There are clear allegories in our attested Germanic myths, and possibly the best example of this is a self-consciously allegorical myth of Thunder [Þórr], particularly his visit to the etten Outyards-Lock [Útgarða-Loki] which is narrated in prose in the Gylfaginning, in the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Let us briefly summarize its contents:
Thunder, Lock [Loki] and Thelf [Þjálfi], Thunder's servant, travel to the Ettenland. There, they encounter the Outyards-Lock, who challenges them to a series of contests. Lock enters a food-eating contest against an etten but loses because the opponent not only eats the food but also the table and bones alike. Likewise, Thelf, who is very swift, goes into a racing contest but couldn't win, because his opponent was too fast. Thunder faces three challenges: drinking from a horn he cannot empty, lifting a cat he cannot raise fully, and wrestling an old woman who easily overpowers him. What's the catch? The mythic narrative ends with Outyards-Lock explaining to Thunder the reality of the challenges that were faced:
In that food-eating contest Lock lost to Lowe [Logi], whose name means "Flame."
When Thelf couldn't outrun High [Hugi], it was because nothing is swifter than "Thought," which is the meaning of High's name.
When Thunder couldn't drink the horn, it was because the horn was connected to the entire ocean, and what Thunder managed to drink lowered the sea level. The cat wasn't a cat, it was the Middenyard serpent, and Thunder managed to lift one of its paws which frightened everyone. And the old woman was Eld [Elli] herself, whose name means "Old Age," whom no one can defeat.
This myth can justifiably be called self-consciously allegorical because at the end of the narrative all its allegorical content is revealed to the audience. It goes on to show that allegory could be employed in myths, and that it could also be their constituent part.
