Thor and Loki Go to Utgard, pt 4: The Challenges

Part 4 of 4 in Thor and Loki Go to Utgard. In Part 3, Skrymir, a large man carried the travelers’ food in a sack Thor could not open, and three blows of Thor’s hammer could not wake him. Now the four reach Utgard and its king, Utgard-Loki, who sets them three contests they cannot win.

Just a short time after leaving Skrymir, around midday, Thor, Loki, Thialfi, and Roskva came upon a fortress surrounded by walls and a gate. It was Utgard, home of the giants. The fortress was so tall that when they tried to look over it, the backs of their heads touched their necks. When they came to the gate, Thor could not open it. However, the gate was so huge that the travelers were able to squeeze between its bars. Inside the gate was a huge hall with its doors open. Huge men and women sat on two benches inside the hall.

Meeting Utgard-Loki

The travelers went to the king, Utgard-Loki and presented themselves. The king took his time in noticing them and noted that while news traveled slowly to his kingdom, he could not be mistaken in knowing Thor the Charioteer. “I thought you’d be bigger,” Utgard-Loki said. “At any rate, no one can feast here who does not show himself to be the best at something. What skills or knowledge do you have that is greater than that of all other men?”

Loki’s Challenge

Loki, no relation to the king despite the shared name, was hungry. “I can eat faster than anyone,” the god said.

Utgard-Loki had a trough set out, full of meat, and called on a man named Logi. Loki and Logi started at opposite ends and met in the middle. Loki had eaten all the meat on his side. Logi had eaten the meat, the bones, and his half of the trough. Loki had lost.

Thialfi’s Challenge

Utgard-Loki asked Thialfi what he did best of all. Thialfi said he could outrun anyone there. Utgard-Loki took the group out to the race course and called on the smaller giant Hugi to compete against Thialfi.

The first time around the course, Hugi was far enough in the lead to turn around and face Thialfi while Hugi crossed the finish line. Utgard-Loki recognized that Thialfi was probably the fastest person who had ever arrived in Utgard but told Thialfi he would have to exert himself more if he were going to win. At the end of the second heat, Thialfi was a long bow shot behind Hugi, and at the end of the third, Hugi had crossed the finish line before Thialfi had made it halfway around the course. Thialfi had lost.

Thor’s First Challenge

Utgard-Loki looked at Thor and asked what Thor would like to prove himself with. Thor, confident in his drinking ability, said he would pit himself against anyone in a drinking contest. Utgard-Loki called for his cupbearer to bring in the feasting horn he usually used with his men.

When the horn arrived, Utgard-Loki told Thor that thirsty men would drain the horn in one drink, and almost everyone else might take two. However, it would be a weak drinker indeed who could not drain the horn in three drinks.

Thor accepted the challenge. He lifted the horn to his lips and took a long pull. He kept drinking without removing the horn from his mouth. Finally, he grew tired of it and believed he must be close to the end. When he lowered the cup and looked in, he saw the liquid hadn’t gone down more than a couple of inches. His second attempt fared no better. By the third, Thor realized he could not empty the drinking horn.

Utgard-Loki told Thor his drinking wasn’t much, and he would never be thought a great man in the halls of Utgard unless he did better at other contests.

Thor’s Second Challenge

Thor, having been beaten in the drinking contest, asked Utgard-Loki what game he recommended Thor compete in.

Utgard-Loki smiled and said he wouldn’t have thought of suggesting it before, but now that he knew Thor wasn’t as strong as the stories made it out to be, he could recommend Thor try lifting the stronghold cat the way the little boys of Utgard did.

A gray cat appeared in the hall and Thor tried to lift it by its belly. Thor stretched as high as he could, but he only succeeded in lifting one paw off the ground.

Utgard-Loki said the result was what he expected. Thor was small, after all, beside the men of Utgard.

Thor’s Third Challenge

Thor, now angry, challenged anyone there to wrestle him.

Utgard-Loki looked around at his men and said wrestling Thor would be beneath all of them. Instead he called his old nurse, Elli, who had thrown men as strong as Thor.

The old woman came in, and Thor wrestled with her. However, Thor couldn’t move her. As the match went on, Thor began to lose his footing and was sent to one knee. Utgard-Loki stopped the match, showed the companions to their seats at the bench, and they were treated well for the rest of the night.

How Thor Lost the Utgard Challenges

The next morning, Thor and his companions were given a good breakfast, and Utgard-Loki escorted them out of the fortress. Once they were outside the gate, Utgard-Loki wanted to know if Thor had met anyone more powerful. Thor admitted his own dishonor and was chagrined that Utgard’s men would think so little of Thor.

Once they were outside the gates, Utgard-Loki said he could now tell the truth. “If I had known how strong you are, I would never have let you in. And as long as I live, you will never come back. You nearly brought disaster on us all.”

Utgard-Loki Reveals His Tricks

Utgard-Loki confessed that he was Skrymir. He had tied the bag with magic iron wire so Thor couldn’t open it. Each time Thor struck, he had slipped a mountain between himself and the hammer. He pointed to a flat-topped mountain with three square valleys, the marks of Thor’s mighty blows.

The giant who competed against Loki was wildfire. Nothing consumes faster than wildfire. Thialfi ran against thought. What is faster than thought? The drinking horn, which Thor couldn’t see the end of, was the ocean. Thor had drunk so much that he created the tides on Midgard.

Utgard-Loki continued to explain the feats to Thor. The cat was no cat. It was the Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr. Thor had lifted the serpent so high that its body had touched the sky. After all of this, Thor wrestled against Old Age. The fact that he fell to only one knee was amazing because no one can defeat Old Age.

Utgard-Loki said that it would be better if they never met again. If they did, Utgard-Loki would defend his fortress with the same trickery.

Utgard-Loki Vanishes

Thor raised Mjölnir to strike, but Utgard-Loki was gone, and so was the fortress. Only an empty plain remained. Thor went home, but he did not forget the serpent he had almost lifted from the earth. He would meet Jörmungandr again.

Next: Thor and Hymir Fish for the Midgard Serpent, where Thor finds Jörmungandr again. The serpent’s own story is in Vikings and Dragons. The whole series: Part 1, The Goat Feast · Part 2, The Strange Hall · Part 3, Skrymir · Part 4, The Challenges.