Too angry to speak now, Thor grasped the horn again. Tilting it back, he drank and drank till he thought he would burst with the effort. But when he could do nothing more, he found he had emptied only the top inch or two.
He handed the horn back to the cup-bearer.
"I see plainly," said Utgard-Loki, "that what we have heard of you was a traveller's tale. Still, do you wish to try something else? I confess it does not seem likely that you will bear away many prizes here."
"I know," Thor replied doggedly, "that such draughts would not be accounted small among the Æsir—but I will attempt another feat. What have you to propose?"
"We have a game here, a sort of childish exercise. Before witnessing this last performance, I would scarce have dared mention it to Asa-Thor. It is merely lifting my cat from the floor."
A large gray cat walked out, its tail held high.
Thor looked at it, uncertain.
"He is large—for a cat," said the king.
Stung to the quick, Thor stepped forward, put a hand under the beast's belly and lifted hard.