Let us take a look at the journey of Thor and Loki to the home of the giant Utgard-Loki as an example of what the outdwellers can teach us.
In order for Thor, Loki, Roskva and Thialfi to gain admittance to Utgard-Loki's hall, they were challenged with various tasks that they only had to complete one. First we had Thialfi who was a young boy and quick of feet. He was challenged to a race against a Hugi, a giant. While this may not seem fair that such a small man would run against someone so much larger, he put up a great challenge. They repeated this race a few times to give Thialfi a chance to win, but alas, he always came closer than one would expect, but never won.
It was now Loki's turn to attempt a challenge. As we all know, he has a voracious appetite, so he challenged another giant, Logi, to an eating contest. Well, a great feast was laid out for the two. Food covered the table with barely room for a plate. So the two begin eating until they were stuffed and the table was clear. It was a feat that one can only imagine to see so much food stuffed down one's gullet so quickly. But, alas, Loki lost, even as it was a close contest. So, he said he was done, and found a comfortable place to sit to watch the challenges Thor had to face.
So, it comes down to Thor to win a challenge and gain admittance to Utgard-Loki's hall. The first challenge he was given was to drink the entirety of a horn. Now, this horn was a huge horn, but Thor has never had a problem downing a horn of anything, and he was given three sips to empty this horn. He lifted it up to his lips and gulped down as much as he could, but it was still full. Getting a bit frustrated, Thor take a much larger and longer drink of the horn with the same result. Finally, on his third try, he drank and drank the horn until his body could hold no more. Only then did the level of the drink in the horn budge, but just a little.
Thor insisted on another challenge. This time he was told to pick up the giant's cat. So Thor goes and gets under the cat and starts to lift and lift the cat. Pushing up with all his might he strains and struggles to lift that cat. Alas, all he could do is get one paw off the ground. He failed again.
He insisted on one final challenge. This time Elli, an old woman giant who needed a cane to walk, was called on to wrestle Thor. Thor, with his massive strength thought this would be easy. They wrestled and wrestled until alas there was a winner. Thor was not the winner though, but the old woman had soundly defeated him. In good *ghosti tradition though, Utgard-Loki did find place for the four travelers on a bench in the hall, but no where near the place they felt they should have been. They enjoyed the feast, and spent the night. In the morning they were escorted out of the hall though, and Utgard-Loki explained the events of the night before. There was trickery involved in the challenges the travelers failed.
For the first challenge, the race. Thialfi was not racing a giant. Instead he was racing his thoughts, and as there is nothing faster than thought, he was destined to always lose. For the eating challenge that Loki fared well in, he was up against one of the primal forces as that other giant was wildfire, the never sated consumer of all.
Thor's challenges though worried the giant greatly though. The horn he drank for had its end in the ocean, and Thor was able to lower the level of the seas with his three sips. The cat was Jormungand, the world serpent, and Thor proved strong enough to lift it. Finally, the old woman that Thor wrestled was really old age, and we are all to succumb to this at some point in our lives.
These are but some of the lessons that one can learn from those outside our people. The outdwellers can teach us. The lesson of this story is that there are primal forces out there that one cannot defeat and we must accept it, as Loki and Thor did when they were finally turned away from Utgard-Loki's hall.