Thor stared at him. “For a start, I can drink,” said Thor. “There is nodrink I cannot drain.”Utgardaloki considered this. “Of course,” he said. “Where is my cup-bearer?” The cup-bearer stepped forward. “Bring me my special drinking horn.”The cup-bearer nodded and walked away, returning in moments with along horn. It was longer than any drinking horn that Thor had ever seen, buthe was not concerned. He was Thor, after all, and there was no drinkinghorn he could not drain. Runes and patterns were engraved on the side ofthe horn, and there was silver about the mouthpiece.“It is the drinking horn of this castle,” said Utgardaloki. “We have allemptied it here, in our time. The strongest and mightiest of us drain it all inone go; some of us, I admit it, take two attempts to drain it. I am proud totell you that there is nobody here so weak, so disappointing, that it hastaken them three drafts to finish it.”It was a long horn, but Thor was Thor, and he raised the brimming hornto his lips and began to drink. The mead of the giants was cold and salty,but he drank it down, draining the horn, drinking until his breath gave outand he could drink no longer.He expected to see the horn emptied, but it was as full as when he hadbegun to drink, or nearly as full.“I had been led to believe that you were a better drinker than that,” saidUtgardaloki drily. “Still, I know you can finish it at a second draft, as we alldo.”Thor took a deep breath, and he put his lips to the horn, and he drankdeeply and drank well. He knew that he had to have emptied the horn thistime, and yet when he lowered the horn from his lips, it had gone down byonly the length of his thumb.The giants looked at Thor and they began to jeer, but he glared at them,and they were silent.“Ah,” said Utgardaloki. “So the tales of the mighty Thor are only tales.Well,  even  so,  we  will  allow  you  to  drink  the  horn  dry  on  your  thirdattempt. There cannot be much left in there, after all.”Thor raised the horn to his lips and he drank, and he drank like a god drinks, drank so long and so deeply that Loki and Thialfi simply stared at him in astonishment.But  when  he  lowered the  horn,  the  mead  had  gone  down  by  only another knuckle’s worth. “I am done with this,” said Thor. “And I am not convinced that it is only a little mead.

Thor’s Journey to the Land of the Giants