tree?  I felt some moss from the branches fall on my head.  How fares it with thee, Thor?” But Thor went away hastily, saying that he had just then awoke, and that as it was only midnight, there was still time for sleep.  He, however, resolved that if he had an opportunity of striking a third blow, it should settle all matters between them.  A little before daybreak he perceived that Skrymir was again fast asleep, and again grasping his mallet, he dashed it with such violence that it forced its way into the giant’s skull up to the handle.  But Skrymir sat up, and stroking his cheek said, “An acorn fell on my head.  What!  Art thou awake, Thor?  Me thinks 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 to Utgard you will see there many men much taller than I. 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 little fellows as you are.  You must take the road that leads eastward, mine lies northward, so we must part here.”

Hereupon he threw his wallet over his shoulders and turned away from them into the forest, and Thor had no wish to stop him or to ask for any more of his company.

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 in order to see to the top of it.  On arriving they entered the city, and 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.  The king, regarding them with a scornful smile, said, “If I do not mistake me, that stripling yonder must be the god Thor.”  Then addressing himself to Thor, he said, “Perhaps thou mayst be more than thou appearest to be.  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 that I know,” said 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 farther end of the bench, and whose name was Logi, to come forward and try his skill with Loki.  A trough filled with 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, while his adversary had devoured both flesh and bone, and the trough to boot.  All the company therefore adjudged that Loki was vanquished.