Northern mythology

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XORTHERX MYTHOLOGY. 175
" On the plain now covered by the stones there were formerly
two dwellings^ and^ as some saj^, a church, whence
the largest stone_, which rises amid the others like a chui-ch
roof, is to this day called the church- stone.
In these two
dwellings two weddings were once held, at which, according
to the
old Norwegian fashion, the horn with foaming
beer was in constant circulation among the guests. It
occurred to the god Thor that he would drive down and
visit his old friends the Thellemarkers. He v>ent first to
the one wedding, was La\'ited in, presented vdih strong
beer, the bridegroom himself taking up the cask, drinking
to Thor and then handing him the barrel. The god was
pleased both with the drink itself and with the liberal
manner in which it was given, and went greatly gratified
to the other wedding party, to taste their wedding beer.
There he was treated nearly in the same manner, but a
want of respect was manifested in their not pledging him
in a general bowl. The god, perhaps a little aff'ected by
the deep di-aught
he had taken at the other wedding, became
furiously wi'oth, dashed the bowl on the ground, and
went away s'R'ingiughis hammer. He then took the bridal
pair that had presented him with
the cask, together with
their guests, and set them on a hill, to be witness of and
to secm'e them from the destruction he in his revenge had
destined for those who by their niggardliness had off'ended
Asgard^s most powerful god.
AVith his
tungum-hamri^^
he then struck the mountain with such force that ii
toppled down and buried under it the other bridal pair
^A-ith their habitation. But in his anger the god let his
hammer slip from his hand, which flew down with the
rocky fragments and was lost among them ^. Thor had
therefore to go down and seek after jt, and began casting
the fragments aside and turning and tugging them until
he found his hammer. Hence it was that a tolerably good
^ Hea%7 hammer. 2 j^ did not then return to his hand. See p. 39.