Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Hávamál and Eyvind:
Odin visits inn aldna jötun (Surt
and his race).
Odin's purpose is to deceive the
old giant. In his abode is found a
kinsman, who is in possession of the
skaldic mead (Suttung-Fjalar).
Odin appears in the guise of
Gunnlod's wooer, who, if he is named, is
called Sumbli (sumbl = a drink, a feast).
Odin became drunk.
The strophes about Sökkmimir:
Odin visits inn aldna jötun
(Sökkmímir and his race).
Odin's purpose is to deceive the
old giant. In his abode is found a
kinsman who is in possession of the
skaldic mead (Midvitnir).
Odin appears as Sviðurr-
Sveigðir. Svigðir means "the champion
drinker."
Odin must have drunk much,
since he appears among the giants as one
acting the part of a "champion drinker."
A catastrophe occurs causing
Gunnlod to bewail the death of a
kinsman.
A catastrophe occurs causing
Odin to slay Midvitnir's son.
To this is finally to be added that Eyvind's statement, that the event occurred in
Surt's Sökkdalir, helps to throw light on Surt's epithet Sökkmimir, and particularly that
Ynglingatal's account of the arrival and fate of the real Svegdir fills a gap in Hávamál's
narrative, and shows how Odin, appearing in the guise of another person who was
expected, could do so without fear of being surprised by the latter.
NOTE: The account in the Prose Edda about Odin's visit to Suttung seems to be
based on some satire produced long after the introduction of Christianity. With a free use
of the confused mythic traditions then extant, and without paying any heed to Hávamál's
statement, this satire was produced to show in a semi-allegorical way how good and bad
poetry originated. The author of this satire either did not know or did not care about the
fact that Hávamál identifies Suttung and Fjalar. To him they are different persons, of
whom the one receives the skaldic mead as a ransom from the other. While in Hávamál
the frost-giants give Odin the name Bölverkur, "the evil-doer," and this very properly
from their standpoint, the Prose Edda makes Odin give himself this name when he is to
appear incognito, though such a name was not calculated to inspire confidence. While in
Hávamál Odin, in the guise of another, enters Suttung's halls, is conducted to a golden
high-seat, and takes a lively part in the banquet and in the conversation, the Prose Edda
makes him steal into the mountain through a small gimlet-hole and get down into
Gunnlod's chamber in this manner, where he remains the whole time without seeing
anyone else of the people living there, and where, with Gunnlod's consent, he empties to
the bottom the giant's three mead-vessels, Óðrærir, Boðn, and Són. These three names
belong, as we have seen, in the real mythology to the three subterranean fountains which