The Magic Mead
_This is the tale the Northmen tell of how All-Father Odin
brought the Magic Mead to Asgard._
There once lived among the earth-dwellers a certain man named Kvasir,
who was very wise. He did not keep his wisdom to himself, as Mimir
did, but went his way through all the world, answering questions and
sharing his gift with those who cared for it. And wherever he went men
were the better for his silver words, for Kvasir was a poet, the first
who ever lived, and by his gift of poetry he made glad the hearts of
gods and men.
Now when the dwarf people saw how Kvasir was loved and honoured, they
grew jealous of him, and plotted to work him evil. So two of their
number, called Fialar and Galar, met Kvasir one day and begged him to
visit their cave under the earth and to take counsel with them
concerning a very secret and important matter.
Glad, as was his wont, to help others, Kvasir agreed, whereupon the
dwarfs conducted him into a dark and dismal place underground; and
there, taking him unawares, they treacherously slew him, and poured
his blood into three jars. This they mixed with honey, and thus made a
Magic Mead, of such a nature that whoever drinks of it receives the
gift of poesy, and his speech is silver and his heart is filled with
wisdom.
It was not long before the gods in Asgard, missing the sweet sound of
Kvasir's voice throughout the earth, began to make inquiries as to
what had become of him.
The wicked dwarfs had spread the report that the wise man had choked
by reason of his great wisdom. But All-Father Odin knew well that this
absurd tale was not true, and was on the watch to see what mischief
Fialar and Galar had been brewing.
Meantime, the dwarfs did not taste a drop of the Magic Mead, but hid
it away in a secret place, while they went off in search of further
adventures.
After awhile they found the Giant Gilling fast asleep by the seashore,
and they began to pinch him till he was wide awake.
"Take us for a row on the sea, Gilling," they shouted, in their
impudent little voices.
So the Giant Gilling, who was good-natured and stupid, got into a
boat, and being very lazy, allowed the dwarfs to take the oars and row
where they would.
Then Fialar and Galar rowed on to an unseen rock and upset the boat,
so that the giant, who could not swim, was drowned; but they
themselves perched astride on the keel, and the boat soon drifted
ashore.
Hurrying to the giant's house they told his wife, with a fine pretence
of sympathy, that her husband had fallen into the sea and was drowned.
At this the poor giantess began to sob and groan until the walls shook
with the noise. Then Fialar said to his brother:
"Tired am I of this bawling. I will now take her out, and as she
passes through the doorway, drop a millstone on her head; and then
there will be an end to them both."
Forthwith he asked if it would not comfort her to look upon the sea
where her dear husband lay drowned; and she said it would. But as she
passed through the doorway wicked Galar, who had scrambled up above
the lintel, dropped a millstone on her head, and so she too fell an
easy victim to the malice of the cruel brothers.
Now while the two dwarfs were jumping and skipping about in their
wicked glee at the success of their evil plans, the Giant Suttung, son
of Gilling, came home, and finding that his mother and father were
both dead, he quickly guessed who were at the bottom of the mischief,
and determined to put an end to the wretches.
Before they could evade his wrath, he grasped one of the dwarfs in
each of his great hands, and, wading out into the ocean, he set them
down upon a rock which he knew would be flooded at high tide, and
there left them.
Then Fialar and Galar began to scream with terror, and to offer
anything that Suttung chose to ask for, if only he would spare their
lives.
Now Suttung had heard, as most people had done, of the Magic Mead, and
he thought that this was a fine opportunity of getting it into his
possession. So he bargained with the dwarfs, and they gladly promised
to give him the whole brew if only he would save them from their
perilous plight.
Suttung waited till they had had a good fright, and then, as the first
wave washed over them, he waded to the rock and lifted them off. He
took good care, however, not to give them their liberty until they had
handed over the three jars of Magic Mead.
The moment he had got the precious jars into his possession Suttung
hid them in a cave deep down in the centre of a mountain, and he set
his daughter, Gunlod, the Giant-Maiden, to keep watch and ward,
charging her to guard the cavern night and day, and to allow neither
gods nor men to have so much as a sip of the marvellous liquid.
