GUDMUND'S IDENTITY WITH MIMER.
I dare say the most characteristic figure of Teutonic mythology is Mimer, the lord of the fountain which bears his name. The liquid contained in the fountain is the object of Odin's deepest desire. He has neither authority nor power over it. Nor does he or anyone else of the gods seek to get control of it by force. Instances are mentioned showing that Odin, to get a drink from it, must subject himself to great sufferings and sacrifices (Völuspa, Cod. Reg., 28, 29; Havamál, 138-140; Gylfag., 15), and it is as a gift or a loan that he afterwards receives from Mimer the invigorating and soul-inspiring drink (Havamál, 140, 141). Over the fountain and its territory Mimer, of course, exercises unlimited control, an authority which the gods never appear to have disputed. He has a sphere of power which the gods recognize as inviolable. The domain of his rule belongs to the lower world; it is situated under one of the roots of the world-tree (Völuspa, 28, 29; Gylfag., 15), and when Odin, from the world-tree, asks for the precious mead of the fountain, he peers downward into the deep, and thence brings up the runes (nysta ec nithr, nam ec up rúnar—Havamál, 139). Saxo's account of the adventure of Hotherus (Hist., pp. 113-115, Müller's ed.) shows that there was thought to be a descent to Mimer's land in the form of a mountain cave (specus), and that this descent was, like the one to Gudmund's domain, to be found in the uttermost North, where terrible cold reigns.
Though a giant, Mimer is the friend of the order of the world and of the gods. He, like Urd, guards the sacred ash, the world-tree (Völuspa, 28), which accordingly also bears his name and is called Mimer's tree (Mimameidr—Fjolsvinsm, 20; meidr Mima—Fjolsv., 24). The intercourse between the Asa-father and him has been of such a nature that the expression "Mimer's friend" (Mimsvinr—Sonatorrek, 22; Younger Edda, i. 238, 250, 602) could be used by the skalds as an epithet of Odin. Of this friendship Ynglingasaga (ch. 4) has preserved a record. It makes Mimer lose his life in his activity for the good of the gods, and makes Odin embalm his head, in order that he may always be able to get wise counsels from its lips. The song about Sigrdrifa (str. 14) represents Odin as listening to the words of truth which come from Mimer's head. Völuspa (str. 45) predicts that Odin, when Ragnarok approaches, shall converse with Mimer's head; and, according to Gylfaginning (56), he, immediately before the conflagration of the world, rides to Mimer's fountain to get advice from the deep thinker for himself and his friends. The firm friendship between Alfather and this strange giant of the lower world was formed in time's morning while Odin was still young and undeveloped (Hav., 141), and continued until the end of the gods and the world.
Mimer is the collector of treasures. The same treasures as Gorm and his men found in the land which Gudmund let them visit are, according to mythology, in the care of Mimer. The wonderful horn (Völuspa, 28), the sword of victory, and the ring (Saxo, Hist., 113, 114; cp. Nos. 87, 97, 98, 101, 103).
In all these points the Gudmund of the middle-age sagas and Mimer of the mythology are identical. There still remains an important point. In Gudmund's domain there is a splendid grove, an enclosed place, from which weaknesses, age, and death are banished—a Paradise of the peculiar kind, that it is not intended for the souls of the dead, but for certain lifandi menn, yet inaccessible to people in general. In the myth concerning Mimer we also find such a grove.
52.
MIMER'S GROVE. LIF AND LEIFTHRASER.
The grove is called after its ruler and guardian, Mimer's or Treasure-Mimer's grove (Mimis holt—Younger Edda, Upsala Codex; Gylfag., 58; Hoddmimis holt—Vafthrudnism, 45; Gylfag., 58).
Gylfaginning describes the destruction of the world and its regeneration, and then relates how the earth, rising out of the sea, is furnished with human inhabitants. "During the conflagration (i Surtarloga) two persons are concealed in Treasure-Mimer's grove. Their names are Lif (Lif) and Leifthraser (Leifthrasir), and they feed on the morning dews. From them come so great an offspring that all the world is peopled."
In support of its statement Gylfaginning quotes Vafthrudnersmal. This poem makes Odin and the giant Vafthrudner (Vafthrúdnir) put questions to each other, and among others Odin asks this question: