“If any one knows where this kettle is, let him speak, and I will bring
it back; and I promise you you shall not wait long for the feast.”
But not one in all this company knew aught about the missing kettle. At
last Tyr stood up and said,--
“If we cannot find the same vessel that our host has lost, mayhap we
may find another as good. I know a dogwise giant who lives east of the
Rivers Elivagar, and who has a strong kettle, fully a mile deep, and
large enough to brew ale for all the world.”
“That is the very kettle we want!” cried Thor. “Think you that we can
get it?”
“If we are cunning enough, we may,” answered Tyr. “But old Hymer will
never give it up willingly.”
“Is it Hymer of whom you speak?” asked Thor. “Then I know him well; and,
willingly or not willingly he must let us have his kettle. For what is a
feast without the gladsome ale?”
Then Thor and Tyr set out on their journey towards the land of Elivagar;
and they travelled many a league northwards, across snowy mountains
and barren plains, until they came to the shores of the frozen sea. And
there the sun rises and sets but once a year, and even in summer the sea
is full of ice. On the lonely beach, stood Hymer’s dwelling,--a dark
and gloomy abode. Tyr knocked at the door; and it was opened by Hymer’s
wife, a strangely handsome woman, who bade them come in. Inside the hall
they saw Hymer’s old mother, sitting in the chimney-corner, and crooning
over the smouldering fire. She was a horribly ugly old giantess, with
nine hundred heads; but every head was blind and deaf and toothless. Ah,
me! what a wretched old age that must have been!
“Is your husband at home?” asked Thor, speaking to the pretty woman who
had opened the door.
“He is not,” was the answer. “He is catching fish in the warm waters of
the sheltered bay; or, mayhap, he is tending his cows in the open sea,
just around the headland.”
For the great icebergs that float down from the frozen sea are called
old Hymer’s cows.
“We have come a very long journey,” said Tyr. “Will you not give
two tired strangers food and lodging until they shall have rested
themselves?”
The woman seemed in nowise loath to do this; and she set before the two
Asa-folk a plentiful meal of the best that she had in the house. When
they had eaten, she told them that it would be far safer for them to
hide themselves under the great kettles in the hall; for, she said, her
husband would soon be home, and he might not be kind to them. So Thor
and Tyr hid themselves, and listened for Hymer’s coming. After a time,
the great hall-door opened, and they heard the heavy steps of the giant.
“Welcome home!” cried the woman, as Hymer shook the frost from his hair
and beard, and stamped the snow from his feet. “I am so glad that you
have come! for there are two strangers in the hall, and they have asked
for you. One of them I know is Thor, the foe of the giants, and the
friend of man. The other is the one-armed god of war, the brave Tyr.
What can be their errand at Hymer’s hall?”
“Where are they?” roared Hymer, stamping so furiously, that even his
deaf old mother seemed to hear, and lifted up her heads.
“They are under the kettles, at the gable-end of the hall,” answered the
woman.
Hymer cast a wrathful glance towards the place. The post at the end of
the hall was shivered in pieces by his very look; the beam that upheld
the floor of the loft was broken, and all the kettles tumbled down with
a fearful crash. Thor and Tyr crept out from among the rubbish, and
stood before old Hymer. The giant was not well pleased at the sight of
such guests come thus unbidden to his hall. But he knew that his rude
strength would count as nothing if matched with their skill and weapons:
hence he deemed it wise to treat the two Asas as his friends, and to
meet them with cunning and strategy.
“Welcome to my hall!” he cried. “Fear no hurt from Hymer, for he was
never known to harm a guest.”
And Thor and Tyr were given the warmest seats at the fireside. And the
giant ordered his thralls to kill the fatted oxen, and to make ready a
great feast in honor of his guests. And, while the meal was being got
ready, he sat by Thor’s side, and asked him many questions about what
was going on in the great South-land. And Thor answered him pleasantly,
meeting guile with guile. When the feast was in readiness, all sat down
at the table, which groaned beneath its weight of meat and drink; for
Hymer’s thralls had killed three fat oxen, and baked them whole for
this meal, and they had filled three huge bowls with ale from his great
brewing-kettle. Hymer ate and drank very fast, and wished to make his
guests fear him, because he could eat so much. But Thor was not to be
taken aback in this way; for he at once ate two of the oxen, and quaffed
a huge bowl of ale which the giant had set aside for himself. The giant
saw that he was outdone, and he arose from the table, saying,--
“Not all my cows would serve to feed two guests so hungry as these. We
shall be obliged to live on fish now.”
