188 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
“ As soon as it was light the next morning, np rose 
Thor and his companions, dressed themselves, and 
prepared to set out. Then came Utgard Loke, and 
ordered the table to be set, where there wanted no 
good provisions, either meat or drink. When they had 
breakfasted, they set out on their way. Utgard Loke 
accompanied them out of the castle; but at parting 
he asked Thor how the journey had gone off; whether 
he had found any man more mighty than himself? 
Thor answered, that the enterprise had brought him 
much dishonour, it was not to be denied, and that he 
must esteem himself a man of no account, which much 
mortified him. 
“Utgard Loke replied: 4 Now will I tell thee the 
truth, since thou art out of my castle, where, so long 
as I live and reign, thou shalt never re-enter; and 
whither, believe me, thou hadst never come if I had 
known before what might thou possessest, and that 
thou wouldst so nearly plunge us into great trouble. 
False appearances have I created for thee, so that 
the first time when thou mettest the man in the wood 
it was I; and when thou wouldst open the provision- 
sack, I had laced it together with an iron band, so that 
