THOR.
[Sidenote: Thor’s foster parents.]
According to some mythologists, Thor, or Donar, is the son of Jörd
(Erda), and of Odin, but others state that his mother was Frigga, queen
of the gods. This child was very remarkable for his great size and
strength, and very soon after his birth amazed the assembled gods by
playfully lifting and throwing about ten loads of bear skins. Although
generally good tempered, Thor occasionally flew into a terrible rage,
and as he was very dangerous under these circumstances, his mother,
unable to control him, sent him away from home and intrusted him to
the care of Vingnir (the winged), and of Hlora (heat). These foster
parents, who are also considered as the personification of sheet
lightning, soon managed to control their troublesome charge, and
brought him up so wisely, that all the gods were duly grateful for
their kind offices. Thor himself, recognizing all he owed them, assumed
the names of Vingthor and Hlorridi, by which he is also known.
“Cry on, Vingi-Thor,
With the dancing of the ring-mail and the smitten shields of war.”
SIGURD THE VOLSUNG (William Morris).
Having attained his full growth and the age of reason, Thor was
admitted in Asgard among the other gods, where he occupied one of the
twelve seats in the great judgment hall. He was also given the realm
of Thrud-vang or Thrud-heim, where he built a wonderful palace called
Bilskirnir (lightning), the most spacious in all Asgard. It contained
five hundred and forty halls for the accommodation of the thralls,
who after death were welcomed to his home, where they were treated as
well as their masters in Valhalla, for Thor was the patron god of the
peasants and lower classes.
“Five hundred halls
And forty more,
Methinketh, hath
Bowed Bilskirnir.
Of houses roofed
There’s none I know
My son’s surpassing.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Percy’s tr.).
As he was god of thunder, Thor alone was never allowed to pass over the
wonderful bridge Bifröst, lest he should set it aflame by the heat of
his presence; and when he daily wished to join his fellow gods by the
Urdar fountain, under the shade of the sacred tree Yggdrasil, he was
forced to make his way thither on foot, wading through the rivers Kormt
and Ormt, and the two streams Kerlaug, to the trysting place.
Thor, who was honored as the highest god in Norway, came second in
the trilogy of all the other countries, and was called “old Thor,”
because he is supposed by some mythologists to have belonged to an
older dynasty of gods, and not on account of his actual age, for he was
represented and described as a man in his prime, tall and well formed,
with muscular limbs and bristling red hair and beard, from which, in
moments of anger, the sparks fairly flew.
“First, Thor with the bent brow,
In red beard muttering low,
Darting fierce lightnings from eyeballs that glow,
Comes, while each chariot wheel
Echoes in thunder peal,
As his dread hammer shock
Makes Earth and Heaven rock,
Clouds rifting above, while Earth quakes below.”
VALHALLA (J. C. Jones).
The Northern races further adorned him with a crown, on each point of
which was either a glittering star, or a steadily burning flame, so
that his head was ever surrounded by a kind of halo of fire, his own
element.
[Sidenote: Thor’s hammer.]
Thor was the proud possessor of a magic hammer called Miölnir (the
crusher) which he hurled at his enemies, the frost giants, with
destructive power, and which possessed the wonderful property of always
returning to his hand, however far away he might hurl it.
“I am the Thunderer!
Here in my Northland,
My fastness and fortress,
Reign I forever!
“Here amid icebergs
Rule I the nations;
This is my hammer,
Miölnir the mighty;
Giants and sorcerers
Cannot withstand it!”
SAGA OF KING OLAF (Longfellow).
As this huge hammer, the emblem of the thunderbolts, was generally red
hot, the god had an iron gauntlet called Iarn-greiper, which enabled
him to grasp it firmly and hurl it very far, his strength, which was
already remarkable, being always doubled when he wore his magic belt
called Megin-giörd.
“This is my girdle:
Whenever I brace it,
Strength is redoubled!”
SAGA OF KING OLAF (Longfellow).
Thor’s hammer was considered so very sacred by the ancient Northern
people, that they were wont to make the sign of the hammer, as the
Christians later taught them to make the sign of the cross, to ward
off all evil influences, and to secure many blessings. The same sign
was also made over the newly born infant when water was poured over
its head and a name given it. The hammer was used to drive in boundary
stakes, which it was considered sacrilegious to remove, to hallow
the threshold of a new house, to solemnize a marriage, and, lastly,
to consecrate the funeral pyre upon which the bodies of heroes were
burned, together with their weapons and steeds, and, in some cases,
with their wives and dependents.