Meantime, All-Father Odin had sent forth his ravens, Hugin and Munin,
to find out what had become of the wise Kvasir. For a while even they
were puzzled by his complete disappearance, but presently they heard
men talk of the Magic Mead that had been made from his blood, and so,
little by little, they learned the truth, and flying back to Odin,
they perched on his shoulders, and whispered it into his ears.
Now All-Father Odin was sorry for Kvasir, but he was still more vexed
to think that this wonderful gift of poetry should be in the hands of
his enemies, the giants. He began, therefore, to consider how he could
get it from them, for though he had drained the draught of wisdom in
speech and song, and nothing save a draught of the Magic Mead would
bring him that gift.
So once more All-Father Odin disguised himself as an aged wanderer,
pulled his grey hat well over his brows, threw his storm-hued cloak
around him, and journeyed to the Land of Giants.
Searching about for the home of Suttung, Odin presently passed by a
field where nine ugly serving-men were mowing hay. Now these were the
servants of Baugi, the brother of Suttung, as Odin very well knew; so,
after watching them for awhile, he called out:
"Hi, fellows! Your scythes are blunt. Would you like me to whet them
for you?"
Glad of an excuse to stop work, the men shouted, "Yes."
Then Odin took a whetstone from his belt and whetted the scythes till
they were sharp as razors.
The servants were much struck with the speed and skill with which this
was done, and they all called out together to ask if the whetstone was
for sale.
Odin replied that he was willing to sell it if he could get a fair
price; upon which they all yelled at once that they would pay whatever
he asked.
"Then let him have it who catches it," said Odin, and with that he
threw the whetstone up in the air.
And then a tremendous struggle began. Each man fought with his
neighbour for the stone and hacked at him with his keen scythe; and
within a very few minutes all the nine serving-men lay dead on the
field.
With a grim smile at the greed and quarrelsome behaviour which had
brought them to this end, Odin passed on to the house of the Giant
Baugi, and begged for supper and shelter for the night. The giant
received him hospitably enough, and was about to sit down to table
with him, when word was brought that his nine servants had killed each
other and lay dead in the field.
Then Baugi began to complain and lament his bad luck, saying: "Here
have I never had a better harvest, and yet there is not a man left to
gather it in."
"Suppose you give _me_ a trial," suggested Odin, "for though I look
old I can do the work of nine men, and that you will soon find."
"What do you want for your wages?" asked Baugi doubtfully, for he
guessed that the stranger was somebody out of the common.
"Nothing but a draught of the Magic Mead stored away by your brother
Suttung," answered Odin calmly.
"'Tis no easy thing you ask of me, good fellow," replied Baugi, "nor
is it mine to give. But if you will do my work I will go with you to
my brother when all is done, and we will do our best to get the mead."
So Odin set to work all that summer-time, and never before had Baugi
had such service done. Then, when the first breath of frost touched
the autumn leaves, the toiler laid aside his tools and, going to his
master, asked for his reward.
But Baugi shook his head doubtfully. "'Tis a harder matter than you
think," said he. "Come with me, however, and I will do my best for
you."
So they went together to the house of Suttung, and Baugi entered in
and boldly asked his brother to give him a drink of the Magic Mead,
wherewith to reward his servant.
At this Suttung flew into a great rage, and reproached Baugi for
asking such a thing. "You have been fooled," he cried, "for this is
none other than one of the gods, our deadly enemies, who, when he
drinks the mead, will use his new-found wisdom in our despite. If you
take my advice, you will do this enemy an ill turn while you have him
in your power."
So Baugi went back to Odin, his heart torn between hatred of the god
and fear as to what would happen if he did not keep his promise; but
he only told gloomily that he had failed to get the mead.
Then Odin said, "If Suttung will not give the mead because of your
promise, we must get it by some trick. And you will have to help me in
this, because of your plighted word."
To this Baugi pretended to agree, but all the while he was trying to
think of a plan whereby he could make an end of his troublesome
servant.
They now made their way to the mountain where Gunlod kept watch over
her treasured jars of mead. But her cave was hidden far away in the
centre of the mountain, and none but Suttung knew how to find the
entrance.
Baugi only pretended to join in the long and fruitless search, and at
length, tired out, Odin took from his pocket an auger, wherewith holes
are bored, and bade the giant use his great strength to drill a hole
through the mountain to the cave.
Accordingly Baugi bored away and presently cried out, "See, there is
your hole right into the cave!"
