, is not very
large," took a drink which he quite thought would have drained the
vessel. But when he could drink no longer, for lack of breath, he
looked in the horn, and there was the ale still brimming over the
edge.

Then the giant chuckled and said: "Well drunk, good Thor, but you have
by no means emptied the horn. It seems to me, indeed, that men have
boasted too much of your fine deeds. I would not have believed that
you would have taken so long to drink up the ale. However, I don't
doubt you will finish it at the second draught."

Thor reddened with wrath at these scoffing words, and took up the
horn, intending to drink the ale to the last dregs. But, try as he
would, he could not get the end of the horn to tip up completely, and
when he set it down it seemed to him that he had drunk less than at
the first time. Yet some difference had been made, for the horn could
now be carried without spilling.

"Ha! ha!" laughed the giant. "Is this your skill, good Thor? Are you
not leaving rather much for your third draught? It looks to me as if
that will have to be the greatest of them all."

Then Thor got very angry indeed, and, setting the horn to his mouth,
drank with all his might and main, so that when he could do no more
and had set it down again, the ale had certainly grown less.

"Ha! ha!" roared the giant. "They think too highly of you in the world
above, my little Thor. Now what other game would you like to try?"

"Whatever you like," answered Thor very grumpily, for none of the Asas
liked being laughed at.

So the giant said: "Young lads here think it nothing but play to lift
my cat up from the ground, and I should never have suggested such a
feat to the strength of Asa Thor had I not discovered that he is much
less of a man than I thought."

Then he called: "Puss! Puss!" in a voice that shook the house; upon
which an enormous grey cat sprang forth on the floor before them.

Rather annoyed at being asked to do such an easy thing, Thor went over
to the animal, put his arm round it and tried to lift it up. But the
more he tugged and strained the more the cat arched its back, so that
his strength was exerted vainly; and in the end, when he was black in
the face with the efforts he had made, he had only succeeded in
lifting up one paw.

Then the giant repeated his scornful laugh, saying: "That's just as I
expected. The cat is rather large, and Thor is small--tiny, indeed,
compared with the great men who