Odin is not only the inventor of poetry, he also favors and protects
history, Saga. The Elder Edda:
Sokvabek hight the fourth dwelling.,
Over it flow the cool billows;
Glad drink there Odin and Saga
Every day from golden cups.
The charming influence of history could not be more beautifully
described.
Sokvabek is the brook of the deep. From the deep arise the thoughts and
roll as cool refreshing waves through golden words. Saga can tell, Odin
can think, about it. Thus they sit together day after day and night
after night and refresh their minds from the fountain of history. Saga
is the second of the goddesses. She dwells at Sokvabek, a very large and
stately abode. The stream of history is large, it is broad and deep.
Saga is from the word meaning _to say_. In Greece Klio was one of the
muses, but in Norseland Saga is alone, united with Odin, the father of
heroic deeds. Her favor is the hope of the youth and the delight of the
old man.