Even gods have something to learn
Based on the Norse myth of Thor’s journey to the land of the giants
Learning Objective: Students will read a play adaptation of a Norse myth and identify how Thor changes as he learns lessons during his adventure.
Prologue
Viking 1: Have you ever heard of Thor?
Viking 2: The guy with the big hammer—maybe you’ve seen him in a superhero movie.
Viking 1: Along with Loki, the trickster who causes trouble.
Viking 2: Well, guess what? They’re Norse gods, and we invented them.
Viking 1: We, the Vikings!
Viking 2: We lived more than 1,000 years ago in Scandinavia, in northern Europe.
Viking 1: We’re famous for our big ships, our fearless warriors, and best of all—
Viking 2: Our myths.
Viking 1: This one is our favorite. It’s about Thor.
Viking 2: And his biggest challenge ever . . . in the land of the giants.
Randy Pollak
THE VIKINGS
The Vikings lived from about 800 to 1050 A.D. in Scandinavia, an area in northern Europe. Today it includes the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Like the ancient Greeks, the Vikings believed in many gods. Thor, god of thunder, was the most popular. The name of the weekday Thursday comes from “Thor’s Day.”
Scene 1
Asgard, home of the gods, evening
N1: In a golden fortress, the gods Odin, Frigg, Loki, and Thor gather around a crackling fire.
N2: Thor is showing off with his hammer.
Thor: Watch, everybody!
N3: He bangs the ground and lightning slices the air.
Frigg: Thor, stop. You’ll set this place on fire.
Loki: Now thunder!
N1: Thor swings his hammer around, narrowly missing Odin’s head.
N2: Thunder booms.
Odin (covering his ears): Enough with the hammer, son.
Thor: Nobody’s as powerful as I am.
Loki: You can say that again.
Thor: Nobody’s—
Odin: Thor, don’t brag. And Loki, stop egging him on.
Thor: But I’m stronger than all the gods put together.
Loki: What about the giants?
Thor: I could smash ALL the giants in Utgard with one hammer blow.
Frigg: No god has ever entered the giants’ castle. Jotun, their king, forbids it.
Thor: Well, I could get inside.
Loki: Of course you could. Let’s go tomorrow and prove it.
Thor: Yeah!
Odin: Oh Thor . . . you’re strong, but you’ve got a lot to learn.
Jim McMahon/Mapman ® (Map)
Scene 2
The land of the giants, the next morning
N3: Thor and Loki walk in a thick forest.
N1: In the distance, the giants’ castle rises through the mist.
Loki (pointing): There’s Utgard.
N2: Soon the gods are standing before two massive doors that stretch to the sky.
Thor: Watch!
N3: Thor swings his hammer.
N1: It bangs the doors, sending sparks flying.
N2: But the doors don’t budge.
Thor: Huh.
N3: Thor throws his body against the doors.
Thor: Ow!
N1: Just then, a huge guard appears. Thor and Loki can barely see his kneecaps.
Guard: Yes?
Thor: We’re the gods Thor and Loki. Let us in.
Guard: No god is worthy to enter Utgard.
Loki: This one is!
Thor: I’m more powerful than any god—
Loki: Or GIANT.
Guard: That’s impossible.
Thor: I can show you.
Guard (doubtfully): I’ll summon the king.
Scene 3
Utgard, the castle of the giants
N2: The castle doors swing open. There stands Jotun, the king of the giants.
N3: He’s taller than a pine tree, with a crown wider than a wagon wheel.
Jotun: Ah, Thor, the famous god of thunder. You think you’re worthy to enter Utgard?
Thor: I am.
Loki: Ask him to do anything. Anything.
Jotun (thinking): All right. An eating contest.
Thor: Perfect, I’m starving.
Jotun: If you can eat faster than my servant Lumi, you may enter my castle.
Thor: Easy as pie.
N1: Jotun calls for Lumi, and a tiny girl with flaming-red hair appears.
Thor (laughing): There’s no way a little kid can eat faster than I can.
Lumi: I think I may surprise you.
N2: Two giants carry a long table into the castle yard.
N3: It is heaped with food: grilled fish, steaming roast beef, mashed potatoes, hunks of bread and cheese.
