Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Þá nam eg frævast
og fróður vera
og vaxa og vel hafast,
orð mér af orði
orðs leitaði,
verk mér af verkia
verks leitaði.
Then I began to bloom
and to be wise,
and to grow and thrive;
word came to me
from word,
deed came to me
from deed.
It is evident that Odin here means to say that the first drink which he received
from Mimir's fountain was the turning-point in his life; that before that time he had not
blossomed, had made no progress in wisdom, had possessed no eloquence nor ability to
do great deeds, but that he acquired all this from the power of the mead. This is precisely
the same idea that we constantly meet with in Rigveda, in regard to the soma-mead as the
liquid from which the gods got creative power, wisdom, and desire to accomplish great
deeds. Odin's greatest and most celebrated achievement was that he, with his brothers,
created Midgard. Would it then be reasonable to suppose that he performed this greatest
and wisest of his works before he began to develop fruit, and before he got wisdom and
the power of activity? It must be evident to everybody that this would be unreasonable. It
is equally manifest that among the works which he considered himself able to perform
after the drink from Mimir's fountain had given him strength, we must place in the front
rank those for which he is most celebrated: the slaying of the chaos-giant Ymir, the
raising of the crust of the earth, and the creation of Midgard. This could not be said more
clearly than it is stated in the above Hávamál strophe, unless Odin should have
specifically mentioned the works he performed after receiving the drink. Therefore, from
Mimir's fountain and from Mimir's hand, Odin has received his creative power and his
wisdom. We are thus also able to understand why Odin regarded this first drink from
Odhrerir so immensely important that he could resolve to subject himself to the
sufferings which are mentioned in strophes 138 and 139. But when Odin, by a single
drink from Mimir's fountain, is endowed with creative power and wisdom, how can the
conclusion be evaded, that the myth regarded Mimir as endowed with Promethean power,
since it makes him the possessor of the precious fountain, makes him drink therefrom
every day, and places him nearer to the deepest source and oldest activity of these forces
in the universe than Odin himself? The given and more instantaneous power, thanks to
which Odin was made able to form the upper world, came from the lower world and from
Mimir. The world-tree has also grown out of the lower world and is Mimir's tree, and
receives its value from his hands. Thus the creative power with which the dwarf-list in
Völuspá endowed the "mead-drinker" is rediscovered in Mimir. It is, therefore, perfectly
logical when the mythology makes him its first smith and chief artist, and keeper of
treasures and the ruler of a group of dwarves, underground artists, for originally these
were and remained creative forces personified, just as Rigveda's Ribhus, who smithied
flowers, and grass, and animals, and opened the veins of the earth for fertilizing streams,
while they at the same time made implements and weapons.
That Mimir was the profound counsellor and faithful friend of the Aesir has
already been shown. Thus, in Mimir, we discover Modsognir's governing position among
the artists, his creative activity, and his friendly relation to the gods.