lt Megin-gioerd, which greatly enhanced his strength,
he tugged and strained but was able only to raise one of its paws
from the floor.

"Strong is great Thor, no doubt, when Megingarder
He braces tightly o'er his rock-firm loins."

Viking Tales of the North (R. B. Anderson).

A last attempt on his part to wrestle with Utgard-loki's old nurse
Elli, the only opponent deemed worthy of such a puny fellow, ended
just as disastrously, and the gods, acknowledging they were beaten,
were hospitably entertained. On the morrow they were escorted to the
confines of Utgard, where the giant politely informed them that he
hoped they would never call upon him again, as he had been forced
to employ magic against them. He then went on to explain that he
was the giant Skrymir, and that had he not taken the precaution
to interpose a mountain between his head and Thor's blows, while
he seemingly lay asleep, he would have been slain, as deep clefts
in the mountain side, to which he pointed, testified to the god's
strength. Next he informed them that Loki's opponent was Logi (wild
fire); that Thialfi had run a race with Hugi (thought), than which no
swifter runner exists; that Thor's drinking horn was connected with
the ocean, where his deep draughts had produced a perceptible ebb;
that the cat was in reality the terrible Midgard snake encircling the
world, which Thor had nearly pulled out of the sea; and that Elli,
his nurse, was old age, whom none can resist. Having finished these
explanations and cautioned them never to return or he would defend
himself by similar delusions, Utgard-loki vanished, and although Thor
angrily brandished his hammer, and would have destroyed his castle,
such a mist enveloped it that it could not be seen, and the thunder
god was obliged to return to Thrud-vang without having administered
his purposed salutary lesson to the race of giants.

"The strong-armed Thor
Full oft against Jotunheim did wend,
But spite his belt celestial, spite his gauntlets,
Utgard-Loki still his throne retains;
Evil, itself a force, to force yields never."

Viking Tales of the North (R. B. Anderson).

Thor and Hrungnir

Odin himself was once dashing through the air on his eight-footed steed
Sleipnir, when he attracted the attention of the giant Hrungnir,
who proposed a race, declaring that Gullfaxi, his steed, could
rival Sleipnir in speed. In the heat of the rac