In Sweden, Thor, like Odin, was supposed to wear a broad-brimmed hat,
and hence the storm clouds in that country are known as Thor’s hat, a
name also given to one of the principal mountains in Norway. The rumble
and roar of the thunder were called the roll of his chariot, for he
alone among the gods never rode on horseback, but walked, or drove
in a brazen chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngniostr (tooth cracker),
and Tanngrisnr (tooth gnasher), from whose teeth and hoofs the sparks
constantly flew.
“Thou camest near the next, O warrior Thor!
Shouldering thy hammer, in thy chariot drawn,
Swaying the long-hair’d goats with silver’d rein.”
BALDER DEAD (Matthew Arnold).
When the god thus drove about from place to place, he was called
Aku-thor, or Thor the charioteer, and in southern Germany the people,
fancying a brazen chariot alone inadequate to furnish all the noise
they heard, declared it was loaded with copper kettles, which rattled
and clashed, and therefore often called him, with disrespectful
familiarity, the kettle vender.
[Sidenote: Thor’s family.]
Thor was twice married; first to the giantess Iarnsaxa (iron stone),
who bore him two sons, Magni (strength) and Modi (courage), both
destined to survive their father and twilight of the gods, and rule
over the new world which was to rise like a phenix from the ashes of
the first. His second wife was Sif, the golden-haired, who also bore
him two children, Lorride, and a daughter named Thrud, a young giantess
renowned for her size and strength. By the well-known affinity of
contrast, Thrud was wooed by the dwarf Alvis, whom she rather favored;
and one evening, when this suitor, who, being a dwarf, could not face
the light of day, presented himself in Asgard to sue for her hand,
the assembled gods did not refuse their consent. They had scarcely
signified their approbation, however, when Thor, who had been absent,
suddenly appeared, and casting a glance of contempt upon the puny
lover, declared he would have to prove that his knowledge atoned for
his small stature, before he could win his bride.
To test Alvis’s mental powers, Thor then questioned him in the language
of the gods, Vanas, elves, and dwarfs, artfully prolonging his
examination until sunrise, when the first beam of light, falling upon
the unhappy dwarf, petrified him. There he stood, an enduring example
of the gods’ power, and served as a warning to all other dwarfs who
would fain have tested it.
“Ne’er in human bosom
Have I found so many
Words of the old time.
Thee with subtlest cunning
Have I yet befooled.
Above ground standeth thou, dwarf,
By day art overtaken,
Bright sunshine fills the hall.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Howitt’s version).
[Sidenote: Sif, the golden-haired.]
Sif, Thor’s wife, was very vain of a magnificent head of long golden
hair which covered her from head to foot like a brilliant veil; and
as she too was a symbol of the earth, her hair was said to represent
the long grass, or the golden grain covering the Northern harvest
fields. Thor was very proud of his wife’s beautiful hair; imagine his
dismay, therefore, upon waking one morning, to find her all shorn,
and as bald and denuded of ornament as the earth when the grain has
all been garnered, and nothing but the stubble remains! In his anger,
Thor sprang to his feet, vowing he would punish the perpetrator of
this outrage, whom he immediately and rightly conjectured to be Loki,
the arch plotter, ever on the lookout for some evil deed to perform.
Seizing his hammer, Thor soon overtook Loki in spite of his attempting
to evade him by changing form, caught him by the throat, and almost
strangled him ere he yielded to his imploring signs, and slightly
loosed his powerful grasp. As soon as Loki could catch his breath,
he implored forgiveness, but all his entreaties were vain, until he
promised to procure for Sif a new head of hair, as beautiful as the
first, and as luxuriant in growth.
“And thence for Sif new tresses I’ll bring
Of gold, ere the daylight’s gone,
So that she shall liken a field in spring,
With its yellow-flowered garment on.”
THE DWARFS, OEHLENSCHLÄGER (Pigott’s tr.).
Thor, hearing this, consented to let the traitor go; so Loki rapidly
crept down into the bowels of the earth, where Svart-alfa-heim was
situated, to beg the dwarf Dvalin to fashion not only the precious
hair, but a present for Odin and Frey, whose anger he wished to disarm.
The dwarf soon made the spear Gungnir, which never failed in its aim,
and the ship Skidbladnir, which, always wafted by favorable winds,
could sail through the air as well as on the water, and was so elastic,
that although it could contain the gods and all their steeds, it could
be folded up into the very smallest compass and thrust in one’s pocket.
Lastly, he spun the very finest golden thread, from which he fashioned
the required hair for Sif, declaring that as soon as it touched her
head it would grow fast there and become alive.
“Though they now seem dead, let them touch but her head,
Each hair shall the life-moisture fill;
Nor shall malice nor spell henceforward prevail
Sif’s tresses to work aught of ill.”
THE DWARFS, OEHLENSCHLÄGER (Pigott’s tr.).
