Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

former. The name mjötviður, with which the world-tree is mentioned in Völuspá 2 and
whose origin and meaning have been so much discussed, is from a mythological
standpoint satisfactorily explained if we assume that an older word, mjöðviður, the meadtree,
passed into the word similar in sound, mjötviður, the tree of fate (from mjöt,
measure; cp. mjötuður in the sense of fate, the power which gives measure, and the
Anglo-Saxon metod, Old Saxon metod, the giver of measure, fate, providence). 9
The sap of the world-tree and the veigar of the horn of the lower world are not,
however, precisely the same mead as the pure and undefiled liquid from Mimir's
fountain, that which Odin in his youth, through self-sacrifice, was permitted to taste, nor
is it precisely the same as that concerning the possession of which the powers of
mythology long contended, before it finally, through Odin's adventures at Suttung's, came
to Asgard. The episodes of this conflict concerning the mead will be given as my
investigation progresses, so far as they can be discovered. Here we must first examine
what the heathen records have preserved in regard to the closing episode in which the
conflict was ended in favor of Asgard. What the Prose Edda tells about it
(Skáldskaparmál 6, Skáldska. 58, Faulkes tr.), I must for the present leave entirely
unnoticed, lest the investigation should go astray and become entirely abortive.
The chief sources are the Hávamál strophes 104-110, and strophes 13 and 14.
Subordinate sources are Grímnismál 50 and Ynglingatal 2 (Ynglingasaga 12). To this
must be added half a strophe by Eyvind Skaldaspillir (Skáldskaparmál 9).
The statements of the chief source have, strange to say, been almost wholly
unobserved, while the mythologists have confined their attention to the later presentation
in Skáldskaparmál, which cannot be reconciled with the earlier accounts, and which from
a mythological standpoint is worse than worthless. In 1877 justice was done for the first
time to Hávamál in the excellent analysis of the strophes in question made by Prof. M. B.
Richert, in his "Attempts at explaining the obscure passages not hitherto understood in
the Poetic Edda." [Försök til belysning af mörkare och oförstådda ställen den poetiska
eddan, Upsala Universitets Årsskrift, 1877] 10
From Hávamál alone we get directly or indirectly the following: The giant
Suttung, also called Fjalar, has acquired possession of the precious mead for which Odin
longs. The Asa-father resolves to capture it by cunning.
There is a feast at Fjalar's. Guests belonging to the clan of frost-giants are
gathered in his halls (Hávamál 110). Besides these we must imagine that Suttung-Fjalar's
own nearest kith and kin are present. The mythology speaks of a separate clan entirely
distinct from the frost-giants, known as Suttungs synir (Alvíssmál, Skírnismál; see No.
78), whose chief must be Suttung-Fjalar, as his very name indicates. The Suttung kin and
the frost-giants are accordingly gathered at the banquet on the day in question.
An honored guest is expected, and a golden high-seat prepared for him awaits his
arrival. From the continuation of the story we learn that the expected guest is the wooer
9 Rydberg is speculating here on the origin of the word, thus nothing can be established on this basis. His
source (Vigfusson's Dictionary pg. 433) considers the word mjötviðr to be a scribal error for mjötuðr found
in Vsp 47. Today mjötviðr is defined as "measure-tree," well- proportioned tree or the tree that metes out
fate, and mjötuðr as "the one who metes out fate" or fate itself, and thus later used as a word to designate
the Christian god among the Anglo-Saxons.
10 Although Richert's interpretation differs from Rydberg in places, he suggests that Hávamál 104-110
"imply a version where Odin arrives at Suttung's halls as a seemingly respectable wooer and goes through a
marriage ceremony with Gunnlod (Evans' Hávamál, 120).