He strode out of the hall without another word, and began getting his
boat ready for a sail. But Thor followed him.
“It is a fine day for fishing,” said Thor gayly. “How I should like to
go out with you!”
“Such little fellows as you would better stay at home,” growled Hymer.
“But let me go with you,” persisted Thor. “I can certainly row the boat
while you fish.”
“I have no need of help from such a stunted pygmy,” muttered the giant.
“You could not be of the least use to me: you would only be in my way.
Still, if you are bent on doing so, you may go, and you shall take all
the risks. If I go as far as I do sometimes, and stay as long as I often
do, you may make up your mind never to see the dry land again; for you
will certainly catch your death of cold, and be food for the fishes--if,
indeed, they would deign to eat such a scrawny scrap!”
These taunting words made Thor so angry, that he grasped his hammer, and
was sorely tempted to crush the giant’s skull. But he checked himself,
and coolly said,--
“I pray you not to trouble yourself on my account I have set my head on
going with you, and go I will. Tell me where I can find something that I
can use for bait, and I will be ready in a trice.”
“I have no bait for you,” roughly answered Hymer “You must look for it
yourself.”
Half a dozen oxen, the very finest and fattest of Hymer’s herd, were
grazing on the short grass which grew on the sunnier slopes of the
hillside; for not all of the giant’s cattle had yet taken to the water.
When Thor saw these great beasts, he ran quickly towards them, and
seizing the largest one, which Hymer called the Heaven-breaker, he
twisted off his head as easily as he would that of a small fowl, and ran
back with it to the boat. Hymer looked at him in anger and amazement,
but said nothing; and the two pushed the boat off from the shore. The
little vessel sped through the water more swiftly than it had ever done
before, for Thor plied the oars.
In a moment the long, low beach was out of sight; and Hymer, who had
never travelled so fast, began to feel frightened.
“Stop!” he cried. “Here is the place to fish: I have often caught great
store of flat-fish here. Let us out with our lines!”
“No, no!” answered Thor; and he kept on plying the oars. “We are not yet
far enough from shore. The best fish are still many leagues out.”
And the boat skimmed onwards through the waters, and the white spray
dashed over the prow; and Hymer, now very much frightened, sat still,
and looked at his strange fellow-fisherman, but said not a word. On and
on they went; and the shore behind them first grew dim, and then sank
out of sight; and the high mountain-tops began to fade away in the sky,
and then were seen no more. And when at last the fishermen were so far
out at sea that nothing was in sight but the rolling waters on every
side, Thor stopped his rowing.
“We have come too far!” cried the giant, trembling in every limb. “The
great Midgard snake lies hereabouts. Let us turn back!”
“Not yet,” answered Thor quietly. “We will fish here a little while.”
Without loss of time he took from his pocket a strong hook, wonderfully
made, to which he fastened a long line as strong as ten ships’ cables
twisted together; then he carefully baited the hook with the gory head
of the Heaven-breaker ox, and threw it into the water. As the giant had
feared, they were now right over the head of the great Midgard snake.
The huge beast looked upward with his sleepy eyes, and saw the tempting
bait falling slowly through the water; but he did not see the boat, it
was so far above him. Thinking of no harm, he opened his leathern jaws,
and greedily gulped the morsel down; but the strong iron hook stuck fast
in his throat. Maddened by the pain, he began to lash his tail against
the floor of the sea; and he twisted and writhed until the ocean was
covered with foam, and the waves ran mountain-high. But Thor pulled hard
upon the line above, and strove to lift the reptile’s head out of the
water; then the snake darted with lightning speed away, pulling the boat
after him so swiftly, that, had not Thor held on to the oar-locks, he
would have been thrown into the sea. Quickly he tightened his magic
girdle of strength around him, and, standing up in the boat, he pulled
with all his might. The snake would not be lifted. But the boat split in
two; and Thor slid into the water, and stood upon the bottom of the sea.
He seized the great snake in his hands, and raised his head clean above
the water. What a scene of frightful turmoil was there then! The earth
shook; the mountains belched forth fire; the lightnings flashed; the
caves howled; and the sky grew black and red. Nobody knows what the end
would have been, had not Hymer reached over, and cut the strong cord.
The slippery snake glided out of Thor’s hands, and hid himself in the
deep sea; and every thing became quiet again.
Silently Thor and Hymer sat in the broken boat, and rowed swiftly back
towards land. Thor felt really ashamed of himself, because he had gained
nothing by his venture. And the giant was not at all happy.
