After Odin, disguised as the giant Bolverk, stole the mead from the giant Sutung, the ice giants of Jotunheim headed for Asgard. The stolen mead was a great insult, something that did not belong to the gods and was taken by force without permission from a giant land. Someone had to take responsibility for this act.
They reached Asgard and asked where Bolverk was, and Odin replied that he did not know of such a name, nor of such a giant. The giants went on their way. Still, they didn’t want too much confrontation with Odin. And for the one-eyed Bolverk: they didn’t want to admit the obvious resemblance to the mighty Odin, because they still remembered how the gods had ousted the giants in Jotunheim.
They returned to the offended Gunlod. She was not stupid, she sensed the truth. From the adventure of Odin transformed as Bolverk, nine months later she gave birth to a son named Bragi. When the boy grew up, she sent him to his father Odin. He was enchanting with his words, as sweet-spoken as the sweet mead – proof of the creation of Bragi, with the mead in his core.
Odin elevated Bragi to the god of poetry – the first skald. He married the beautiful goddess Idun, the patroness of the apples of immortality. Idun wrote magic runes in Bragi’s tounge, which made him an even more skilful poet. His poetry was so perfect that he named ideas, painted the colors of the imagination, and described the boldest dreams through the power of his storytelling. He explained the complexity of nature and the origin of things. Thus survived the poetry and wisdom of Kvasir, and poetry as a gift of this world.