Loki was so pleased with these proofs of the dwarfs’ skill that he
declared the son of Ivald was the most clever of smiths--words which
were overheard by Brock, another dwarf, who exclaimed that he was sure
his brother Sindri could produce three objects which would surpass
those which Loki held, not only in intrinsic value, but also in magical
properties. Loki immediately challenged the dwarf to show his skill,
wagering his head against Brock’s on the result of the undertaking.
Sindri, apprised of the wager, accepted Brock’s offer to blow the
bellows, warning him, however, that he must work persistently if he
wished to succeed; then he threw some gold in the fire, and went out
to bespeak the favor of the hidden powers. During his absence Brock
diligently plied the bellows, while Loki, hoping to make him fail,
changed himself into a gadfly and cruelly stung his hand. In spite
of the pain, the dwarf did not let go, and when Sindri returned, he
drew out of the fire an enormous wild boar, called Gullin-bursti, on
account of its golden bristles, which had the power of radiating light
as he flitted across the sky, for he could travel through the air with
marvelous velocity.
“And now, strange to tell, from the roaring fire
Came the golden-haired Gullinbörst,
To serve as a charger the sun-god Frey,
Sure, of all wild boars this the first.”
THE DWARFS, OEHLENSCHLÄGER (Pigott’s tr.).
This first piece of work successfully completed, Sindri flung some more
gold on the fire and bade his brother blow, ere he again went out to
secure magic assistance. This time Loki, still disguised as a gadfly,
stung the dwarf on his cheek; but in spite of the pain Brock worked on,
and when Sindri returned, he triumphantly drew out of the flames the
magic ring Draupnir, the emblem of fertility, from which eight similar
rings dropped every ninth night.
“They worked it and turned it with wondrous skill,
Till they gave it the virtue rare,
That each thrice third night from its rim there fell
Eight rings, as their parent fair.”
THE DWARFS, OEHLENSCHLÄGER (Pigott’s tr.).
Now a lump of iron was cast in the flames, and with a new caution not
to forfeit their success by inattention, Sindri passed out, leaving
Brock to ply the bellows and wrestle with the gadfly, which this time
stung him above the eye until the blood began to flow in such a stream,
that it prevented his seeing what he was doing. Hastily raising his
hand for a second, Brock dashed aside the stream of blood; but short as
was the interruption, Sindri uttered an exclamation of disappointment
when he drew his work out of the fire, for the hammer he had fashioned
had too short a handle.
“Then the dwarf raised his hand to his brow for the smart,
Ere the iron well out was beat,
And they found that the haft by an inch was too short,
But to alter it then ’twas too late.”
THE DWARFS, OEHLENSCHLÄGER (Pigott’s tr.).
Notwithstanding this mishap, Brock was so sure of winning the wager
that he did not hesitate to present himself before the gods in Asgard,
gave Odin the ring Draupnir, Frey the boar Gullin-bursti, and Thor the
hammer Miölnir, whose power none could resist.
Loki immediately gave the spear Gungnir to Odin, the ship Skidbladnir
to Frey, and the golden hair to Thor; but although the latter
immediately grew upon Sif’s head and was unanimously declared more
beautiful than her own locks had ever been, the gods decreed that Brock
had won the wager, for the hammer Miölnir, in Thor’s hands, would prove
invaluable against the frost giants on the last day.
“And at their head came Thor,
Shouldering his hammer, which the giants know.”
BALDER DEAD (Matthew Arnold).
Wishing to save his head, Loki fled, but was soon overtaken by Thor,
who brought him back and handed him over to Brock, telling him,
however, that although Loki’s head was rightfully his, he must not
touch his neck. Thus hindered from obtaining full vengeance, the
dwarf tried to sew Loki’s lips together, but, as his sword would not
pierce them, he was obliged to borrow his brother’s awl. However, Loki,
after enduring the gods’ gibes in silence for a little while, managed
to cut the string and was soon as loquacious as ever.
[Illustration: THOR.]
In spite of his redoubtable hammer, Thor was never considered as the
injurious god of the storm, who destroyed peaceful homesteads and
ruined the harvest by sudden hail storms and cloud bursts, for the
Northerners fancied he hurled it only against ice giants and rocky
walls, reducing the latter to powder to fertilize the earth and make it
yield plentiful fruit to the tillers of the soil.
In Germany, where the eastern storms are always cold and blighting,
while the western bring warm rains and mild weather, Thor was supposed
to journey always from west to east, to wage war against the evil
spirits which would fain have enveloped the country in impenetrable
veils of mist and have bound it in icy fetters.
[Sidenote: Journey to Jötun-heim.]
As the giants from Jötun-heim were continually sending out cold blasts
of wind to nip the tender buds and hinder the growth of the flowers,
Thor once made up his mind to go and force them to better behavior.
