The Boy Who Raced Thought

Thjalfi is twelve, the fastest goatherd in Steinsdal, and always hungry. He takes first and thinks after. His sister Roskva, eleven, remembers every word anyone says and keeps most of her own to herself.

One late-autumn night two travelers stop at the last farm at the top of the valley. The big one, red-bearded and hungrier than Thjalfi, kills his own goats for supper and gives a single order: every bone goes onto the goatskins, whole. Thjalfi splits one for the marrow.

In the morning the goats stand up again, and one of them limps. The price is the family's two children.

Now Thjalfi and Roskva are Thor's servants, crossing the deep sea into the giants' country, where nothing is quite the size it seems. Thjalfi is sure that one win will pay back what he broke.

He lost the race against Thought. Then the giants made a man out of mud.