The Mead of Poetry

One night when the giant Kvaesir, who was created when the aesirs and the vanir mixed their spit in a bowl, spent the night in the dwarves Galar and Fjalar's house they killed him. The dwarves dropped his blood in three big bowls; Bodn, Odrorer and Son. Then they mixed it with honey to make mead. They soon realized that this mead was something special, everyone who drank it became a talented poet. The evil dwarves invited a giant, Gilling and his wife to their house. When they went out fishing they killed the giant. The same day they kills his wife who got really sad when she heard what they had done to her husband. Their son, Suttung headed for revenge. He brought Fjalar and Galar out in the sea to drown them. The dwarves got really frightened and prayed for their lives. When Suttung didn't listen to what they said they told him that he was going to get the expensive mead of poetry if he let them loose. They took him to the mountain where they kept the mead and Suttung put his daughter Gunnlod as a guard outside it.

When Odin heard about the mead he got interested and went out in the world trying to find it. One day he passed a meadow where nine farmers did the hay. They were working very slow because of their bad scythes. Odin sharpened their scytheses with his whetstone and when the farmers noticed how much faster the work was now they wanted to buy it. Odin said no, but when they didn't listen to him he threw the whetstone up in the air over them. They were all so desperate to be the one who catched the stone so they chopped each others heads off with the now good sharpened scythes. Then Odin turned himself into a human, Bolverk. He went to the farmhouse, where Baugi, Suttung's brother lived. He told him about the accident and asked him about the mead of poetry. Baugi told him that his brother Suttung was the owner of it. Bolverk asked if he could possibly stay at the farm the whole summer and do the work of his nine dead farmers and then have some of the mead. Baugi said that sounded like a good suggestion to him and Bolverk started his work at the farm.

During the summer Bolverk managed to do the job of nine dead farmers, but Suttung wouldn't let him or anybody have just one zip of the mead. Baugi, who felt sorry for Bolverk drilled a hole in the mountain. Bolverk turned himself into an snake and went through the wall. Inside he turned himself back to Bolverk again. Then he saw Gunnlod, who got very happy seeing a man in the cave. He spent three nights with her, and then she was so in love with him that she allowed him to take a zip of the mead. But Bolverk drank up everything in all the bowls and turned to an eagle. He flied away towards Asgard. Suttung, who saw the eagle became suspicious and followed him. Odin flied as fast as he could and when he reached the field of Vigrid all the aesirs hurriedly went after their bowls and bins. Odin puked out all the mead to the aesirs and even the humans got some of it. The mead could be drinken by anybody, but it won't make you a poet, but maybe you can rhyme a bit better.

Related Links: Baugi Bodn Feathercoat Galar Gilling Gunnlod Fjalar Kvaesir Odin Odrorer Poetry Mead Son Suttung