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Poetic Edda

Foul scorn was my meed  from the crafty maid, And nought from the woman I won.
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103.[1] Though glad at home,  and merry with guests, A man shall be wary and wise;The sage and shrewd,  wide wisdom seeking, Must see that his speech be fair;A fool is he named  who nought can say, For such is the way of the witless.
104.[2] I found the old giant,  now back have I fared, Small gain from silence I got;Full many a word,  my will to get, I spoke in Suttung's hall.
105.[3] The mouth of Rati  made room for my passage, And space in the stone he gnawed;
  1. ↑ With this stanza the subject changes abruptly, and apparently the virtues of fair speech, mentioned in the last three lines, account for the introduction, from what source cannot be known, of the story of Othin and the mead of song (stanzas 104-110).
  2. ↑ The giant Suttung ("the old giant") possessed the magic mead, a draught of which conferred the gift of poetry. Othin, desiring to obtain it, changed himself into a snake, bored his way through a mountain into Suttung's home, made love to the giant's daughter, Gunnloth, and by her connivance drank up all the mead. Then he flew away in the form of an eagle, leaving Gunnloth to her fate. While with Suttung he assumed the name of Bolverk ("the Evil-Doer").
  3. ↑ Rati ("the Traveller"): the gimlet with which Othin bored through the mountain to reach Suttung's home.

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