The Midgard Serpent Encircling the World
Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent, is the child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, sibling of Hel and Fenrir. Foreseeing disaster, Odin hurled the young snake into the deep sea that rings the inhabited world. There it grew until it encircled all of Midgard and gripped its own tail in its jaws; to the Norse imagination, the serpent lay coiled just beyond the edge of every ocean.
It crossed paths with Thor three times. In the hall of the giant Utgarda-Loki, Thor was challenged to lift a grey cat and could raise only one of its paws, learning afterwards that the cat was the Midgard Serpent disguised by illusion, and that the watching giants had been terrified. Then came the famous fishing trip: rowing far out with the giant Hymir, Thor baited a line with an ox's head, and the serpent took the hook. As its venom-spitting head broke the surface and Thor raised his hammer, the panicked Hymir cut the line. The scene is told in the Hymiskvida and the Prose Edda, and carved on the Altuna runestone in Sweden and the 'fishing stone' slab at Gosforth church in England.
The third meeting is the last. At Ragnarok the serpent heaves itself out of the sea, flooding the land, and advances beside Fenrir. Thor kills it with Mjolnir, walks nine paces, and falls dead of its venom.