Accompanied by Loki he therefore set out in his chariot. After riding
for a whole day the gods came at nightfall to the confines of the
giant-world, where, seeing a peasant’s hut, they resolved to spend the
night and refresh themselves.
Their host was hospitable but very poor, and Thor seeing that he would
scarcely be able to supply the necessary food to satisfy his by no
means small appetite, slew both his goats, which he cooked and began to
eat, inviting his host and family to partake freely of the food thus
provided, but cautioning them to throw all the bones, without breaking
them, into the skins spread out on the floor.
The peasant and his family ate heartily, but a youth called Thialfi,
encouraged by Loki, ventured to break one of the bones and suck out
the marrow, thinking his disobedience would never be detected. On the
morrow, however, Thor, ready to depart, struck the goat skins with
his hammer Miölnir, and immediately the goats sprang up as lively as
before, except that one seemed somewhat lame. Perceiving in a second
that his commands had been disregarded, Thor would have slain the whole
family in his wrath. The culprit acknowledged his fault, however, and
the peasant offered to compensate for the loss by giving the irate god
not only his son Thialfi, but also his daughter Roskva, to serve him
forever.
Charging the man to take good care of the goats, which he left there
until he should return, and bidding the young peasants accompany him,
Thor now set out on foot with Loki, and after walking all day found
himself at nightfall in a bleak and barren country, which was enveloped
in an almost impenetrable gray mist. After seeking for some time,
Thor saw through the fog the uncertain outline of what looked like
a peculiar-shaped house. Its open portal was so wide and high that
it seemed to take up all one side of the house. Entering and finding
neither fire nor light, Thor and his companions flung themselves
wearily down on the floor to sleep, but were soon disturbed by a
peculiar noise, and a prolonged trembling of the ground beneath them.
Fearing lest the main roof should fall during this earthquake, Thor
and his companions took refuge in a wing of the building, where they
soon fell sound asleep. At dawn, the god and his companions passed
out, but they had not gone very far ere they saw the recumbent form
of a sleeping giant, and perceived that the peculiar sounds which
had disturbed their rest were produced by his snores. At that moment
the giant awoke, arose, stretched himself, looked about him for his
missing property, and a second later he picked up the object which
Thor and his companions had mistaken in the darkness for a house. They
then perceived with amazement that the wing in which they had all
slept was the separate place in a mitten for the giant’s great thumb!
Learning that Thor and his companions were on their way to Utgard,
as the giants’ realm was also called, Skrymir, the giant, proposed to
be their guide; and after walking with them all day, he offered them
the provisions in his wallet ere he dropped asleep. But, in spite of
strenuous efforts, neither Thor nor his companions could unfasten the
knots which Skrymir had tied.
“Skrymir’s thongs
Seemed to thee hard,
When at the food thou couldst not get,
When, in full health, of hunger dying.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Thorpe’s tr.).
[Sidenote: Utgard-loki.]
Angry because of his snoring, which kept them awake, Thor thrice
dealt him fearful blows with his hammer. These strokes, instead of
annihilating the monster, merely evoked sleepy comments to the effect
that a leaf, a bit of bark, or a twig from a bird’s nest overhead had
fallen upon his face. Early on the morrow, Skrymir left Thor and his
companions, pointing out the shortest road to Utgard-loki’s castle,
which was built of great ice blocks, with huge glittering icicles
as pillars. The gods, slipping between the bars of the great gate,
presented themselves boldly before the king of the giants, Utgard-loki,
who, recognizing them, immediately pretended to be greatly surprised
at their small size, and expressed a wish to see for himself what they
could do, as he had often heard their prowess vaunted.
Loki, who had fasted longer than he wished, immediately declared he
was ready to eat for a wager with any one. So the king ordered a great
wooden trough full of meat to be brought into the hall, and placing
Loki at one end and his cook Logi at the other, he bade them see which
would win. Although Loki did wonders, and soon reached the middle of
the trough, he still found himself beaten, for whereas he had picked
the bones clean, his opponent had devoured both them and the trough.
Smiling contemptuously, Utgard-loki said that it was evident they
could not do much in the eating line, and so nettled Thor thereby,
that he declared if Loki could not eat more than the voracious cook,
he felt confident he could drain the biggest vessel in the house, such
was his unquenchable thirst. Immediately a horn was brought in, and,
Utgard-loki declaring that good drinkers emptied it at one draught,
moderately thirsty persons at two, and small drinkers at three, Thor
applied his lips to the rim. But, although he drank so deep that he
thought he would burst, the liquid still came almost up to the rim
when he raised his head. A second and third attempt to empty this
horn proved equally unsuccessful. Thialfi then offered to run a race,
and a young fellow named Hugi soon outstripped him, although he made
remarkably good time.