But Odin warily blew into the hole, and immediately chips of rock and
dust flew back into his face, showing that the hole extended only a
little way.
Then Odin knew, what before he had only guessed, that Baugi was trying
to trick him; but he only looked at him grimly and said:
"Bore deeper, master, bore deeper."
And the giant was so frightened by the gleam in the iron-grey eye that
he seized the auger, and this time made a hole which really pierced
the mountain and penetrated to the hidden cave.
Directly Odin had made sure that Baugi had fulfilled his task, he
changed himself into a snake and wriggled into the hole before Baugi
had realised what had happened.
The next moment Baugi gave a stab at the snake with the sharp auger,
hoping to cut him in two, but Odin was too quick for him, and he
wriggled out of sight as the blow fell.
Odin crept a long way through the mountain until he came at length to
a dark cave; and then he took again the form of the Father of Gods and
Men.
Looking about him for awhile in the dimness of the cavern, he saw at
length the beautiful Giant-Maiden, resting her head wearily on her
hands and gazing at the great jars of mead which stood before her on a
ledge as though she hated their very sight.
Coming softly to her side, Odin bent over her and gently kissed her
forehead. Gunlod at this sprang up in terror, but when she saw Odin's
kind face, her fears vanished and she smiled back at him.
"Whence come you?" asked the beautiful Giant-Maiden.
"I come from a long, long way off," replied the god, "and I am thirsty
after my journey. May I taste the mead that stands in yon vessels?"
Gunlod shook her head till her long golden locks fell in confusion
over her like a shower of laburnum blossom; but Odin set himself so
winningly to coax her that, after she had held out for some long time,
she told him at last that he might take one sip from each jar.
The words were hardly uttered ere Odin seized the first jar and in a
moment had drained it dry. Then he snatched up the second and the
third; and before Gunlod realised what had happened he had kissed her
again, and, passing rapidly through the hole, had flown forth into the
fresh air in the form of an eagle, and was bearing away the precious
mead in his mouth to Asgard.
Meanwhile, Baugi had gone back to the Giant Suttung with the tale of
how he had seen the mysterious serving-man change into a snake and
wriggle through a hole in the mountain; and Suttung at once guessed
that they had to deal with Odin himself. So he hurried to the hole and
sat there to watch for the return of the snake.
But he had to wait so long that at length he grew drowsy, and in
order to keep awake he was just pricking himself with the branch of a
neighbouring thorn-bush, when _birr! whizz!_ a great bird dashed out
of the hole and made off into the upper air.
This awoke Suttung effectually. He knew he had missed a good chance of
killing Odin, and that, in all probability, in the very act of
carrying off the Magic Mead to Asgard; but he would not give up all
hope, and next moment, in the form of another eagle, he was pursuing
his enemy in eager flight.
Now Odin was heavy with the mead he had drunk, and his head was dizzy,
so that he did not always fly along the straightest path. Little by
little Suttung gained on him therefore, till it became very uncertain
whether Odin could first reach the walls of Asgard.
The loud rush of fast-beating wings through the air attracted the
attention of the gods, and they crowded to the walls of Asgard to
watch the progress of the eagle, in whom they easily recognised Odin.
Some prepared great dishes in which to receive the Magic Mead from his
mouth; others, seeing that he might be caught by his pursuer before he
could reach the city, gathered a great pile of wood outside the walls,
and heaped it with tow and tar and turpentine. To this they set fire,
just as Odin flew over the battlements. And the flames shot up and
burnt the wings of the pursuing eagle, so that Suttung tumbled to the
earth and could fly no more.
Odin, exhausted and breathless, was meantime filling the dishes which
the gods held ready for the Magic Mead, but so hurried was he that
some of it was spilt; a few scattered drops fell on to the earth
below.
Men rushed eagerly to catch the precious drops in their mouths; but
none could get enough to be made wise with the true spirit of poesy.
Some caught enough to become makers of rhymes and verses, but this is
a different thing.
The Magic Mead was henceforth kept in Asgard under the charge of
white-haired Bragi, the son of Odin, he who plays so beautifully upon
the harp that it seems to sing of itself.
And once or twice in every hundred years or so, the gods allow some
very favoured babe of mortal man to drink a full draught of the Magic
Mead. Then, when the child grows up, he becomes a great poet, and
people say he is "inspired."