Editing Jörmungandr (section)

=== Thor's fishing trip ===
[[File:U1161 Altunastenen Tors fiskafänge 2.jpg|thumb|upright|Thor's fishing trip depicted on the [[Altuna Runestone]], one of the few confirmed [[Viking Age]] depictions of Jörmungandr.]]
Jörmungandr and Thor meet again when Thor goes fishing with the jötunn [[Hymir]]. When Hymir refuses to provide Thor with bait, Thor strikes the head off Hymir's largest ox to use it. They row to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flatfish and where he drew up two whales. Thor demands to go further out to sea and does so despite Hymir's protest. Thor then prepares a strong line and a large hook and baits it with the ox head, which Jörmungandr bites. Thor pulls the serpent from the water, and the two face one another, Jörmungandr blowing [[atter]].<ref name="ProseEdda54" /> Hymir goes pale with fear. As Thor grabs his [[Mjölnir|hammer]] to kill the serpent, the jötunn cuts the line, leaving the serpent to sink beneath the waves and return to its original position encircling the earth.<ref name="ProseEdda54">Snorri Sturluson (1916) ''Gylfaginning'' ch.&nbsp;xlviii, pp.&nbsp;68–70.</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |first1=Preben |last1=Meulengracht Sørensen |first2=Kirsten (trans.) |last2=Williams |editor-first=Gro |editor-last=Steinsland |editor-link=Gro Steinsland |contribution=Þorr's Fishing Expedition |title=Words and Objects: Towards a Dialogue Between Archaeology and History of Religion |publisher=The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture; Norwegian University Press |location=Oslo |year=1986 |isbn=82-00-07751-9 |pages=270–71 }} {{cite book |first1=Preben |last1=Meulengracht Sørensen |first2=Kirsten (trans.) |last2=Williams |editor1-last=Acker |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Larrington |editor2-first=Carolyne |authorlink=Carolyne Larrington |contribution=Þorr's Fishing Expedition (Hymiskviða) |title=The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology |location=London / New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=0-8153-1660-7 |pages=130–31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4bufbA_UpQC&q=decisive+importance }}</ref> The [[Eddic poem]] ''[[Hymiskviða]]'' has a similar ending to the story, but in earlier Scandinavian versions of the myth in [[skaldic poetry]], Thor successfully captures and kills the serpent by striking it on the head.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Clunies Ross|first=Margaret |authorlink=Margaret Clunies Ross |date=1989|title=Two of Þórr's Great Fights according to Hymiskviða|url=http://tango.bol.ucla.edu/nord_myth/gods_giants-readings.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428023010/http://tango.bol.ucla.edu/nord_myth/gods_giants-readings.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2019 |journal=Leeds Studies in English|volume=20|pages=8–10}}</ref>

Thor's fishing for Jörmungandr was one of the most popular [[Motif (visual arts)|motifs]] in [[Norse art]]. Four [[picture stone]]s that are believed to depict the myth are the [[Altuna Runestone]] and the [[Ardre image stones|Ardre VIII image stone]] in Sweden, the [[Hørdum stone]] in Denmark, and a stone slab at [[Gosforth, Cumbria]] by the same sculptor as the [[Gosforth Cross]].<ref name="Sor123">Meulengracht Sørensen (1986) p.&nbsp;260, (2002) p.&nbsp;123.</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Lilla |last=Kopár |contribution=Eddic poetry and the imagery of stone monuments |editor1-first=Carolyne |editor1-last=Larrington |editor2-first=Judy |editor2-last=Quinn <!-- NOTE: NOT [[Judy Quinn]] -->|editor3-first=Brittany |editor3-last=Schorn |title=A Handbook to Eddic Poetry: Myths and Legends of Early Scandinavia |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |orig-year=2016 |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-316-50129-0 |pages=203–08 }}</ref><ref name=Battle>{{Cite book |last1=Fee |first1=Christopher R. |author-link=Christopher R. Fee |last2=Leeming |first2=David A. |title=Gods, Heroes, & Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFlLHEIuVlgC&q=Gosforth+Cross+contains+an+illustration |isbn=0-19-513479-6 |page=36 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413025157/https://books.google.com/books?id=sFlLHEIuVlgC&q=Gosforth+Cross+contains+an+illustration |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of these depictions show the giant cutting the fishing line; on the Altuna stone, Thor is alone, implying he successfully killed the serpent.<ref name=":1" /> The Ardre VIII stone may depict more than one stage in the events: a man entering a house where an ox is standing, two men leaving, one with something on his shoulder, and two men using a spear to fish.<ref name="Sørensen">Meulengracht Sørensen (1986) p.&nbsp;269, (2002) p.&nbsp;130.</ref> The image on this stone has been dated to the 8th<ref name="Sor123" /> to 10th<ref>Kopár, p. 208.</ref> century. If the stone is correctly interpreted as a depiction of this myth, it would indicate that the story was preserved essentially unchanged for several centuries prior to the recording of the version in the ''Prose Edda'' around the year 1220.<ref name="Sørensen" /><ref name=":2" />