When they reached the frozen shore and Hymer’s cheerless castle again,
they found Tyr there, anxiously waiting for them. He felt that they were
tarrying too long in this dreary place; and he wished to be back among
his fellows in old AEgir’s hall. Hymer felt very cross and ugly because
his boat had been broken; and, when they came into the hall, he said to
Thor,--
“You may think that you are very stout,--you who dared attack the
Midgard snake, and lifted him out of the sea. Yet there are many little
things that you cannot do. For instance, here is the earthen goblet from
which I drink my ale. Great men, like myself, can crush such goblets
between their thumbs and fingers; but such puny fellows as you will find
that they cannot break it by any means.”
“Let me try!” cried Thor.
He took the great goblet in his hands, and threw it with all his
strength against a stone post in the middle of the hall. The post was
shattered into a thousand pieces, but the goblet was unharmed.
“Ha, ha!” laughed the giant. “Try again!”
Thor did so. This time he threw it against a huge granite rock that
stood like a mountain near the seashore. The rock crumbled in pieces and
fell, but the goblet was whole as ever.
“What a very stout fellow you are!” cried Hymer in glee. “Go home now,
and tell the good Asa-folk that you cannot even break a goblet!”
“Let me try once more,” said Thor, amazed, but not disheartened.
“Throw it against Hymer’s forehead,” whispered some one over his
shoulder. “It is harder than any rock.”
Thor looked, and saw that it was the giant’s handsome wife who had
given him this kind advice. He took the goblet, and hurled it quickly,
straight at old Hymer’s head. The giant had no time to dodge. The
vessel struck him squarely between the eyes, and was shattered into ten
thousand little pieces. But the giant’s forehead was unhurt.
“That drink was rather hot!” cried Hymer, trying to joke at his ill
luck. “But it doesn’t take a very great man to break a goblet. There
is one thing, however, that you cannot do. Yonder is my great
brewing-kettle, a mile deep. No man has ever lifted it. Now, if you will
carry it out of the hall, where it sits, you may have it for your own.”
“Agreed!” cried Thor. “It is a fair bargain; and, if I fail, I will go
home and never trouble you again.”
Then he took hold of the edge of the great kettle, and lifted it with
all his might. The floor of Hymer’s hall broke under him, and the walls
and roof came tumbling down; but he turned the kettle over his head,
and walked away with it, the great rings of the vessel clattering at his
heels. Tyr went before him, and cleared the way; and Hymer gazed
after him in utter amazement. The two Asa-folk had fairly won the
brewing-kettle.
In due time they reached old AEgir’s hall, where the guests were still
waiting for them. Some said that they had been gone three days, but most
agreed that it was only three hours. Be that as it may, AEgir’s thralls,
Funfeng and Elder, brewed great store of ale in the kettle which Thor
had brought; and, when the guests were seated at the table, the foaming
liquor passed itself around to each, and there was much merriment and
glad good cheer. And old AEgir was so happy in the pleasant company of
the Asa-folk, that men say that he forgot to blow and bluster for a full
six months thereafter.[EN#14]
Such was the story which the wise harper told to Siegfried as they
sailed gayly along the Norwegian shore. And with many other pleasant
tales did they beguile the hours away. And no one ever thought of
danger, for the sky was blue and cloudless. And, besides this, Bragi
himself was on board; and he could charm and control the rudest
elements.
One day, however, the sea became unaccountably ruffled. There was no
wind; but yet the waves rose suddenly, and threatened to overwhelm the
little ship. Quickly the sailors sprang to their oars, and tried by
rowing to drive the vessel away from the shore and into the quieter
waters of the open sea. But all their strength was of no avail: the
swift stream carried the little bark onward in its course, as an autumn
leaf is borne on the bosom of a mighty river. Then the whole surface
of the water seemed lashed into fury. The waves formed hundreds of
currents, each stronger than a mountain torrent, and each seeming to
follow a course of its own. They clashed wildly against each other; they
heaved, and boiled, and hissed, and threw great clouds of spray high
into the air; they formed deep whirlpools, which twisted and twirled,
and broke into a thousand eddies, and then plunged deep down into rocky
caverns beneath, or laid bare the bottom of the sea. The helpless ship
was carried round and round, swiftly and more swiftly still; and vain
were the efforts of the crew to steer her out of the seething caldron
of waters. Then the cheeks of the sailors grew white with fear; and they
dropped their oars, and clung to the masts and ropes, and cried out,--
“Alas, we are lost! This is old AEgir’s brewing-kettle!”