sack with
invisible iron threads, so that you could not unloose it.

"That same night you struck with your hammer three great blows upon my
head, the least of which would have made an end of me if it had hit
me. But in the darkness I managed each time to bring a mountain
between me and your hammer without your seeing it; and if you want to
see the marks you made in it you have but to look at that mountain
above my city, with its top cloven into three great dales.

"Next, when you came to my hall, Loki contested with Logi, my
courtier, as to who should eat the fastest. But he whose name was Logi
is really _Fire_, and in consequence he could eat up trough and bones
and all in no time. When Thialfi ran his race, he ran against Hugi,
who is no other than _Thought_, and no one, of course, can run as fast
as he.

"When you yourself drank from that horn, then indeed was seen a marvel
which I should never have thought possible. You did not see that one
end of the horn stood in the sea, which you were drinking all the
time. And when you reach the shore you will see how much the sea has
ebbed by your draughts.

"Nor was it less marvellous to me that you lifted up the paw of the
cat. For that cat was none other than the Serpent which lies around
the whole earth with its tail in its mouth. When it took the form of a
cat you lifted it so that it was obliged to arch itself almost up to
the sky; and then we all trembled, for we feared that you would pull
it altogether out of the sea.

"Your struggle with Elli was perhaps the most amazing of all. For she
is _Old Age_, of whom none has ever got the better.

"And now depart, O Asa folk, and 'twill be better for us both if we
never see each other again."

Now when Thor heard how he had been tricked, he grasped his hammer
with intent to dash both the giant and his city in pieces. But when he
looked for them, both had disappeared, and he found himself standing
with his companions in the midst of a large plain, on which was no
sign of habitation.

Then he knew that the power of the Giant folk would not yield to
force, and thinking of their strange adventures Thor and his
companions returned to Asgard.

CHAPTER X

How Thor's Hammer was Lost and Found

_This is the tale the Northmen tell of how
Thor's Hammer was lost and found._

Most precious in the eyes of Thor was his magic hammer, Mioelnir, of
which even the mighty Frost Giants stood in dread.

Always he laid it