Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

which can only be explained as referring to a drink prepared by a mixing of
several liquids, each one of which is a veig. Originally veigar seems always to have
designated a drink of the dead, allaying their sorrows and giving them new life. In
Hyndluljóð 34, dýrar veigar has the meaning of a potion of bliss which Ottar, beloved by
Freyja, is to drink. In strophe 32, Freyja threatens the sorceress Hyndla with a fire, which
is to take her hence for ever. In strophe 33, Hyndla answers the threat with a similar and
worse one. She says she already sees the conflagration of the world; there shall nearly all
beings "suffer the loss of life" (verða flestir fjörlausn þola), Freyja and her Ottar of
course included, and their final destiny, according to Hyndla's wish, is indicated by
Freyja's handing Ottar a pain-foreboding, venomous drink. Hyndla invokes on Freyja and
Ottar the flames of Ragnarok and damnation. Freyja answers by including Ottar in the
protection of the gods, and foretelling that he is to drink dýrar veigar.
Besides in these passages, veigar occurs in a strophe composed by Ref Gestson,
quoted in Skáldskaparmál, ch. 9. Only half of the strophe is quoted, so that it is
impossible to determine definitely the meaning of the veigar referred to by the skald. We
only see that they are given by Odin, and that "we" must be grateful to him for them. The
half strophe is possibly a part of a death-song which Ref Gestson is known to have
composed on his foster-father, Gissur. 1
Veig in the singular means not only drink, but also power, strength. Perhaps
Bugge is right in claiming that this was the original meaning of the word. The plural
veigar accordingly means strengths. That this expression "strengths" should come to
designate in a rational manner a special drink must be explained by the fact that "the
strengths" was the current expression for the liquids of which the invigorating mythical
drink was composed. The three fountains of the lower world are the strength-givers of the
universe, and, as we have already seen, it is the liquids of these wells that are mixed into
the wonderful brewing in the subterranean horn.
When Eilif Gudrunarson, the skald converted to Christianity, makes Christ, who
gives the water of eternal life, sit near Urd's fountain, then this is a Christianized heathen
idea, and refers to the power of this fountain's water to give, through the judge of the
world, to the pious a less troublesome life than that on earth. The water which gives
warmth to the world-tree and heals its wounds is to be found in the immediate vicinity of
the thingstead, and has also served to strengthen and heal the souls of the dead.
To judge from Hyndluljod 33, those doomed to unhappiness must also partake of
some drink. It is "much mixed with venom (eitri blandinn mjög), and forebodes them evil
(illu heilli). They must, therefore, be compelled to drink it before they enter the world of
misery, and accordingly, no doubt, while they sit á nornastóli on the very thingstead. The
Icelandic sagas of the Middle Ages know the venom drink as a potion of misery.
It appears that this potion of unhappiness did not loosen the speechless tongues of
the damned. Eitr means the lowest degree of cold and poison at the same time, and would
not, therefore, be serviceable for that purpose, since the tongues were made speechless
with cold. In Saxo's descriptions of the regions of misery in the lower world, it is only the
torturing demons that speak. The dead are speechless, and suffer their agonies without
1 Þér eigu vér veigar, /Valgautr, salar brautar, /Fals, hrannvala fannar, /framr, valdi tamr, gjalda. "To you
we owe Fal's cup (the mead of poetry), noble Slaughter-Gaut (Odin)…" Faulkes tr.