Utgard
In the Scandinavian Mythology, Utgard , “the external place”, is the enormous fortress of the giants with Jötunheim. This citadel was made blocks of snow and ice floes scintillating.
At the time of a voyage to the country of the giants Thor, Loki, Thialfi (and sometimes Roskva) met deadened “immense” Skrymir. When Thor struck it with its hammer, Skrymir awoke thinking that a nipple had fallen to him on the face.
Skrymir proposed to them to show them a way towards Utgard if they managed to carry out certain tests:
Loki had to swallow a barrel of food, supposed challenge easy being with the sight of its appetite, nevertheless it could not arrive there, the barrel being actually filled with indigestible powder (one of the illusions of Skrymir).
Thialfi, famous being the fastest runner of the country, was beaten with the race by Hugi, which proved to be its own thought.
Thor was beaten with the fight by a grandmother (the allegorical divinity of old age). It could not drink in entirety, glass which Skrymir proposed to him (which contained in fact the ocean). Then did not manage to raise the cat which the giant indicated to him (who was Jormungand being, the giant snake).
Thor and its companions ended up understanding that they were deceived by an illusion created by the giants to mislay them and to prevent them from reaching Utgard. Skrymir did not exist itself and the day that it passed to carry out the tests proved to last one year. This made it possible to the giants to protect Utgard, because they were known weak vis-a-vis Thor and Loki.
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