To learn something of the High One.
In the High One's hall:
After Bolverk they inquired
Whether he with the gods were come,
Or Suttung had destroyed him.
Odin, I believe,
A ring-oath gave.
Who in his faith will trust?
Suttung defrauded,
Of his drink bereft,
And Gunlad made to weep.
It is a beautiful idea that Odin creeps into Suttung's hall as a serpent, but when he has drunk the mead of poetry, when he has become inspired, he soars away on eagles' pinions.
Odin's name, Bolverk, may mean the one working evil, which might be said of him in relation to the giants, or the one who accomplishes difficult things, which then would impersonate the difficulty in mastering the art of poetry. Without a severe struggle no one can gain a victory in the art of poetry, and least of all in the Old Norse language. Gunlad (from gunnr, struggle, and laða, to invite) invites Odin to this struggle. She sits well fortified in the abode of the giant. She is surrounded by stone walls. The cup in which was the mead is called Odrœrer (od-rœrer, that which moves the spirit); that is, the cup of inspiration; and the myth is as clear as these names. Kvaser is the fruit of which the juice is pressed and mixed with honey; it produces the inspiring drink. It is also pertinently said that Kvaser perishes in his own wisdom. Does not the fruit burst from its superabundance of juice? But do not take only the outside skin of this myth; press the ethical juice out of it.