Thor next proposed to show his strength by lifting great weights, but
when challenged to pick up the giant’s cat, he tugged and strained,
only to succeed in raising one paw from the floor, although he had
taken the precaution to enhance his strength as much as possible by
tightening his belt Megin-giörd.
“Strong is great Thor, no doubt, when Megingarder
He braces tightly o’er his rock-firm loins.”
VIKING TALES OF THE NORTH (R. B. Anderson).
An attempt on his part to wrestle with Utgard-loki’s old nurse Elli,
the only opponent deemed worthy of such a puny fellow, ended equally
disastrously, and the gods, acknowledging they were beaten, were
hospitably entertained. On the morrow they were escorted to the
confines of Utgard, where the giant politely informed them that he
hoped they would never call upon him again, as he had been forced to
employ magic against them. He then went on to explain that he was the
giant Skrymir, and that had he not taken the precaution to interpose a
mountain between his head and Thor’s blows, he would have been slain,
as deep clefts in the mountain side testified to the god’s strength.
Next he informed them that Loki’s opponent was Logi (wild fire); that
Thialfi had run a race with Hugi (thought), than which no swifter
runner exists; that Thor’s drinking horn was connected with the ocean,
where his deep draughts had produced a perceptible ebb; that the cat
was in reality the terrible Midgard snake encircling the world, which
Thor had nearly pulled out of the sea; and that Elli, his nurse, was
old age, whom none can resist. Having finished these explanations and
cautioned them never to return or he would defend himself by similar
delusions, Utgard-loki vanished, and although Thor angrily brandished
his hammer to destroy his castle, such a mist enveloped it that it
could not be seen, and the thunder god was obliged to return to
Thrud-vang without having accomplished his purpose, the extermination
of the race of giants.
“The strong-armed Thor
Full oft against giant Jötun-heim did wend,
But spite his belt celestial, spite his gauntlets,
Utgard-Loki still his throne retains;
Evil, itself a force, to force yields never.”
VIKING TALES OF THE NORTH (R. B. Anderson).
[Sidenote: Thor and Hrungnir.]
As Odin was once dashing through the air on his eight-footed steed
Sleipnir, he attracted the attention of the giant Hrungnir, who
proposed a race, declaring he was sure his own steed Gullfaxi could
rival Sleipnir in speed. In the heat of the race, Hrungnir did not
even notice in what direction they were going, and, in the vain hope
of overtaking Odin, urged his steed on to the very gates of Valhalla.
Discovering where he was, the giant then grew pale with fear, for he
knew he had jeopardized his life by venturing into the stronghold of
the gods, his hereditary foes.
The Æsir, however, were too honorable to take even an enemy at such a
disadvantage, and, instead of doing him any harm, asked him into their
banqueting halls, where he proceeded to indulge in liberal potations
of the heavenly mead set before him. He soon grew so excited that he
began to boast of his power, declaring he would come some day and take
possession of Asgard, which he would destroy, as well as all the gods,
excepting only Freya and Sif, upon whom he gazed with an admiring,
drunken leer.
The gods, knowing he was not responsible, let him talk unmolested; but
Thor, coming home just then from one of his journeys, and hearing him
propose to carry away his beloved Sif, flew into a terrible rage. He
furiously brandished his hammer, intending to annihilate the boaster.
This the gods would not permit, however, and they quickly threw
themselves between the irate Thunderer and their guest, imploring the
former to respect the sacred rights of hospitality, and not desecrate
their peace-stead by shedding blood.
Thor at last consented to bridle his wrath, providing the giant
Hrungnir would appoint a time and place for a holmgang, as a Northern
duel was generally called. Thus challenged, Hrungnir promised to meet
Thor at Griottunagard, the confines of his realm, three days later, and
departed somewhat sobered by the fright he had experienced. When his
fellow giants heard how rash he had been, they chided him sorely; but
hearing he was to have the privilege of being accompanied by a squire,
whom Thialfi would engage in fight, they proceeded to construct a
creature of clay, nine miles long, and proportionately wide, whom they
called Mokerkialfi (mist wader). As they could find no human heart big
enough to put in this monster’s breast, they secured that of a mare,
which, however, kept fluttering and quivering with apprehension. The
day of the duel arrived. Hrungnir and his squire were on the ground
awaiting the arrival of their respective opponents. The giant had not
only a flint heart and skull, but also a shield and club of the same
substance, and therefore deemed himself well-nigh invincible. But when
he heard a terrible noise, and Thialfi came running up to announce his
master’s coming, he gladly followed the herald’s advice and stood upon
his shield, lest the thunder god should come up from the ground and
attack him unprotected.
