

Angry because of his snoring, which kept them awake, Thor thrice
dealt him fearful blows with his hammer. These strokes, instead of
annihilating the monster, merely evoked sleepy comments to the effect
that a leaf, a bit of bark, or a twig from a bird's nest overhead had
fallen upon his face. Early on the morrow, Skrymir left Thor and his
companions, pointing out the shortest road to Utgard-loki's castle,
which was built of great ice blocks, with huge glittering icicles
as pillars. The gods, slipping between the bars of the great gate,
presented themselves boldly before the king of the giants, Utgard-loki,
who, recognising them, immediately pretended to be greatly surprised
at their small size, and expressed a wish to see for himself what
they could do, as he had often heard their prowess vaunted.

Loki, who had fasted longer than he wished, immediately declared
he was ready to eat for a wager with any one. So the king ordered
a great wooden trough full of meat to be brought into the hall, and
placing Loki at one end and his cook Logi at the other, he bade them
see which would win. Although Loki did wonders, and soon reached the
middle of the trough, he found that, whereas he had picked the bones
clean, his opponent had devoured both them and the trough.

Smiling contemptuously, Utgard-loki said that it was evident they
could not do much in the eating line, and this so nettled Thor that
he declared if Loki could not eat like the voracious cook, he felt
confident he could drain the biggest vessel in the house, such was
his unquenchable thirst. Immediately a horn was brought in, and,
Utgard-loki declaring that good drinkers emptied it at one draught,
moderately thirsty persons at two, and small drinkers at three,
Thor applied his lips to the rim. But, although he drank so deep
that he thought he would burst, the liquid still came almost up to
the rim when he raised his head. A second and third attempt to empty
this horn proved equally unsuccessful. Thialfi then offered to run
a race, but a young fellow named Hugi, who was matched against him,
soon outstripped him, although Thialfi ran remarkably fast.

Thor proposed next to show his strength by lifting weights, and was
challenged to pick up the giant's cat. Seizing an opportunity to
tighten his be