The Mead of Poetry

Poetry is a stolen drink. Kvasir, the wisest being ever made, is murdered by two dwarfs who brew mead from his blood; the mead passes to the giant Suttung, who locks it in a mountain under his daughter Gunnlod's guard. Odin — under his frankest alias, Bolverk, 'worker of evil' — mows a summer's hay, bores through the rock, wins three nights with the guardian, drains all three vessels in three draughts, and escapes as an eagle with the hoarder at his tail-feathers. What he spills on the way is the poetasters' share; what he saves is every true poem since.