A moment later, however, he saw his mistake, for, while Thialfi
attacked Mokerkialfi with a spade, Thor came rushing up and flung his
hammer full at his opponent’s head. Hrungnir, to ward off the blow,
interposed his stone club, which was shivered into pieces, that flew
all over the earth, supplying all the flint stones to be found, and one
fragment sank deep in Thor’s forehead. As the god dropped fainting to
the ground, his hammer crashed against the head of Hrungnir, who fell
down dead beside him, in such a position that one of his ponderous legs
was thrown over the recumbent god.
“Thou now remindest me
How I with Hrungnir fought,
That stout-hearted Jötun,
Whose head was all of stone;
Yet I made him fall
And sink before me.”
SÆMUND’S EDDA (Thorpe’s tr.).
Thialfi, who, in the mean while, had disposed of the great clay giant
with its cowardly mare’s heart, now rushed to his master’s rescue;
but all his efforts and those of the assembled gods, whom he quickly
summoned, could not raise the pinioning leg. While they were standing
there, helplessly wondering what they should do next, Thor’s little son
Magni came up. According to varying accounts, he was then only three
days or three years old, but he quickly seized the giant’s foot, and,
unaided, set his father free, declaring that had he only been summoned
sooner he would easily have disposed of both giant and squire. This
exhibition of strength upon his part made the gods wonder greatly, and
helped them to recognize the truth of the various predictions, which
one and all declared that their descendants would be mightier than
they, would survive them, and would rule in their turn over the new
heaven and earth.
To reward his son for his timely aid, Thor gave him the steed Gullfaxi
(golden-maned), to which he had fallen heir by right of conquest, and
Magni ever after rode this marvelous horse, which almost equaled the
renowned Sleipnir in speed and endurance.
[Sidenote: Groa, the sorceress.]
After vainly trying to remove the stone splinter from his forehead,
Thor sadly returned home to Thrud-vang, where Sif’s loving efforts
were equally unsuccessful. She therefore resolved to send for Groa
(green-making), a sorceress, noted for her skill in medicine and for
the efficacy of her spells and incantations. Groa immediately signified
her readiness to render every service in her power to the god who had
so often benefited her, and solemnly began to recite powerful runes,
under whose influence Thor felt the stone grow looser and looser.
In his delight at the prospect of a speedy deliverance, Thor wished
to reward the enchantress. Knowing that nothing could give greater
pleasure to a mother than the prospect of seeing a long-lost child,
he therefore told her he had recently crossed the Elivagar, or ice
streams, to rescue her little son Orvandil (germ) from the frost
giants’ cruel power, and had succeeded in carrying him off in a basket.
But, as the little rogue would persist in sticking one of his bare
toes through a hole in the basket, it had been frost bitten, and Thor,
accidentally breaking it off, had flung it up into the sky, where it
shone as a star, known in the North as “Orvandil’s Toe.”
Delighted with these tidings, the prophetess paused in her incantations
to express her joy, but, having forgotten just where she left off, she
was never able to continue her spell, and the flint stone remained
imbedded in Thor’s forehead, whence it could never be dislodged.
Of course, as Thor’s hammer always did him such good service, it was
the most prized of all his possessions, and his dismay was very great
when he awoke one morning and found it gone. His cry of anger and
disappointment soon brought Loki to his side, and to him Thor confided
the secret of his loss, declaring that were the giants to hear of it,
they would soon attempt to storm Asgard and destroy the gods.
“Wroth waxed Thor, when his sleep was flown,
And he found his trusty hammer gone;
He smote his brow, his beard he shook,
The son of earth ’gan round him look;
And this the first word that he spoke:
‘Now listen what I tell thee, Loke;
Which neither on earth below is known,
Nor in heaven above: my hammer’s gone.’”
THRYM’S QUIDA (Herbert’s tr.).
[Sidenote: Thor and Thrym.]
Loki declared he would try to discover the thief and recover the
hammer, if Freya would only lend him her falcon plumes, and immediately
hastened off to Folkvang to borrow them. In the form of a bird he
then winged his flight across the river Ifing, and over the barren
stretches of Jötun-heim, where he shrewdly suspected the thief was to
be found. There he saw Thrym, prince of the frost giants and god of the
destructive thunder storm, sitting alone on a hillside, and, artfully
questioning him, soon learned that he had stolen the hammer, had buried
it deep underground, and would never give it up unless Freya were
brought to him, in bridal array, ready to become his wife.
“I have the Thunderer’s hammer bound
Fathoms eight beneath the ground;
With it shall no one homeward tread
Till he bring me Freya to share my bed.”
THRYM’S QUIDA (Herbert’s tr.).