N1: A crowd of giants gathers.
Jotun: Take your places.
N2: Thor and Lumi stand at either end.
Jotun: Ready? EAT!
N3: Thor and Lumi each begin to devour food from their end of the table.
Loki: Faster, Thor!
Crowd: LUMI! LUMI! LUMI!
N1: Quickly it becomes clear that Lumi is eating not just the food . . .
N2: . . . but the table too!
N3: She reaches the middle first, the clear winner.
N1: Thor is stunned.
Jotun: Thor, you lost. Time to go.
Loki: Wait, that was a fluke.
Thor: Give me another chance. Please.
Jotun (sighing): Fine. A test of strength.
Scene 4
The castle yard, later that day
N2: Thor flexes his muscles.
Jotun: Are you ready?
Loki: Thor was BORN ready.
Jotun: All Thor must do is win at arm wrestling with . . .
N3: A frail old woman with skin like wrinkled cloth walks in.
Jotun: Elli! My old nanny from childhood.
N1: Thor and Loki start laughing so hard, they fall over.
Loki: Piece of cake.
Elli: I think you’ll find me hard to beat.
N2: With a crowd of giants watching, Thor and Elli sit around a large, flat boulder, ready to arm wrestle.
Jotun: GO!
N3: They grip each other’s hands, elbows on the stone.
N1: Instantly, Elli starts to force Thor’s arm down.
Crowd: ELLI! ELLI! ELLI!
N2: Amazed, Thor pushes back.
Loki: YES!
N3: Thor seems to be winning.
N1: But then, slowly, Elli takes control. She wrestles Thor’s arm down to the stone.
Crowd: WOOOO!
Loki: Thor! You failed!
Jotun: Off you go now.
N2: Thor and Loki slump in defeat.
Thor: I can’t believe this.
Loki: At least your belly is full. I’m hungry, and we have a long walk home.
N3: Jotun looks down at them, his face softening with pity.
Jotun: Thor, I’ll give you one final test . . .
PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock Photo
Both Loki and Thor appear in Marvel comics, movies, and TV shows. Some details of their stories are pulled from Norse myths. Other details are made up.
Tom Hiddleston as Loki (left) and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the movie Thor
Scene 5
The castle yard, a little while later
N1: As the giants watch, Jotun presents Thor with a large horn brimming with a blue-green liquid.
Thor (frowning): What’s in there?
Loki: Don’t be picky.
Jotun: If you can drink all the liquid in the horn, you may enter Utgard.
Loki: Really TRY this time.
Thor (annoyed): I’ve been pushing myself harder and harder with every test.
Jotun: Ready? DRINK!
N2: Thor tips the horn and takes a few long gulps.
N3: But to his surprise, the horn is still full.
Thor: What . . .
N1: He tilts the horn again. Again, he drinks and drinks.
N2: This time, when he sets down the horn, he’s sure it’s empty.
N3: But no . . . the blue-green liquid splashes at the rim.
Loki: Thor! COME ON!
N1: In disbelief, Thor tries again.
N2: Liquid pours down his throat.
N3: When he finally sets down the horn, it’s no longer full, but there is still plenty of liquid sloshing around.
N1: Thor collapses on the ground.
Loki: You failed again.
Thor: I’ve never pushed myself so hard in my life.
N2: Jotun looks inside the horn and smiles.
Jotun: And it showed. Thor, you are the strongest and most persistent god I know.
Loki: Really?
Jotun: You may enter my castle—and stay for the night.
N3: Amazed, Thor and Loki follow Jotun into Utgard.
Scene 6
Utgard’s great hall, the next morning
N1: After a delicious feast and restful night’s sleep, Thor and Loki are ready to leave.
Thor: I still can’t believe I lost.
Loki: Every challenge. Every single one.
Jotun: Don’t be too hard on yourself, Thor. Those tests . . . were not what they seemed.
Thor: What do you mean?
Jotun: Better to show you. Lumi!
N2: In comes the tiny, red-haired girl who beat Thor in the eating contest.
N3: She whirls around and, before their eyes, she turns into a roaring blaze.
