Thrym clapped his hands and giant serving men came in. They carried five whole roast oxen, enough to feed the giants; they brought in twenty whole baked salmon, each fish the size of a ten-year-old boy; also they carried in  dozens of  trays  of  little  pastries and  fancies intended for  the women.They were followed by five more serving men, each one carrying a whole cask of mead, a barrel huge enough that each giant struggled beneath the weight of it.“This meal is for the beautiful Freya!” said Thrym, and he might have’s aid something else, but Thor had already started to eat and to drink, and it would have been rude for Thrym to have talked while the bride-to-be was eating.A tray of pastries for the women folk was placed in front of Loki andThor. Loki carefully picked out the smallest pastry. Thor just as carefullyswept  the  rest  of  the  pastries up,  and  they  vanished, to  the  sound ofmunching, under the veil. The other women, who had been looking at the pastries hungrily, glared, disappointed, at the beautiful Freya.But the beautiful Freya had not even begun to eat.Thor ate a whole ox, all by himself. He ate seven entire salmon, leavingnothing but the bones. Each time a tray of pastries was brought to him, hedevoured all the fancies and pastries on it, leaving all the other women hungry. Sometimes Loki would kick him under the table, but Thor ignoredevery kick and just kept eating.Thrym tapped Loki on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” he said. “But the lovely Freya has just polished off her third cask of mead.”“I’m sure she has,” said the maiden who was Loki. “Amazing. I’ve never seen any woman eat so ravenously. Never seenany woman eat so much, or drink so much mead.”“There is,” said Loki, “an obvious explanation.” He took a deep breathand watched Thor inhale another whole salmon and pull a salmon skeletonout from under his veil. It was like watching a magic trick. He wonderedwhat the obvious explanation was.“That makes eight salmon she’s eaten,” said Thrym.

Freya’s Unusual Wedding