“’Are there any birds perched on this tree?  Methought when I awoke some moss from the branches fell on my head.  What!  Art thou awake, Thor?  Methinks it is time for us to get up and dress ourselves; but you have not now a long way before you to the city called Utgard.  I have heard you whispering to one another that I am not a man of small dimensions; but if you come into Utgard you will see there many men much taller than myself.  Wherefore I advise you, when you come there, not to make too much of yourselves, for the followers of Utgard-Loki will not brook the boasting of such mannikins as ye are.  The best thing you could do would probably be to turn back again, but if you persist in going on, take the road that leads eastward, for mine now lies northward to those rocks which you may see in the distance.’

“Hereupon, he threw his wallet over his shoulders and turned away from them, into the forest, and I could never hear that Thor wished to meet with him a second time.

47.  “Thor and his companions proceeded on their way, and towards noon descried a city standing in the middle of a plain.  It was so lofty that they were obliged to bend their necks quite back on their shoulders ere they could see to the top of it.  On arriving at the walls they found the gateway closed with a gate of bars strongly locked and bolted.  Thor, after trying in vain to open it, crept with his companions through the bars, and thus succeeded in gaining admission into the city.  Seeing a large palace before them, with the door wide open, they went in and found a number of men of prodigious stature sitting on benches in the hall.  Going further, they came before the king, Utgard-Loki, whom they saluted with great respect.  Their salutations were however returned by a contemptuous look from the king, who, after regarding them for some time, said with a scornful smile—­

“’It is tedious to ask for tidings of a long journey, yet if I do not mistake me, that stripling there must be Aku-Thor.  Perhaps,’ he added, addressing himself to Thor, ’thou mayst be taller than thou appearest to be.  But what are the feats that thou and thy fellows deem yourselves skilled in, for no one is permitted to remain here who does not, in some feat or other, excel all other men.’

“‘The feat I know,’ replied Loki, ’is to eat quicker than any one else, and in this I am ready to give a proof against any one here who may choose to compete with me.’

“‘That will indeed be a feat,’ said Utgard-Loki, ’if thou performest what thou promisest, and it shall be tried forthwith.’

“He then ordered one of his men, who was sitting at the further end of the bench, and whose name was Logi,[134] to come forward and try his skill with Loki.  A trough filled with flesh meat having been set on the hall floor, Loki placed himself at one end, and Logi at the other, and each of them, began to eat as fast as he could, until they met in the middle of the trough.  But it was found that Loki had only eaten the flesh, whereas his adversary had devoured both flesh and bone, and the trough to boot.  All the company therefore adjudged that Loki was vanquished.