mythical drink of Norse mythology
Mead of Poetry
The Mead of Poetry is a mythical drink in Norse mythology that turns whoever drinks it into a poet or scholar, able to answer any question. Snorri Sturluson records it in the Skáldskaparmál, and the story works as a metaphor for poetic inspiration.
The myth
The origin goes back to the truce that the Æsir and the Vanir sealed after their war. To symbolise it, the gods spat into a vat and from that spittle they created Kvasir, a being so wise that no question went unanswered. He travelled the world teaching people, until the dwarves Fjalar and Galar killed him, mixed his blood with honey and stored the drink in two vats and a pot called Són, Boðn and Óðrerir.
Later, the dwarves drowned the jötunn Gilling at sea, and his widow died of grief after a millstone fell on her head. Gilling's son Suttungr took the mead for revenge and hid it in the mountain Hnitbjörg, under the guard of his daughter Gunnlöd. Odin, disguised as Bölverk, worked one summer for Baugi, Suttungr's brother, in exchange for a drink. Using the auger Rati, he bored into the mountain as a snake, spent three nights with Gunnlöd and drank three draughts, emptying a whole container each time. He then fled as an eagle, pursued by Suttungr, also an eagle. Odin spat the mead into the vessels the Æsir had prepared. Some of it escaped during his flight, and this lesser portion, the "rhymester's share", was left for anyone to drink, while most went to the gods and to those truly gifted in poetry.
Legacy
The myth became the basis for many kennings and heiti for poetry, used by both pagan and Christian skaldic poets and in Icelandic rímur, including some that retold Bible stories. Today it inspires the comic The Magic Mead from the Danish series Valhalla by Peter Madsen, which won a prize at the Raptus Festival in Bergen.
Ancient sources: Snorri Sturluson tells it in the Skáldskaparmál, part of the Prose Edda.