Odin

Odin pierced himself with Gungnir and hung from a high bough of Yggdrasil, the windswept tree. He gave himself to Odin, himself to himself. The tree had roots whose paths no one knew. The wind battered him as he swung there for nine long days and nine long nights.

No bread refreshed him, and no drink from a horn reached his lips. He allowed no one to ease his suffering. He peered downwards from the tree. Then he saw the runes, seized them, screamed, and fell back from the tree.

Odin learnt nine mighty spells from the famous son of Bolthor, Bestla’s father. He also drank the precious mead from Odrerir. After this, he quickened, grew wise, prospered, and expanded his understanding. One word led him to another word, and one deed led him to another deed.

He found the runes and their meaningful letters, the great and difficult signs that brought him supernatural knowledge. His spear wound, his hanging, his hunger, and his fall marked the price of what he gained from the tree. The sacrifice gave him the runes and the spells that followed from them.

Odin asked Frigg for advice because he wanted to visit Vafthrudnir and test his wisdom against the giant. Frigg urged him to stay in the courts of the gods. She knew no giant as powerful as Vafthrudnir. She wished Odin a safe journey and hoped that his mind would serve him well. Odin went against her advice, disguised as a poor wanderer, and entered the hall owned by Im’s father.

Odin greeted Vafthrudnir and challenged him to prove whether he was wise or very wise. The giant accepted him as a guest. Odin answered the giant’s questions about the steeds of day and night, the river that marked the boundary between the countries of gods and giants, and the plain Vígríðr. He also answered other questions about ancient matters. Vafthrudnir did not hesitate when he answered Odin’s questions about the world, the giants, the wind, and what he remembered from the earliest times.

After Odin had proved his knowledge, Vafthrudnir invited him to sit on the giant’s bench. They wagered their heads on their wisdom and questioned each other in turn. Vafthrudnir answered Odin’s questions, including how the frost giant had fathered children without joining with giantesses, and what the giant remembered from the time before the world was made. Odin continued until he asked what the giant had first said in Baldr’s ear before Baldr was carried to the pyre.

Vafthrudnir then understood whom he had faced. No living man knew what Odin had said to his son. The giant admitted defeat, and Odin won the wager of heads.

Odin gathered the battle-dead and carried them to Valhöll. The fallen warriors became his companions and strengthened his company for the great war that came at Ragnarök. Dead men spoke to him and revealed hidden knowledge, so Odin placed his hunger for understanding above every other concern. The dead were also offerings. Enemy warriors were given to him through battle, before they ever reached his hall.

Yet Odin did not honour the living warriors who served him with loyalty. He used lies, disguises, and secret acts to spread strife. He urged princes never to make peace. He set kings against one another, broke the bonds between kin, and turned societies towards war. He brought conflict into families and damaged the customs that restrained violence. Although rulers and heroes honoured him, Odin repeatedly manipulated events for the worst.

Kings such as Hákon and Haraldr hárfagri sent him the slain. Heroes such as Starkaðr, Sigurðr, Sigmundr, and Sinfjötli also honoured him. Battle became a sacrifice to Odin, and the enemy dead reached him as offerings. He remained a patron of kings and nobles while he encouraged the wars that fed his hall.

Odin then favoured Sigmund and gave him a sword. The gift promised strength at the hour when Sigmund needed it. When that fated hour arrived, Odin appeared with his spear and shattered the sword. Sigmund lost the weapon Odin had given him.

Bölverk enlisted Baugi to help him steal the mead of poetry. Baugi agreed because he feared the giant who had done the work of nine thralls without shedding a drop of sweat. He led Bölverk to the mountain where the mead was stored and bored into the rock. Bölverk blew into the hole, and the chips flew back into Baugi’s face. He saw that Baugi had tried to deceive him and ordered him to bore again. When the chips flew inward, Bölverk changed himself into a serpent and slipped through the opening. Baugi thrust at him with the auger, but missed him.

Inside the mountain, Bölverk changed back into his own form and found Gunnlod, Suttung’s daughter, guarding the mead. He sang one of the nine precious songs he had learnt while he hung in delirium from Yggdrasil. Gunnlod welcomed his company, and Bölverk shared her couch for three nights. She promised him three draughts from the mead. He asked to drink from the kettle Odrerir, so that he could make poems about her. Gunnlod unlocked the chamber and showed him the kettle and the two vats. With the first draught, Bölverk emptied Odrerir. With the second, he emptied Bodn. With the third, he emptied Son. He had taken all the mead.

Bölverk then changed into an eagle and flew towards Asgard. Suttung changed into another eagle and chased him, with his beak almost touching Bölverk’s tail feathers. Thor hauled three large wooden vats into the courtyard, and the gods prepared bowls and crocks. As Bölverk flew over the walls, he spat the mead into the waiting vessels. He survived the chase and brought the mead into Asgard. In one telling, a little mead fell outside the walls and formed a pool for amateur poets. In another, Suttung came so close that Bölverk accidentally expelled a few drops from his body. Those drops fell to earth, and bad poets and singers used that mead, while better poets received the true mead of poetry.