One day, Thor was shocked to discover that his hammer was missing.
Desperate, he asked Loki to find it.
Loki turned himself into a falcon and soared above the earth, searching for clues to the hammer’s disappearance.
Finally, Loki learned that a frost giant named Thrym had stolen the hammer and hidden it deep beneath a mountain in the icy land of Jotunheim.
When Loki tried to retrieve the hammer, he found out that Thrym would not return the hammer unless he was given the beautiful goddess Freyja to be his wife.
As Freyja screamed in rage at this proposal, the god Heimdall came up with a plan. He proposed that Thor disguise himself as Freyja in a bride’s dress and journey to Thrym’s home.
Loki would also go along, dressed as a bridesmaid.
At first, Thor protested against the embarrassment of wearing a dress, but Loki reminded him that he was powerless without his hammer.
Reluctantly, Thor put on the wedding dress, covered his face with a veil, and arrived at Thrym’s hall.
At the wedding feast, Thrym was stunned as his new bride displayed an incredible appetite, easily eating an ox and eight salmon. Loki explained that the bride was so excited by the wedding that she had fasted for eight days.
When Thrym tried to kiss his bride, Thor’s eyes glowed behind the veil, and he drew back in terror. Again, Loki explained that the bride was so eager for her new husband, that she had not slept for eight nights.
At last, Thor’s hammer was brought into the hall to bless the new couple. As Thrym looked on in shock, Thor tore off his dress and seized the hammer in fury.
Within moments, every giant in the hall lay dead, and Loki and Thor returned to Asgard in triumph.
Thor raises his mighty hammer in a striking black and white drawing by noted 19th century illustrator Arthur Rackham.
