SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

52 Saga-Book of the Viking Society
Heiridraupnir, 'Bright Dripper', suggests the idea of
Mimir's head rising, dripping, from the liquid of his own
well; it is possible that this liquid was not mere water but
the magic mead of knowledge, for V[Jluspd 28 speaks of
Mimir drinking mead, and the element heio-itself may
mean 'bright mead'.27 In any case it is this liquid,
"oozing" from a skull, which confers knowledge of what
are apparently the most secret of runes, "mind-runes"
The second of the Sigrdrifumdl verses is most tantalizing.
Does it merely mean that 06inn (if it was he who stood on
the cliff, despite the uncharacteristic sword) consulted
Mimir's head at a time of peril, as in V[Jl1tSPd? Or does
it imply that he himself had just cut off Mimir's head,
which then for the first time spoke to him? And if this
is so, is there any connexion with Grimnismdl 50, where
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