The Mead

Snorri's Edda traces poetry to a killing. Kvasir, made from the spittle of two divine families at the end of their war, is murdered by dwarves who brew his blood into mead; the mead passes to the giant Suttungr, who hides it in a mountain under his daughter's watch. Odin arrives under a false name, bores in as a serpent, spends three nights with Gunnlöð for three draughts, and drains all three vats. He leaves as an eagle. Some of it does not make it back to the vessels, and the tradition calls that portion the bad poets' share.