Title: Hymiskviða

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Hymiskviða, "the Lay of Hymir," is a poem in the Poetic Edda. It is a tale of one of the god Þórr's (Thor)(LINK) adventures to interact with thejötnar(often (mis)translated as "giants"). It is embedded with a story that is also recounted in the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson which is called Hymir's fishing trip or Thor's fishing trip. This embedded story is about Þórr fishing up the Miðgarðsormr (LINK) (the World-Serpent, also called Jörmungandr) with the head of an ox as bait and nearly killing it. Þórr's fishing trip was evidently widely known in Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia, as it has been depicted on at least four carved standing stones (called picture stones or runestones, when they bear runic inscriptions):

• the Altuna stone  (11th century in Altuna, Uppland, Sweden) is the clearest depiction, and has the detail of Þórr's foot breaking through the bottom of the boat when he pulls so hard on the fishing line hooked on Miðgarðsormr which is given in theProse Edda,in the Gylfaginning section;
• Ardre VIII, of the Ardre picture stones (found at Ardre on the island of Gotland, Sweden, famed for its beautiful and old tradition of picture stones and other unique archaeology), dated around the 8th or 9th century AD, depicts many aspects and scenes from Norse mythology, including the fishing trip story;
• The Hørdum stone (Hørdum, Denmark, 8th–11th century) clearly shows a boat with two occupants, Þórr's foot sticking out the bottom, and the second figure (presumably Hymir) armed with what might be a knife, as in the version of the story inGylfaginning, Hymir is terrified that Þórr will succeed in killing the serpent and causing great destruction, or that the serpent will kill them both, and cuts the fishing line. Part of the serpent is also visible on this stone, though it is damaged and most of it is gone;
• and on the Gosforth slab (first half of the 10th century;Wikipedia wrongly places the fishing trip carving on the Gosforth Cross, but it is on a separate slab) in St. Mary's Churchyard, Cumbria, England. This slab was carved by the same person who carved the Gosforth Cross. The Gosforth slab depicts two figures on a boat in some detail, one holding a fishing line with bait and possibly a hammer, and the other holding an axe. The detail of the foot sticking out of the boat is missing here, demonstrating that a variation of the story without that detail existed at this time, possibly only in England. 

Synopsis​

The Æsir (LINK) want to have a feast after hunting and choose to make thejötunnÆgir (LINK) host them and prepare the feast and brew beer for them. Ægir is reluctant and annoyed, specifically at Þórr who commands him to make the feast, and says that he needs a suitably large cauldron to brew enough beer for the gods. They are unable to find a fitting cauldron until the god Týr (LINK) tells them that his father, the jötunn Hymir has a big enough cauldron, and he and Þórr set out to get it. They arrive at Hymir's hall and first run into Hymir's mother, who has nine hundred heads, and his wife, who is dressed all in gold and greets her son. She hides the guests under the cauldron, warning that her husband is stingy and harsh toward guests. Hymir returns home, and his wife tells him to behave well, and who their guests are. Hymir destroys the pillar they are hidden behind with a mere glance, sending all the kettles and cauldrons to the floor and breaking them, all except the one enormous one they are seeking. When Hymir sees Þórr, he becomes afraid and instead slaughters three bulls for their meal. Þórr, with his enormous appetite, eats two of the three bulls himself, and so the next day they have to go fish for more food.

Þórr is told to go find his own bait, so he pulls the head off a large ox in Hymir's herd, and together he and Hymir row out to sea. There is a lacuna (a missing section) in the text here, which is found inGylfaginning, and says that Þórr rows them very far out quite quickly, and Hymir becomes afraid that they are nearing wear the Miðgarðsormr lurks in the deep water. Hymir catches two whales on his own, but Þórr hooks the Miðgarðsormr, pulls it up on board, and strikes it with his hammer, and the serpent shrieks and shakes all the world. There is another omission here, before the Miðgarðsormr sinks back into the sea. In Gylfaginning, Hymir, terrified of the consequences of Þórr killing the serpent, or that it will kill them, cuts the line and lets the serpent escape, and then Þórr knocks Hymir off the boat with a punch. Þórr and Miðgarðsormr are destined to kill each other at Ragnarök (LINK), the "doom of the gods," so perhaps Hymir is scared that this happening early would trigger the rest of the apocalypse.

Þórr and Hymir row back to shore, and Þórr carries the whales and the oars back to the hall himself. Even after all that, Hymir is still testing the god's strength, and says that he is weak unless he can break Hymir's goblet. Þórr throws the goblet against a pillar, but the pillar breaks. Then, Hymir's wife whispers to Þórr that he should smash it on Hymir's hard head instead, which indeed works. Hymir is upset at the loss of his goblet, but allows the gods to take the cauldron, if they can move it at all. Týr tries and fails twice to budge it, but Þórr grasps it by the rim and stamps a foot down hard, right through the floor of the hall,¹and lifts the cauldron over his head. They leave Hymir's hall and travel for a while, but Þórr looks back and sees Hymir and an army pursing them. He turns back to face them, lifts the cauldron off his back, and swings Mjöllnir (LINK) at them, killing them all. They continue on their way, but one of Þórr's goats collapses, and the poem says that it was made lame through a curse by Loki (LINK). It then alludes to another story relating to the collapse of the goat and how it was repaid to Þórr by ajötunnwith his children.² They finally arrive back to Ægir's hall with the cauldron, and the poem ends by saying that the gods will drink ale happily every winter at Ægir's. 

Notes​

1. In the Altuna stone and the Hørdum stone, the figure in the boat, if it is indeed Þórr, has one foot sticking down out of the bottom of the boat. This is also attested in the version of this story given inGylfaginningin theProse Edda, but inHymiskviðahe stamps his foot down through the hall when lifting the cauldron instead of through the boat when fishing up Miðgarðsormr.

2. The two stanzas that describe the goat's broken leg may refer to a more complete story that appears inGylfaginning often called "Þórr and Útgarða-Loki." In that story, Þórr and Loki are traveling and find lodging with a farmer and his family. Þórr slaughters his two goats which pull his chariot, although they magically resurrect the next day. However, the farmer's son, Þjálfi, breaks open one of the leg bones to get to the marrow, so the next day one of the goats is lame. Þórr is enraged and the farmer is terrified, so he offers to give Þórr the boy Þjálfi and his sister, Röskva, to be his servants. Þórr calms down and accepts the offer, and the children accompany he and Loki for the rest of the trip. In Hymiskiða, the lame goat is attributed to Loki's doing, and this detail and the following stanza about the children being given as compensation seem to come completely out of order in the poem, where they should have appeared much earlier at the first mention of Þórr tying his goats up at a man named Egill's farm.