Lumi: I’m not really a girl. I’m FIRE. And Fire consumes everything in its path, faster than anything else.
N1: Thor and Loki stare at each other in shock.
Jotun: Elli!
N2: Now appears the frail old woman who won the arm wrestling contest.
N3: She spins . . . and turns into a skeleton.
Elli: I’m OLD AGE. And Old Age is the one thing that will overcome everyone.
Thor: Whoa!
Jotun: Finally, the horn.
N1: A giant brings it, still almost full.
Jotun: This horn is filled with the ocean, which is bigger than all of us. The horn can never be emptied.
N2: Thor and Loki are stunned, then furious.
Thor: You tricked us!
Loki: Yeah! I like a good trick, but these contests weren’t fair.
Jotun: Thor, did you try your hardest?
Thor: Of course. I tried harder than ever.
Jotun: Then you’ve become even stronger through pushing yourself in challenges you couldn’t win. Your failures were a gift.
Loki: Wow.
Jotun: And you didn’t entirely fail the drinking contest. You lowered the level of the ocean!
Thor: I did?
Jotun: Yes. And in doing so, you created tides. Now, goodbye!
N3: Pleased, Thor and Loki fist-bump and then head home to Asgard.
Epilogue
Viking 1: Even though Thor didn’t win the challenges . . .
Viking 2: . . . Odin and Frigg were impressed.
Frigg: I think Thor’s losses made him more humble.
Odin: And I’m proud of Thor for not giving up, even when he discovered he wasn’t as powerful as he thought.
Loki: But still powerful! Remember, Thor changed the ocean forever.
Thor (modestly): Failure made me stronger.
Crowd: THOR! THOR! THOR!
Write to Win
Write a paragraph explaining at least one lesson Thor learned during his time in the land of the giants and how it changed him. Make sure to include details from the play.
This play was originally published in the September 2025 issue.
1. Preparing to Read
Build Background, Preview Vocabulary, and Set a Purpose for Reading
Build background knowledge about Norse mythology and the Vikings by showing the video “Into the World of the Vikings.”
Distribute the Vocabulary Skill Builder to review challenging terms. Highlighted terms: egging on, fluke, humble, modestly, myths, Norse, persistent, pity, summon, trickster.
Call on a volunteer to read the Up Close box on page 23.
2. Reading the Play
Assign parts and read the play aloud as a class.
Click here for great ideas for reading as a whole class, in small groups, or independently! Students can also listen to our Audio Read-Aloud with author Elise Broach.
Close-Reading Questions
1. In Scene 1, what do we learn about Thor’s character? Support your answer with details from the scene. (character) Thor likes to show off his strength without considering the consequences. He creates lightning with no concern about setting something on fire and swings his hammer around carelessly, just missing his father’s head. Thor is also quite conceited, bragging that he’s more powerful than anyone else, even the giants.
2. In Scene 1, Odin tells Loki to stop “egging on” Thor. Describe two examples of Loki egging on Thor. What does this behavior tell us about Loki’s character? (Note: Egging on means to encourage someone to do something, usually foolish or dangerous.) (supporting details) Loki eggs on Thor by urging him to make lightning and thunder with his hammer even though Thor is being careless and putting others in danger. Loki also eggs on Thor to boast more with the line “You can say that again” and encourages him to test his strength against the giants. This behavior shows that Loki enjoys creating trouble.
3. Describe Utgard based on what you read in Scene 2. (setting) Utgard, the castle of the giants, is located beyond a thick forest and is huge. Its front doors are so tall they stretch to the sky and so strong that Thor can’t move them with his hammer or his body. The giants who live there are enormous. Thor and Loki are shorter than the guard’s knees.
4. Thor must prove he’s worthy to enter Utgard by winning one of Jotun’s contests. Briefly explain what the three contests are and why Thor fails them. (plot) The first contest is an eating contest. He fails because his competitor, Lumi, whom Thor thinks is a girl, is actually Fire. The second challenge is an arm wrestling match with Elli, who appears as an old woman. Thor loses the match because Elli is really Old Age, and Old Age overcomes everyone. In the third contest, Thor must empty a drinking horn, but he is unable to do so because the horn is filled with the ocean. The horn is, therefore, impossible to empty, although Thor does manage to lower the level of the ocean, creating tides.
