At these words the walls of the castle trembled. The pillars of frost and the great arches of ice glittered and glistened. Thjalfe and Roskva grew white with fear. "We hear your voice," thundered Thor; "but we have no fear of you even though you shake the castle walls until they fall. And behold, we dare come into your very presence, thou terrible king of Utgard!" The great king showed his glittering teeth. His brow grew black with rage. "This is Thor, the god of Thunder," he sneered: "and so small are you that you can creep through the bars of our gateway, pass unnoticed by our sentinels, even into the very presence of the king!" Then Utgard-Loke--for this was the king's name--threw back his head and laughed until the whole earth shook; trees were uprooted, and avalanches of ice and snow, pouring down into valleys, buried hundreds of the little people of Midgard. Thor clenched his hammer. He dared not thunder; even his lightnings were as nothing in this great palace hall and before the terrible voice of the Utgard-king. "But perhaps you are greater than you look," continued the king, roaring again at his own wit. "Tell me what great feats you can accomplish; for no one is allowed entrance to this castle who cannot perform great deeds." "I can perform great deeds--many of them," boasted Loke, nowise abashed, even in the presence of the terrible king. "I can eat faster than any creature in Midgard, in Utgard, or even in Asgard, the home of the gods." Again the king roared; and, placing before him a great wooden trough heaped high with food, he commanded his servant Loge to challenge Loke to the contest. But alas for Loke, although the food disappeared before him like fields of grain beneath the scythe of steel, yet before the task was half begun, Loge had swallowed food, and trough, and all! The king roared louder still; and Loke, never before beaten by giant power, shrank away, angry and threatening. "But I," said Thjalfe, "can run. I can outrun any creature that lives on land or sea." Then Thjalfe was placed beside a tiny little pigmy--Huge he was called; but hardly had they run a pace before Huge had shot so far ahead that Thjalfe, crestfallen, went and hid himself behind the great ice pillar that stood outside the castle gate. And now Thor rose to his feet and drew himself up to his greatest height; but even that seemed as nothing compared with the enormous stature of the Utgard-king. He clenched the hammer tightly and thundered as never he had thundered before. The tiny fringe of icicles trembled. Then Utgard-Loke laughed; and with his thunder the whole castle rocked and reeled. "And will Thor contest with the power of Utgard?" asked the king. "I will," roared Thor, and there was a fire in his eye that even Utgard shrank before. But Utgard only roared in turn and brought to Thor a great horn, filled to its brim with sparkling water.