A Guide to Mythology

by Helen A. Clarke

Affrighting the nations.

Jove is my brother;

Mine eyes are the lightning;

The wheels of my chariot

Roll in the thunder;

The blows of my hammer

Ring in the earthquake!”

HOW THOR CONQUERED THE STONE GIANT HRUNGNER

Thor had once gone eastward to crush trolls, but Odin rode on his horse Sleipner to Jotunheim, the land of giants, and came to a giant by name Hrungner. Then he asked Hrungner what man that was, who with a helmet of gold rode through the air and over the sea, and added that it was an extraordinarily good horse he had. Odin replied that he would wager his head that so good a horse could not be found in Jotunheim. Hrungner said that it was indeed a very excellent horse, but he had one called Goldfax that could take much longer paces, and he immediately sprang upon his horse and galloped away after Odin. Odin constantly kept ahead, but Hrungner’s giant nature had become so excited that before he was himself aware of it he had come within the gates of Asgard. When he came to the door of the hall the gods invited him in to drink. They set before him the bowls out of which Thor was accustomed to drink, and he emptied them each in one draught, and so he became drunk and began to boast in a most conceited fashion. He was going to take Valhal, he said, and carry it off to Jotunheim; he would demolish Asgard and kill the gods, except Freyja and Lif, whom he would take home with him; and while Freyja was pouring the celestial beverage into bowls for him he remarked that he was going to drink up all the ale of the gods. At last the gods grew very tired of his arrogance. They, therefore, called Thor, who came at once. He was very much enraged and, swinging his hammer about, he fiercely asked who was to blame that dogwise giants should be permitted to drink there, or who had given safety to Hrungner in Valhal, and why Freyja should pour ale for him as she did at the feasts of the gods. Hrungner, looking at Thor with anything but a friendly eye, answered that Odin had invited him and that he was under his protection. Thor said that Hrungner should come to rue that invitation before he came out; but the giant answered that it would be but little honor to Thor to kill him, unarmed, as he was; it would be a better proof of his valor if he dared contend with him at the boundaries of his territory. “It was foolish, indeed, of me to leave my weapons at home. Had I my shield and my flint stone with me, we would now try a duel. But I declare you to be a coward if you kill me unarmed.” Thor would not excuse himself from such a challenge the like of which no one had ever offered him before. Hrungner now went his way and hastened home. This journey of Hrungner was much talked of by the giants, and especially did his challenge of Thor awaken their interest, and it was of great importance to them which of the two should come out from the combat victorious. For if Hrungner, who was the most powerful among the giants, should be conquered, they might look for nothing but evil from Thor. They, therefore, made a man of clay, nine miles high and three miles broad between the shoulders. They could not find a heart corresponding to his size and therefore took one out of a mare; but this fluttered and trembled when Thor came. Hrungner had a heart of hard stone, sharp and three-cornered; his head was also of stone, and likewise his shield, which was broad and thick, and this shield he held before him when he stood waiting for Thor. His weapon was a flint stone, which he swung over his shoulders, so that it was no trifle to join in combat with him. By his side stood the clay giant, who was so extremely terrified that the sweat poured from off him. Thor went to the duel together with Thjalfe, a servant, whom he had got from a peasant by the sea. Thjalfe ran to the place where Hrungner was standing, and said to him: “You stand unguarded, giant; you hold the shield before you, but Thor has seen you; he comes with violence from beneath the earth and attacks you.” Then Hrungner hastily put the shield beneath his feet and stood upon it, but he seized his flint stone with both hands. Presently he saw flashes of lightning and heard loud crashings, and then he saw Thor in his might rushing forward with impetuous speed, swinging his hammer and throwing it from the distance against Hrungner. The latter lifted the flint stone with both his hands and threw it with all his might against the hammer; the two met in the air and the flint stone broke into two pieces, one piece of which fell on the ground (and hence the flint mountains), while the other flew with such force against the head of Thor that he fell forward to the ground; but the hammer Mjolner hit Hrungner right in the head and crushed his skull into small pieces, he himself falling over Thor, so that his foot lay across Thor’s neck. Thor could only be released from the giant’s foot by his own son Magne (strength), and to this day the flint stone sticks fast in Thor’s forehead.

Longfellow calls Thor the brother of Zeus. Zeus is, however, only like Thor in his character of the thunderer. As the All-father of the Greeks he is like Odin.