The Death of Kvasir
- Suttung
The death of Kvasir occasioned the dissemination among men of a
knowledge of the poetic arts. It happened in the following manner:
Kvasir was in the habit of journeying hither and thither in the
world
for the purpose of teaching wisdom to men. Once upon a time he was
invited to visit the home of the Dwarfs Fjalar and Galar; they
begged
permission to speak a word or two with him in private, and
promptly killed
him. His blood they allowed to drip into two crocks and a kettle;
then they
mixed honey with the blood and from this pottage they brewed a
mead
possessing the peculiar virtue that whoever should drink of it
would
become a skald or a soothsayer. The two crocks are called Son and
Bodn,
and the kettle Odrœrir. The Dwarfs told the Æsir that Kvasir had
been
drowned in his own perfect wisdom, no man being wise enough to
match
wits with him. Some time later the Dwarfs invited into their home
a Giant
named Gilling and his wife. The Dwarfs asked the Giant to row out
to sea to
fish with them; as they were rowing along the shore, the boat
struck a reef
and overturned. Gilling, being unable to swim, was drowned, while
the
Dwarfs managed to right the boat and reach land. When they told
the
Giant’s wife of the accident, she moaned and wept aloud. Fjalar
suggested
that it might ease her grief to look out to sea where her hushand
had
perished, and the thought pleased her; whereupon Fjalar directed
his
brother Galar to take a millstone, post himself above the door,
and drop the stone
on her head as she stepped out, for he was heartily wearied with
her
lamentations. Galar did as he was told. When Suttung, Gilling’s
son,
learned what had happened, he came upon the Dwarfs, took them
captive,
and marooned them on a reef over which the sea washed at flood
tide. In
their distress they begged Suttung to have mercy on them and
offered to
give him the precious mead in recompense for his father’s death.
Suttung
accepted their proffer, and in this way a reconciliation was
effected
between them. He hid the mead at a place called Nitbjorg and set
his
daughter Gunnlod to keep watch over it.
When all these events came to the knowledge of Odin, he set out
determined to secure the mead for himself. In his journey he came
to a
meadow belonging to Suttung’s brother Baugi, where he saw nine
thralls at
work cutting hay. On his asking if they wanted their scythes
sharpened they
gladly accepted his services. Taking his whetstone from his belt
he put
such a fine edge on the scythes that the thralls were eager to buy
the
whetstone from him. He was willing to sell, but finding that each
one of
them coveted it, he tossed the whetstone into the air; all of them
tried to
catch it at one time, and thus had the misfortune to cut one
another’s
throats with their scythes. Now Odin found lodging for the night
with Baugi.
Baugi complained to Odin that his nine thralls had killed one
another, and
that he was at his wits’ end to get laborers in their stead. Odin,
who had
called himself Bolverk, offered to do nine men’s work
for Baugi, if Baugi would only procure him a draught of Suttung’s
mead by
way of wages. Baugi answered that, though he had no sort of
control over
the mead, which Suttung kept in his own charge alone, he was
willing to go
in the company of Bolverk and try to gain possession of the mead
for him.
While summer lasted, Bolverk did the work of nine men for Baugi;
but when
winter came, he demanded his hire. The two accordingly visited
Suttung, to
whom Baugi explained the agreement between himself and Bolverk;
but
Suttung refused outright to let them have so much as a single
drop. Bolverk
then proposed to Baugi that they would have to try to get hold of
the mead
by some sort of trickery, and Baugi was nothing loath. Bolverk
produced an
auger called Rati and asked Baugi to bore a hole with it through
the
mountain, that is, provided the auger would bite rock. Baugi set
to work and
had not bored a great while before he declared that he had made a
hole
clear through the stone of the mountain. On Bolverk’s blowing into
the hole,
however, the grit flew back into his face; having thus discovered
that Baugi
meant to fool him, Bolverk enjoined him to bore again in sober
earnest.
Baugi plied the auger a second time; and when Bolverk blew once
more,
the dust flew inward. Bolverk now transformed himself into a snake
and
crawled through the hole. Baugi tried to pierce his body with the
auger but
failed. Odin soon made his way to the spot where Gunnlod sat
guarding the
mead, and remained there with her three nights. She gave him leave
to
drink thrice of the mead; the first time he drained Odrœrir, the
second time
Bodn, and the third time Son. Then taking on the form of an eagle,
he flew away
as fast as ever he could fly. When Suttung became aware of what
was
going on, he too assumed the shape of an eagle and spread his
wings in
pursuit of Odin. When the Æsir caught sight of Odin flying toward
home,
they placed their crocks out in the courtyard. On alighting within
the walls of
Asgard, Odin spewed the mead into the crocks; but Suttung having
by that
time nearly overtaken him, he let a part of the mead slip behind
him. The
gods, however, were not in the least disturbed, and permitted who
would to
gather up the dregs. Odin made a gift of the mead to the Æsir and
to all
who understand the art of poetry; the remnants of mead which fell
into the
mire became the allotted portion of poetasters.
Sources:
Peter
Andreas Munch: Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods
and Heroes. The American-Scandinavian Foundation, New
York. 1926, pp. 97-100.
The Younger Eddas:
Skaldskaparmal, pp. 92-96.
Rasmus B. Anderson (Ed.): The Elder Eddas of Saemund
Sigfusson and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson.
Norræna Society, London-New York. 1906.
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