d club of the same substance,
and therefore deemed himself well-nigh invincible. Thialfi came
before his master and soon after there was a terrible rumbling and
shaking which made the giant apprehensive that his enemy would come
up through the ground and attack him from underneath. He therefore
followed a hint from Thialfi and stood upon his shield.

A moment later, however, he saw his mistake, for, while Thialfi
attacked Mokerkialfi with a spade, Thor came with a rush upon the scene
and flung his hammer full at his opponent's head. Hrungnir, to ward
off the blow, interposed his stone club, which was shivered into pieces
that flew all over the earth, supplying all the flint stones thereafter
to be found, and one fragment sank deep into Thor's forehead. As the
god dropped fainting to the ground, his hammer crashed against the
head of Hrungnir, who fell dead beside him, in such a position that
one of his ponderous legs was thrown over the recumbent god.

"Thou now remindest me
How I with Hrungnir fought,
That stout-hearted Jotun,
Whose head was all of stone;
Yet I made him fall
And sink before me."

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

Thialfi, who, in the meanwhile, had disposed of the great clay giant
with its cowardly mare's heart, now rushed to his master's assistance,
but his efforts were unavailing, nor could the other gods, whom he
quickly summoned, raise the pinioning leg. While they were standing
there, helplessly wondering what they should do next, Thor's little
son Magni came up. According to varying accounts, he was then only
three days or three years old, but he quickly seized the giant's
foot, and, unaided, set his father free, declaring that had he only
been summoned sooner he would easily have disposed of both giant and
squire. This exhibition of strength made the gods marvel greatly,
and helped them to recognise the truth of the various predictions,
which one and all declared that their descendants would be mightier
than they, would survive them, and would rule in their turn over the
new heaven and earth.

To reward his son for his timely aid, Thor gave him the steed Gullfaxi
(golden-maned), to which he had fallen heir by right of conquest,
and Magni ever after rode this marvellous horse, which almost equalled
the renowned Sleipnir in speed and endurance.

Groa, the Sorceress

After vainly trying to remove the stone splinter from his forehead,
Thor sadly