In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse TalesBrown, Abbie Farwell
General
In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse Tales
Brown, Abbie Farwell
Mythology, Norse -- Juvenile literature
Although Thor had slain Thiasse the giant builder, Thrym the thief,
Hrungnir, and Hymir, and had rid the world of whole families of
wicked giants, there remained many others in Jotunheim to do their
evil deeds and to plot mischief against both gods and men; and of
these Geirröd was the fiercest and the wickedest. He and his two ugly
daughters--Gialp of the red eyes, and Greip of the black teeth--lived
in a large palace among the mountains, where Geirröd had his treasures
of iron and copper, silver and gold; for, since the death of Thrym,
Geirröd was the Lord of the Mines, and all the riches that came out of
the earth-caverns belonged to him.
Thrym had been Geirröd's friend, and the tale of Thrym's death through
the might of Thor and his hammer had made Geirröd very sad and angry.
"If I could but catch Thor, now, without his weapons," he said to his
daughters, "what a lesson I would give him! How I would punish him for
his deeds against us giants!"
"Oh, what would you do, father?" cried Gialp, twinkling her cruel red
eyes, and working her claw fingers as if she would like to fasten them
in Thor's golden beard.
"Oh, what would you do, father?" cried Greip, smacking her lips and
grinding her black teeth as if she would like a bite out of Thor's
stout arm.
"Do to him!" growled Geirröd fiercely. "Do to him! Gr-r-r! I would chew
him all up! I would break his bones into little bits! I would smash him
into jelly!"
"Oh, good, good! Do it, father, and then give him to us to play with,"
cried Gialp and Greip, dancing up and down till the hills trembled and
all the frightened sheep ran home to their folds thinking that there
must be an earthquake; for Gialp was as tall as a pine-tree and many
times as thick, while Greip, her little sister, was as large around as
a haystack and high as a flagstaff. They both hoped some day to be as
huge as their father, whose legs were so long that he could step across
the river valleys from one hilltop to another, just as we human folk
cross a brook on stepping-stones; and his arms were so stout that he
could lift a yoke of oxen in each fist, as if they were red-painted
toys.
Geirröd shook his head at his two playful daughters and sighed. "We
must catch Master Thor first, my girls, before we do these fine things
to him. We must catch him without his mighty hammer, that never fails
him, and without his belt, that doubles his strength whenever he puts
it on, or even I cannot chew and break and smash him as he deserves;
for with these his weapons he is the mightiest creature in the whole
world, and I would rather meddle with thunder and lightning than with
him. Let us wait, children."
Then Gialp and Greip pouted and sulked like two great babies who cannot
have the new plaything which they want; and very ugly they were to see,
with tears as big as oranges rolling down their cheeks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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