Thialfi prepared for a third race. This time, if anything, I thought he managed to run even faster. But Hugi was faster still – a blur – reaching the end long before Thialfi was even halfway.

‘Brave try,’ said Hugi to Thialfi. ‘But I think we all know who the winner is here.’

Now Thor, who had watched all this with clenched teeth, strode up to Utgard-Loki. I knew the signs better than most: the Thunderer was losing patience.

‘Oh, it’s you, Asa-Thor,’ said the king. ‘Have you a skill you’d like to display? I’ve heard all kinds of fanciful tales, but seeing your companions, I’m rather inclined to dismiss what I’ve heard. It’s easy to swagger among the Folk and impress them with your boasting. But to pit you against real men . . .’

Thor snarled: ‘I’ll gladly out-drink any of you.’

The giant king raised an eyebrow. ‘A drinking contest? Really?’ he said. ‘I’m warning you, we’re serious drinkers in Utgard. Come winter, when the light goes, there isn’t much else to do here.’

‘Bring it on,’ said Thor. ‘You’ll see. There’s no one in Asgard to rival me, not even Allfather himself.’

‘All right,’ said Utgard-Loki. We followed him back into the hall, where a servant brought to his table a cleverly fashioned sconce-horn. ‘Most of my people like to drink from this, my ceremonial horn. Our very best drinkers can drain it in a single draught. Most of the rest can drain it in two. Let’s see what you can do, little Thor.’

Thor was red in the face by now. He wasn’t used to ridicule, and jokes about his size were never likely to go down well. I looked at the horn. It was very long, but Utgard-Loki hadn’t seen Thor drink. I thought that maybe this time, he’d underestimated the gods.

Thor took a deep breath and raised the drinking-horn to his mouth. Then he began to drink, taking giant gulps of the stuff inside. To me, it smelt like some kind of beer; weak; a little salty. I was sure that the draught would prove no match at all for the Thunderer. But when Thor put it down at last, gasping for breath, and looked inside, the level seemed barely to have dropped.

‘Never mind,’ said the giant king. ‘That’s still quite a respectable draught for such a little man as yourself. Try again. Twice should do it. Even the women and children here can do it in three.’

Thor said nothing, but drank again. I could feel the rage coming off him. The muscles in his neck worked; he drank until he was red in the face . . .

But when he finally put down the horn, it seemed to me that the level of beer had barely dropped more than an inch or so.

Thor shook his head like an angry dog.