Thor and Loki's Journey to the Land of the Giants (Part 1)
A fantastic tale with some unexpected twists, and turns! The story of Thor, Loki, Thjalfi, and Roskva tells us about some amazing feats which, according to the tale, brought about parts of the world we know today.
Thor and Loki, along with their servants, Thjalfi, and Roskva journey in the land of the giants, and, with night falling fast, they find a strange, large vacant hall with no doors in which to sleep. Throughout the night, the group are roused by rumbles, and earthquakes, and are very much on their guard for what could be making the commotion.
In the morning, they find the hall they slept in was actually the glove of a tremendous giant: Skrymir, who offers to be their traveling companion. This proves challenging for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the testing of Thor’s quick temper.
You see, the earthquakes and rumbles were Skrymir snoring, and if Thor doesn’t get a good night’s sleep, he gets cranky, much more so than you or I; but Thor’s temper was about to be tested to the breaking point on this journey with the giant, as you will soon see!
The Journey to Utgard
In a seemingly friendly gesture, Skrymir offers to place the party’s provisions in his own, much larger pouch, to which Thor consents. The group travels throughout the day, the giant making enormous strides, causing our heroes to struggle to keep up until nightfall.
Skrymir decides to turn in early, skipping his own supper, but telling Thor and company that they are welcome to grab their own provisions, and dine without him. Thor climbs onto the pouch, and, he tugs, he yanks, he pulls, and try as he might, is unable to untie even one knot! Infuriated, Thor seizes his legendary hammer, Mjolnir, and strikes the giant square in the head!
Skrymir yawns, asking Thor if a leaf had fallen on his head, and if they had eaten, then rolls back over to sleep, shaking the earth with his snoring.
As you can imagine, this does nothing to ease Thor’s anger. Wide eyed, Loki, Thjalfi, and Roskva look on as Thor proceeds to strike the giant’s head not once, but twice more throughout the night! Each time, the giant chalks it up to some bit of the tree they are sleeping under falling on his head, and rolls back over to sleep.
Finally, the dawn comes, and the unlikely quintet resumes their journey, Thor, Loki and their servants much more exhausted than their giant companion. They haven’t gone far, when Skrymir stops, and tells them he’s overheard them talking about just how big he is. Skrymir shakes his head, gives them two friendly warnings: the first, that they will see men much larger than he is in Utgard, and the second, to not brag about themselves, or their accomplishments when they reach the great hall.
What happens next? Stop by for our next article, and find out what happens to Thor, Loki, Thjalfi, and Roskva in the hall of Utgard-Loki!
