Odd and the Frost Giants

Thor stops at the forest’s edge. Odd asks for luck, insisting the gods’ blessing will matter, but Loki asks what they’ll do if he doesn’t come back; Odd promises that nothing will have gotten worse if he doesn’t. Thor points out that the giant could eat him, but Loki and Thor just as quickly assure him this rarely happens. Loki helpfully points out that Odd is so small and bony as to be hardly worth eating. Odd, suddenly in a grimmer mood, sets off toward the walls of Asgard. Odd notices that the path is easier, and the days are longer in Asgard, but he still reminisces about “when he had walked with ease and never thought twice about the miracle of putting one foot in front of the other and pushing the world toward you” (81).

Odd slowly realizes that the wall he is approaching is gigantic, and a huge figure—so big he must lean back to look at him—is sitting on a boulder beside it. The man, who Odd thinks is a statue at first, yells “Who are you” at Odd, and Odd politely answers, baffling