On earth some meteor dire Men thought then to behold; The heavens were fraught with fire; In peals the thunder rolled.[72] Reaching a cottage towards nightfall, they asked for hospitality, which was readily granted. Humble was the cot; and it contained little for gods to banquet on,—nothing but simple vegetables. But Thor was not anxious on this account. With his hammer he slew his two goats, which were skinned and roasted with considerable despatch. Ample was the entertainment; not only was the flesh delicious, but the place teemed with excellent mead; and some idea may be formed of a divine appetite, when we add, that the two goats were entirely devoured,—all but the bones, which Thor desired should be carefully thrown back into the skins that were stretched before the hearth. But Thialf, a son of the rustic host, and a mere stripling, broke a thigh-bone of one goat for the sake of the marrow. The next morning, before daybreak, Thor arose, and swung his hammer over the two skins, when suddenly the two goats rose up as if nothing had happened. But one of them limped; and dreadful was the countenance of the god. Supplication, however, disarmed him; he took the youth and a sister into his service; and leaving the car and the goats at the peasant’s cottage, all four proceeded on foot. The boy, who immediately won the favour of his master, carried a wallet; and the maiden, quite a beauty, tripped lightly along. Thor marched pensively; his hammer flung over his shoulder; his dark locks escaping from his silvery casque. They reached the sea, which was agitated by a dreadful tempest; and Loke began to be afraid; but he was compelled to follow the god, who rushed into the water, like some thundering rock. The mortals too followed: but the storm continued to rage; and they required all the help of the leader to reach the other side. A trackless desert was next to be traversed; and on they went, in darkness, except that the moon now and then gleamed,—weary, hungry, wet, and faint. Other trials were to be encountered,—the storm, the lightning, the slippery ice, the deep mud; the roaring wind, which the demon king excited by his magic power. Thor, who had to support the maiden Roska, lost his temper; and he vowed revenge on Utgardelok when he should meet him. What seemed to be a hut, in the midst of the pitiless waste, presented itself; and three of them entered it, Thor himself remaining at the entrance with his mallet in his hand, to protect them while they slept. Vast, and of a strange form, was the only apartment which the hut contained; but in a storm any port is welcome. Towards morning, while Thor glanced in great anger over the waste, he heard a strange noise, and felt a strange motion. Rising, he beheld, by the faint glimmer of the moon, a vast giant—so vast as to cover several acres—asleep and snoring. Grasping his mallet, he was