Slay Hrungnir

Now there shall be told more of the underlying stories from
which those kennings just listed have originated, and of which the
origins have not already been told, just as Bragi told Ægir how
Thor had gone to eastern parts to thrash trolls, but Odin rode
Sleipnir into Giantland and arrived at a giant’s called Hrungnir.
Then Hrungnir asked what sort of person this was with the golden
helmet riding sky and sea, and said he had a marvellously good
horse. Odin said he would wager his head on it that there would
be no horse as good to be found in Giantland. Hrungnir said it
was a good horse, but declared he had a horse that must be much
longer-paced, it was called Gullfaxi. Hrungnir had got angry and
leaped up on his horse and galloped after Odin, intending to pay
him back for his boasting. Odin galloped so hard that he kept
ahead on the next rise in the ground, and Hrungnir was in such a
great giant fury that the first thing he knew was that he had rushed
in through the As-gates. And when he got to the hall doors, Æsir
invited him in for a drink. He went into the hall and demanded
that he should be given a drink. Then the goblets that Thor
normally drank out of were brought out, and Hrungnir drained
each one. And when he became drunk there was no lack of big
words: he said he was going to remove Val-hall and take it to
Giantland, but bury Asgard and kill all the gods, except that he
was going to take Freyia and Sif home with him, and Freyia was
the only one then who dared to bring him drink, and he declared
he was going to drink all the Æsir’s ale. And when the Æsir got
tired of his boasting they invoked the name of Thor. Immediately
Thor entered the hall with hammer raised up and in great anger
and asked who was responsible for cunning giants being there
drinking, and who had guaranteed Hrungnir safety while he was
in Val-hall and why Freyia should be serving him drink as if at the
Æsir’s banquet. Then Hrungnir replied, looking at Thor with no
friendly eyes, and said that Odin had invited him to a drink and
that he was under his protection. Then Thor said that Hrungnir
was going to regret that invitation before he got out. Hrungnir
said it would be no honour to Asa-Thor to kill him when he was
unarmed, whereas it would be a greater proof of his valour if he
dared to fight with him on the frontier at Griotunagardar.

‘And it has been a very foolish thing for me to do,’ he said, ‘to
leave behind at home my shield and whetstone, but if I had my
weapons here, we would hold the duel now, but as it is I declare
you will be guilty of baseness if you go and kill me when I am
unarmed.’

Thor was eager not to let anything stop him from going to
single combat when he had been challenged to a duel, for no one
had ever done that to him before. Then Hrungnir went off on his
way and galloped mightily until he got into Giantland, and his
journey was very widely talked of among the giants, together with
the fact that an appointment had been made between him and
Thor. The giants felt there was a great deal at stake for them as to
which one won the victory. They would have little good to look
forward to from Thor if Hrungnir died, for he was the strongest of
them. Then the giants made a person at Griotunagardar of clay,
and he was nine leagues high and three broad beneath the arms,
but they could not get a heart big enough to suit him until they
took one out of a certain mare, and this turned out not to be
steady in him when Thor came. Hrungnir had a heart that is
renowned, made of solid stone and spiky with three points just
like the symbol for carving called Hrungnir’s heart has ever since
been made. His head was also of stone. His shield was also stone,
broad and thick, and he held the shield before him as he stood at
Griotunagardar waiting for Thor, and he had a whetstone as
weapon and rested it on his shoulder and he did not look at all
pleasant. On one side of him stood the clay giant, whose name
was Mokkurkalfi, and he was quite terrified. They say he wet
himself when he saw Thor. Thor went to keep his appointment for
the duel, and with him Thialfi. Then Thialfi ran on ahead to where
Hrungnir was standing and said to him:

‘You are standing unguardedly, giant, you’ve got your shield in
front of you, but Thor has seen you and he is travelling by the
lower route underground, and he is going to come at you from
below.’

Then Hrungnir shoved the shield beneath his feet and stood on
it, and held the whetstone with both hands. Next he saw lightnings
and heard great thunders. Then he saw Thor in an As-rage, he was
travelling at an enormous rate and swung his hammer and threw
it from a great distance at Hrungnir. Hrungnir raised the whet-
stone with both hands, threw it in return. It met the hammer in
flight, the whetstone, and the whetstone broke in two. One piece
fell to the ground, and from it have come all whetstone rocks. The
other piece crashed into Thor’s head so that he fell forwards to the
ground, but the hammer Miollnir hit the middle of Hrungnir’s
head and shattered his skull into small fragments, and he fell
forwards over Thor so that his leg lay across Thor’s neck. Thialfi
attacked Mokkurkalfi, and he fell with little glory. Then Thialfi
went up to Thor and went to remove Hrungnir’s leg from him and
was unable to manage it. Then all the Æsir came up when they
found out that Thor had fallen, and went to remove the leg from
him and could not move it at all. Then Magni, son of Thor and
Iarnsaxa, arrived. He was then three years old. He threw Hrung-
nir’s leg off Thor and said:

‘Isn’t it a terrible shame, father, that I arrived so late. I think I
would have knocked this giant into Hel with my fist if I had come
across him.’

Then Thor stood up and welcomed his son warmly and said he
would grow up to be a powerful person.

‘And I have decided,’ he said, ‘to give you the horse Gullfaxi,
which used to be Hrungnir’s.’


- Prose Edda, Skaldskaparmal