5. Jotun allows Thor to enter his castle, even though the Norse god fails all three contests. Why do you think Jotun makes this decision? (inference) Jotun seems to admire Thor’s persistence. He may feel that this quality makes Thor worthy to enter Utgard. The giant king might also be feeling bad for tricking Thor and want to make it up to the god of thunder by letting Thor and Loki spend the night.
6. Read the sidebar “A Day in the Life of a Viking Kid.” Compare and contrast the lives of Viking kids with American kids today. (text features) Although some kids who live on a farm might wake up to animal sounds, most kids today wake up when an alarm goes off or someone wakes them. Also, farm animals don’t usually sleep in people’s homes, as they did on cold nights during Viking times. Some American kids wear wool clothing, especially when it’s cold out, but not every day. An American kid might have a special piece of jewelry that they wear daily, but it’s probably not something that honors Thor. And while many young people in America help out at home, they don’t spend hours doing battle training or plan to sail away from home at 15 years old, as Viking kids did. Like young Vikings, many American kids enjoy board games, swimming, and ball games, as well as a delicious dinner of stew with bread. But Americans use glasses instead of cow’s horns to drink their water. One thing both groups probably enjoy is sitting around a fire and listening to stories about dragons, monsters, and giants.
Critical-Thinking Questions
7. At the end of Scene 1, Odin tells his son, “Oh Thor . . . you’re strong, but you’ve got a lot to learn.” Compare this observation with what Frigg, Odin, and Thor say in the Epilogue, and explain how Thor has changed from the beginning of the play. (how a character changes) At the beginning of the play, Thor demonstrates that he is strong but also careless and boastful. He seems to think that his great strength is all he needs to achieve anything he wants, like getting into the giants’ castle. As Odin says, Thor’s “got a lot to learn.” After losing all three contests, Thor realizes that his physical strength isn’t enough to make him worthy of entering Utgard. As Frigg remarks, “Thor’s losses made him more humble.” They also make his character stronger as Thor shows persistence and determination even while failing. Odin notes, “I’m proud of Thor for not giving up, even when he discovered he wasn’t as powerful as he thought.” And Thor agrees by modestly concluding, “Failure made me stronger.”
8. Jotun uses the powers of Fire and Old Age and the hugeness of the ocean during the three contests to defeat Thor. Do you think Jotun’s challenges are unfair to Thor? Explain your answer. (supporting an opinion) Answers will vary.
3. Skill Building and Writing
Featured Skill: How a Character Changes
Distribute the How a Character Changes skill builder, which will guide students to respond to the writing prompt on page 27.
Differentiate and Customize
In small groups, create storyboards to keep track of key events. Distribute papers divided into six sections. Students should label each section with a scene number and take turns drawing a picture for each scene, illustrating what they think is the most important part. Ask them to write a caption at the bottom of each picture.
Ask students to write an essay comparing this play with another Storyworks play about a mythical hero, “The Mighty Hercules.” Remind students to include the similarities and differences between Thor’s and Hercules’s friends, opponents, tasks, and character traits—as well as any lessons learned.
Before reading, show the video “Into the World of the Vikings” to build knowledge about the ancient Norse people.
Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Now that your students have enjoyed a Norse myth, invite them to spend time with some heroes from Greek mythology with our plays “The Mighty Hercules,” “The Three-Headed Beast,” and “The Snake-Haired Monster.”
Visit the Viking section of Mr. Donn’s history site for a treasure trove of information about the Vikings, including fascinating facts about their daily life, ships, food, and much more. Tabs at the top of the page take you to a page with links to Viking-related games your students will enjoy, as well as lesson plans and classroom activities. (Note: This website contains ads.)
Students will enjoy these short, entertaining animated videos of various Norse myths from the BBC. You’ll also find additional information and classroom activities at the bottom of the page.
Literature Connection
Introduction to Norse Mythology for Kids by Peter Aperlo
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book series by Rick Riordan
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Horrible Histories: The Vicious Vikings by Terry Deary
