Going Fishing With Thor

This story begins with the Aesir all having dinner under the sea in Aegirheim, the hall of Aegir the Sea God. Aegir was a great host, and loved to feast people - including all the dead sailors who had come to his hall - but the whole crowd of the Aesir, coming to stay for many days, was strenuous even for his generosity. Aegir found himself running out of beer, and told Odin that he needed a bigger cauldron if he was going to brew enough for the lot of them. Tyr told them that his father, Hymir, a very old frost-giant living in Jotunheim, had the biggest cauldron in the Nine Worlds. He said that he would be willing to try to get it from his parents, but Thor had to go with him for brute strength, as the cauldron was heavy.

When their son showed up with his brawny companion, Hymir and Hrod (and Hymir’s nine-headed old mother) tried to be good hosts, and slaughtered three bulls for provisions. However, they were shocked and dismayed when Thor ate two of them in one sitting to assuage his legendary hunger. Hymir shook his head and declared that they would have to go fishing in the morning in order to feed everyone. Thor volunteered to help, but showed himself to be more of a problem than a solution when Hymir sent him to find bait, and he killed the biggest of Hymir’s cattle on order to use the head as bait. Hymir was even more irritated with him at this point, but hoped that at least Thor’s brawny arms would be able to catch a lot of fish. 

Indeed, the fishing trip began well, with Thor catching two whales. However, he demanded to row further out into the ocean than Hymir was comfortable with. Hymir knew that Jormundgand the Midgard Serpent often prowled in the waves off that shore, and did not want to disturb the huge snake-god. Thor was unperturbed, however, and kept rowing, ignoring Hymir’s pleas.

Sure enough, as soon as Thor threw his line into the water, it hooked the Serpent, who rose thrashing out of the water and began to tow the boat away. Thor stood firm, but the force of the Serpent drove him through the bottom of the boat and water began pouring in. Thor reached for his hammer, ready for a battle, but Hymir did not want to be involved in a divine battle in a broken boat in the middle of the ocean, and quickly cut the line. Jormundgand vanished back into the sea, and Thor was so angry at Hymir that he heaved him overboard, leaving him to swim back to shore. While Hymir was struggling with the waves, Thor grew to his greatest height, waded back to land with the whales slung over his shoulders, dropped them at Hymir’s hearth and picked up his cauldron, and returned home to Asgard with the cauldron.

Which just shows that maybe one should think twice before going fishing with a thunder god.