Indignant at the giant’s presumption, Loki returned to Thrud-vang,
where Thor, hearing what he had learned, declared it would be well to
visit Freya and try to prevail upon her to sacrifice herself for the
general good. But when the Æsir told the goddess of beauty what they
wished her to do, she flew into such a passion that even her necklace
burst. She told them that she would never leave her beloved husband
for any god, and much less to marry an ugly old giant and dwell in
Jötun-heim, where all was dreary in the extreme, and where she would
soon die of longing for the green fields and flowery meadows, in
which she loved to roam. Seeing that further persuasions would be
useless, Loki and Thor returned home and there devised another plan
for recovering the hammer. By Heimdall’s advice, Thor borrowed and
reluctantly put on all Freya’s clothes and her necklace, and enveloped
himself in a thick veil. Loki, having attired himself as a handmaiden,
then mounted with him in the goat-drawn chariot, to ride to Jötun-heim,
where they intended to play the respective parts of the goddess of
beauty and of her attendant.
“Home were driven
Then the goats,
And hitched to the car;
Hasten they must--
The mountains crashed,
The earth stood in flames:
Odin’s son
Rode to Jötun-heim.”
NORSE MYTHOLOGY (R. B. Anderson).
Thrym welcomed his guests at the palace door, overjoyed at the thought
that he was about to secure undisputed possession of the goddess of
beauty, for whom he had long sighed in vain. He quickly led them to the
banquet hall, where Thor, the bride elect, almost disgraced himself by
eating an ox, eight huge salmon, and all the cakes and sweets provided
for the women, washing down these miscellaneous viands with two whole
barrels of mead.
The giant bridegroom watched these gastronomic feats with amazement,
and was not even reassured when Loki confidentially whispered to him
that the bride was so deeply in love with him that she had not been
able to taste a morsel of food for more than eight days. Thrym then
sought to kiss the bride, but drew back appalled at the fire of her
glance, which Loki explained as a burning glance of love. The giant’s
sister, claiming the usual gifts, was not even noticed; so Loki again
whispered to the wondering Thrym that love made people absent-minded.
Intoxicated with passion and mead, which he, too, had drunk in liberal
quantities, the bridegroom now bade his servants produce the sacred
hammer to consecrate the marriage, and as soon as it was brought
he himself laid it in the pretended Freya’s lap. The next moment a
powerful hand closed over the short handle, and the weapon, rapidly
hurled by Thor, soon slew the giant, his sister, and all the invited
guests.
“‘Bear in the hammer to plight the maid;
Upon her lap the bruiser lay,
And firmly plight our hands and fay.’
The Thunderer’s soul smiled in his breast;
When the hammer hard on his lap was placed,
Thrym first, the king of the Thursi, he slew,
And slaughtered all the giant crew.”
THRYM’S QUIDA (Herbert’s tr.).
Leaving a smoking heap of ruins behind them, the gods then drove
rapidly back to Asgard, where the borrowed garments were given back
to Freya, and the Æsir all rejoiced at the recovery of the precious
hammer. When next Odin glanced towards that part of Jötun-heim from
the top of his throne Hlidskialf, he saw the ruins covered with
tender green shoots, for Thor, having conquered his enemy, had taken
possession of his land, which no longer remained barren and desolate as
before, but brought forth fruit in abundance.
[Sidenote: Thor and Geirrod.]
Loki, in search of adventures, once borrowed Freya’s falcon garb and
flew off to another part of Jötun-heim, where he perched on top of the
gables of Geirrod’s house, and, gazing about him, soon attracted the
attention of this giant, who bade one of his servants catch the bird.
Amused at the fellow’s clumsy attempts to secure him, Loki flitted
about from place to place, only moving just as the giant was about to
lay hands upon him, until, miscalculating his distance, he suddenly
found himself a captive.
Geirrod, gazing upon the bird’s bright eyes, shrewdly suspected that
it was a god in disguise, and to force him to speak, locked him up
in a cage, where he kept him for three whole months without food or
drink. Conquered at last by hunger and thirst, Loki revealed his
identity, and obtained his release by promising that he would induce
Thor to visit Geirrod without his hammer, pelt, or magic gauntlet.
Loki then flew back to Asgard, and told Thor that he had been royally
entertained, and that his host had expressed a strong desire to see the
powerful thunder-god, of whom Loki had told him such wonderful tales.
Flattered by this artful speech, Thor was soon brought to consent to
a journey to Jötun-heim, and immediately set out, leaving his three
marvelous weapons at home. He and Loki had not gone very far, however,
ere they came to the house of the giantess Grid, one of Odin’s many
wives, who, seeing Thor disarmed, lent him her own girdle, staff, and
glove, warning him to beware of treachery. Some time after leaving
her, Thor and Loki came to the river Veimer, which the thunder-god,
accustomed to wading, coolly prepared to ford, bidding Loki and Thialfi
cling fast to his belt if they would come safe across.
