Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - II. The North during the Ninth Century - B. Life in the North - C. Ancient Northern Myths
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Ancient Northern Myths 23
and scald. He is hospitably received, for much has he
seen of the world, and much does he know, and is
therefore highly revered:
"No 6etter fcurden
Bears one on his way
Than wisdom mickle;
More than 0oods and gold
It Drives the stranger
Affords the strayed a shield."
So says Havamal (Song of the high one, that is, Oden’s
song), a didactic poem of practical wisdom.
The guest is conducted to a seat of honor and is in-
vited to share in the evening meal, which is now served
on long tables placed before the benches. After the
repast, he is handed a drinking-horn filled with froth-
ing mead. Then he begins to recite the many things
he has seen and heard in the world without.
C. ANCIENT NORTHERN MYTHS
Thor, Oden, Frey, Njord, and Heimdatt. Then he
begins to sing of gods and of heroes ;
of mighty Thor,
who drives with his span of goats till the heavens re-
sound with rumble and roar, and with the lightning
strokes of his huge battle-ax crushes the giants, off-
spring of evil. Then of Oden he sings, the All-father,
who rides to battle on Sleipner, his eight-footed steed,
accompanied by his ravens twain, who acquaint him
with all that occurs in the world. One of his eyes has
Oden pawned to Mimer, the guardian of wisdom’s
spring, for the privilege of drinking its water. The
scald sings, too, of Frey, the ruler of rain and of sun-
shine; and of Njord, the god of the air and the winds.
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