The children of Odin - Germanic Mythology

130
CHILDREN OF ODIN
ing, " Great must be the preparations that old iEgir is making
to feast us to-morrow."
The morrow came and the mid-day of the morrow, and still
the Dwellers in Asgard saw no preparations being made for the
banquet. Then Frey rose up and went to seek old ^Egir, the
Giant King of the Sea. He found him sitting with bowed head
in his inner hall. "Ho, ^gir," he said, "what of the banquet
that you have offered to the Dwellers in Asgard ? "
Old ^gir mumbled and pulled at his beard. At last he looked
his guest in the face and told why the banquet was not being
made ready. The mead for the feast was not yet brewed. And
there was little chance of being able to brew mead that would
do for all, for ^gir's haU was lacking a mead kettle that would
contain enough.
When the ^sir and the Vanir heard this they were sorely
disappointed. Who now, outside of Asgard, would give them a
feast? iEgir was the only one of the Giants who was friendly
to them, and ^gir could not give them fuU entertainment.
Then a Giant youth who was there spoke up and said, "My
kinsman, the Giant Hrymer, has a mead kettle that is a mile
wide. If we could bring Hrymer's kettle here, what a feast we
might have!"
" One of us can go for that kettle," Frey said.
"Ah, but Hrymer's dwelling is beyond the deepest forest and
behind the highest mountain," the Giant youth said, "and
Hrymer himself is a rough and a churlish one to call on."