Mead of poetry

In Norse mythology, the Poetic Mead or Mead of Poetry (Old Norse skáldskapar mjaðar), also known as Mead of Suttungr (Suttungmjaðar), is a mythical beverage that whoever "drinks becomes a skald or scholar" to recite any information and solve any question. This myth was reported by Snorri Sturluson (Skáldskaparmál 5) (1). The drink is a vivid metaphor for poetic inspiration, often associated with Odin the god of 'possession' via berserker rage or poetic inspiration.

After the Æsir-Vanir War, the gods sealed the truce they had just concluded by spitting in a vat. To keep a symbol of this truce, they created from their spittle a man named Kvasir. He was so wise that there were no questions he could not answer. He travelled around the world to give knowledge to mankind. One day, he visited the dwarves Fjalar and Galar. They killed him and poured his blood into two vats and a pot called Boðn, Són and Óðrerir. They mixed his blood with honey, thus creating a mead which made anybody who drank it a "poet or scholar" ("skáld eða frœðamaðr"). The dwarves explained to the gods that Kvasir had suffocated in intelligence.

Fjallar and Gallar invited a giant, Gilling, and his wife. They took him to sea and capsized their boat and the giant drowned. The dwarves then came back home and broke the news to Gilling's wife, which plunged her deep in grief. Fjallar proposed showing her the place where her husband had drowned but Gallar got tired of her weeping, went before her and dropped a millstone on her head when she crossed the threshold.

When Gilling's son, Suttungr, learned what had happened, he went to the dwarves and led them to a reef which was covered with water at high tide. The dwarves implored him and offered him the mead in compensation for his father's death. Suttungr agreed. When he came back home, he stored the mead in a place called Hnitbjörg where his daughter, Gunnlöd, was in charge of guarding it.

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