After leaving the chariot and the goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, in the care of the farmer and his wife, Thor, Loki, Thialfe and Roskva continued to Utgard. They headed east to the sea and crossed a deep ocean. On the other side, they walked on and came to a large forest. The went into the forest. Thialfe, who walked faster than the others, carried the food bag. Their supplies were running low. As night fell, they came to a strange hall.
The front door was wide and opened into a large room. On one side there was a smaller room. Opposite the door were four long, narrow rooms. The travelers were happy to have shelter, so they settled in for the night.
In the middle of the night, the earth shook with moans and groans. The companions awoke with the quake. Thor ordered the others into the farthest room. He stood guard at the doorway, Mjölnir in hand. The other three hid behind him.
When the sun rose, Thor went to investigate the noise. He didn’t go too far from the strange hall when he found a large, sleeping man. His snoring shook the earth. Thor stepped closer to get a better look when the large man awoke and stood up. Thor was so startled he didn’t have the wherewithal to strike with his hammer. Instead, he asked the large man his name.
“I’m Skrymir,” said the large man,” and I don’t need to ask your name, Thor of the Aesir. I thought you’d be bigger, but have you dragged my glove away?” Skrymir sees the glove on the ground, reaches over, and picks it up.
Thor recognizes now that the strange hall the travelers had stayed at was, in fact, Skrymir’s glove. The thumb was the room to the side, and the fingers were the four long halls.
Sources: The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (Penguin Classics, 2005).
The Definitive Guide to Norse Mythology: The Gods, Heroes, Monsters, and Legends of Viking Culture by Finn D. Moore (2022).
