“Once I employedMy asamightIn the realm of giants,When Gialp and Greip,Geirrod’s daughters,Wanted to lift me to heaven.”Norse Mythology(R. B. Anderson).
“Once I employedMy asamightIn the realm of giants,When Gialp and Greip,Geirrod’s daughters,Wanted to lift me to heaven.”Norse Mythology(R. B. Anderson).
“Once I employedMy asamightIn the realm of giants,When Gialp and Greip,Geirrod’s daughters,Wanted to lift me to heaven.”
“Once I employed
My asamight
In the realm of giants,
When Gialp and Greip,
Geirrod’s daughters,
Wanted to lift me to heaven.”
Norse Mythology(R. B. Anderson).
Geirrod now challenged Thor to show his strength and skill, and without waiting for the preconcerted signal, flung a red-hot wedge at him. Thor, quick of eye and a practiced catcher, caught the missile with the giantess’s iron glove, and hurled it back at his opponent. Such was the force of the god, that the missile passed, not only through the pillar behind which the giant had taken refuge, but through him and the wall of the house, and buried itself deep in the earth without.
Thor then marched up to the giant’s corpse, which at the blow from his weapon had been changed into stone, and set it up in a conspicuous place, as a monument of his strength and of the victory he had won over his redoubtable foes, the mountain giants.
Worship of Thor.
Thor’s name has been given to many of the places he was wont to frequent, such as the principal harbor of the Faroe Islands, and to families which claim to be descended from him. It is still extant in such names as Thunderhill in Surrey, and in the family names of Thorburnand Thorwaldsen, but is most conspicuous in the name of one of the days of the week, Thor’s day or Thursday.
“Over the whole earthStill is it Thor’s day!”Saga of King Olaf(Longfellow).
“Over the whole earthStill is it Thor’s day!”Saga of King Olaf(Longfellow).
“Over the whole earthStill is it Thor’s day!”
“Over the whole earth
Still is it Thor’s day!”
Saga of King Olaf(Longfellow).
Thor was considered a preëminently benevolent deity, and it was for that reason that he was so widely worshiped and that his temples arose at Moeri, Hlader, Godey, Gothland, Upsala, and other places, where the people never failed to invoke him for a favorable year at Yule-tide, his principal festival. It was customary on this occasion to burn a great log of oak, his sacred tree, as an emblem of the warmth and light of summer, which would soon come to drive away the darkness and cold of winter.
Brides invariably wore red, Thor’s favorite color, which was considered emblematical of love, and for the same reason betrothal rings in the North were almost always set with a red stone.
Thor’s temples and statues, like Odin’s, were fashioned of wood, and the greater number of them were destroyed during the reign of King Olaf the Saint. According to ancient chronicles, this monarch forcibly converted his subjects. He was specially incensed against the inhabitants of a certain province, because they worshiped a rude image of Thor, which they decked with golden ornaments, and before which they set food every evening, declaring the god ate it, as no trace of it was left in the morning.
The people, being called upon in 1030 to renounce this idol in favor of the true God, promised to consent if the morrow were cloudy; but when after a whole night spent in ardent prayer, Olaf rapturously beheld a cloudy day, the obstinate people declared they were not yet convinced of his God’s power, and would only believe if the sun shone on the following day.
Once more Olaf spent the night in prayer, but at dawn his chagrin was great to see the sky overcast. Nevertheless, determined to gain his end he assembled the people near Thor’s statue, and after secretly bidding his principal attendant smashthe idol with his battle ax if the people turned their eyes away but for a moment, he began to address them. Suddenly, while all were listening to him, Olaf pointed to the horizon, where the sun was slowly breaking its way through the clouds, and exclaimed, “Behold our God!” While the people one and all turned to see what he meant, the attendant broke the idol, and a host of mice and other vermin scattered on all sides. Seeing now that the statue was hollow, and that the food placed before their god had been devoured by noxious animals only, the people ceased to revere Thor, and definitely accepted the faith which King Olaf had so long and vainly pressed upon them.