Stood the kettle fast.
Then Môdi’s father
By the brim grasped it,
And trod through
The dwelling’s floor.”
Lay of Hymir (Thorpe’s tr.).
The wrench with which he pulled it up, however, greatly shattered the giant’s house and broke his floor to pieces. As Tyr and Thor were departing, the latter having clapped the huge pot on his head in the guise of a hat, Hymir summoned the other frost giants, and proposed that they should slay their inveterate foe. Before they could overtake him, Thor, turning around, became aware of their pursuit, and, hurling Miölnir repeatedly at them, slew them all ere he carried the kettle in triumph to Ægir to enable him to brew enough ale for the harvest feast.
The physical explanation of this myth is, of course, a thunder storm (Thor), in conflict with the raging sea (the Midgard snake), and the breaking up of the polar ice (Hymir’s goblet and floor) in the heat of summer.
The gods now joyfully accepted Ægir’s invitation to be present at his feast, went there in festive array, and were ever after wont to celebrate the harvest home in his coral caves.
“Then Vans and Æsir, mighty gods,