In the middle of the stream, however, a sudden cloudburst and freshet
overtook them; the waters began to rise and roar, and although Thor
leaned heavily upon his staff, he was almost swept away by the force of
the raging current.
“Wax not, Veimer,
Since to wade I desire
To the realm of the giants!
Know, if thou waxest,
Then waxes my asamight
As high as the heavens.”
NORSE MYTHOLOGY (R. B. Anderson).
Looking up the stream, Thor now became aware of the presence of
Geirrod’s daughter Gialp, and rightly suspected that she was the cause
of the storm. He picked up a huge bowlder, which he flung at her,
muttering that the best place to dam a river was at its source. The
rock had the desired effect, for the giantess fled, the waters abated,
and Thor, exhausted but safe, pulled himself up on the opposite bank by
a little shrub, the mountain-ash or sorb, which has since been known
as “Thor’s salvation,” and considered gifted with occult powers.
After resting awhile the god resumed his journey; but upon arriving
at Geirrod’s house he was so exhausted that he sank wearily down upon
the only chair in sight. To his surprise, however, he felt it rise
beneath him, and fearing lest he should be crushed against the rafters,
he braced the borrowed staff against the ceiling and forced the chair
downward with all his might. A terrible cracking, sudden cries, and
moans of pain proved that he had broken the backs of the giant’s
daughters, Gialp and Greip, who had slipped under his chair and had
treacherously tried to slay him.
“Once I employed
My asamight
In the realm of giants,
When Gialp and Greip,
Geirrod’s daughters,
Wanted to lift me to heaven.”
NORSE MYTHOLOGY (R. B. Anderson).
Geirrod now challenged Thor to show his strength and skill, and without
waiting for the preconcerted signal, flung a red-hot wedge at him.
Thor, quick of eye and a practiced catcher, caught the missile with the
giantess’s iron glove, and hurled it back at his opponent. Such was the
force of the god, that the missile passed, not only through the pillar
behind which the giant had taken refuge, but through him and the wall
of the house, and buried itself deep in the earth without.
Thor then marched up to the giant’s corpse, which at the blow from his
weapon had been changed into stone, and set it up in a conspicuous
place, as a monument of his strength and of the victory he had won over
his redoubtable foes, the mountain giants.
[Sidenote: Worship of Thor.]
Thor’s name has been given to many of the places he was wont to
frequent, such as the principal harbor of the Faroe Islands, and to
families which claim to be descended from him. It is still extant
in such names as Thunderhill in Surrey, and in the family names of
Thorburn and Thorwaldsen, but is most conspicuous in the name of one
of the days of the week, Thor’s day or Thursday.
“Over the whole earth
Still is it Thor’s day!”
SAGA OF KING OLAF (Longfellow).
Thor was considered a preëminently benevolent deity, and it was for
that reason that he was so widely worshiped and that his temples arose
at Moeri, Hlader, Godey, Gothland, Upsala, and other places, where the
people never failed to invoke him for a favorable year at Yule-tide,
his principal festival. It was customary on this occasion to burn a
great log of oak, his sacred tree, as an emblem of the warmth and light
of summer, which would soon come to drive away the darkness and cold of
winter.
Brides invariably wore red, Thor’s favorite color, which was considered
emblematical of love, and for the same reason betrothal rings in the
North were almost always set with a red stone.
Thor’s temples and statues, like Odin’s, were fashioned of wood,
and the greater number of them were destroyed during the reign of
King Olaf the Saint. According to ancient chronicles, this monarch
forcibly converted his subjects. He was specially incensed against the
inhabitants of a certain province, because they worshiped a rude image
of Thor, which they decked with golden ornaments, and before which they
set food every evening, declaring the god ate it, as no trace of it was
left in the morning.
The people, being called upon in 1030 to renounce this idol in favor of
the true God, promised to consent if the morrow were cloudy; but when
after a whole night spent in ardent prayer, Olaf rapturously beheld a
cloudy day, the obstinate people declared they were not yet convinced
of his God’s power, and would only believe if the sun shone on the
following day.
Once more Olaf spent the night in prayer, but at dawn his chagrin was
great to see the sky overcast. Nevertheless, determined to gain his
end he assembled the people near Thor’s statue, and after secretly
bidding his principal attendant smash the idol with his battle ax if
the people turned their eyes away but for a moment, he began to address
them. Suddenly, while all were listening to him, Olaf pointed to the
horizon, where the sun was slowly breaking its way through the clouds,
and exclaimed, “Behold our God!” While the people one and all turned
to see what he meant, the attendant broke the idol, and a host of mice
and other vermin scattered on all sides. Seeing now that the statue was
hollow, and that the food placed before their god had been devoured by
noxious animals only, the people ceased to revere Thor, and definitely
accepted the faith which King Olaf had so long and vainly pressed upon
them.