One evening when Thor was away on a journey, a dwarf came to Asgard. His name was Alvíss, and that means 'the one who knows everything'. He was small and pale, with a grey nose and big round eyes, and he had lived underground his whole life. Now he stood in the middle of Thor's great hall and said he wanted to marry Thor's daughter Thrúd. 'It has been promised,' said the dwarf, and he looked very pleased with himself.
Thrúd stood in the doorway and looked at the little dwarf. She was tall and strong and thought the whole thing was quite strange. Nobody had asked her about it. The guards did not know what to do, so they let the dwarf sit and wait.
When Thor came home that evening he saw the dwarf at his table. 'Who are you?' asked Thor in surprise. 'I am Alvíss, the wisest of all dwarves,' answered the dwarf proudly, 'and I have come to collect my bride.' Thor scratched his beard. He really just wanted to throw the dwarf out, so instead he had an idea.
'If you are truly so clever,' said Thor, sitting down, 'then you should be able to answer my questions. Tell me what everything is called. What do the gods call the sky? And the giants, what do they call it?' Alvíss nodded eagerly. This he could do. This was what he was best at in the whole world.
And so the dwarf began to tell. The gods call the sky 'heaven', he said, and the giants call it 'the high one', and the elves call it 'the fair roof'. He knew what the sun was called in every language, and the moon, and the wind. Thor asked and Alvíss answered, hour after hour, and the dwarf smiled with every correct answer.
Thor asked about the sea and about fire. He asked about clouds and about night and about the grain that grows in the fields. Alvíss answered everything. He was tired now, and his voice was a little hoarse, and still he kept going. He wanted to prove that he really was the cleverest dwarf who had ever lived.
Alvíss was so busy answering that he did not notice what was happening outside the window. The night was ending. The sky in the east grew lighter and lighter. Thrúd, who sat in the doorway with a blanket around her, saw it. Thor saw it too. The only one who did not see it was Alvíss.
Then the sun came. A golden strip of light crept in through the window and landed on the dwarf's feet. Alvíss felt the warmth and turned around, and then he saw the sunlight. His eyes grew wide. Dwarves cannot bear sunlight. That is the way it is with dwarves: they belong underground, in the dark, and if the sun shines on them they turn to stone.
And that was exactly what happened. Slowly, from the feet upward, Alvíss turned to stone. The whole little dwarf became a statue, with his mouth still open in the middle of an answer. Thor stood up and looked at the stone statue for a long time. 'You really did know everything,' he said quietly. 'Everything except one thing. You did not know when to stop talking.'
Thrúd came over and stood beside her father. 'Thank you, Papa,' she said, and Thor put his arm around her. Then they went and had breakfast together while the morning sun shone on the little stone dwarf who had once known everything.