In the mythology, artistic and creative powers are closely related to each other. The great smiths of the Rigveda hymns, the Ribhus, make horses for Indra, create a cow and her calf, make from a single goblet three equally good, diffuse vegetation over the fields, and make brooks flow in the valleys (Rigveda, iv. 34, 9; iv. 38, 8; i. 20, 6, 110, 3, and elsewhere). This they do although they are "mortals," who by their merits acquire immortality. In the Teutonic mythology Sindre and Brok forge from a pig-skin Frey's steed, which looks like a boar, and the sons of Ivalde forge from gold locks that grow like other hair. The ring Draupnir, which the "dwarfs" Sindre and Brok made, possesses itself creative power and produces every ninth night eight gold rings of equal weight with itself (Skaldsk., 37). The "mead-drinker" is the chief and master of all these artists. And on a closer examination it appears that Mimer's mead-well is the source of all these powers, which in the mythology are represented as creating, forming, and ordaining with wisdom.
In Havamál (138-141) Odin relates that there was a time when he had not yet acquired strength and wisdom. But by self-sacrifice he was able to prevail on the celebrated Bolthorn's son, who dwells in the deep and has charge of the mead-fountain there and of the mighty runes, to give him (Odin) a drink from the precious mead, drawn from Odrærir:
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Tha nam ec frovaz oc frodr vera oc vaxa oc vel hafaz; ord mer af ordi orz leitadi, verc mer af verki vercs leitadi. |
Then I began to bloom and to be wise, and to grow and thrive; word came to me from word, deed came to me from deed. |
It is evident that Odin here means to say that the first drink which he received from Mimer's fountain was the turning-point in his life; that before that time he had not blossomed, had made no progress in wisdom, had possessed no eloquence nor ability to do great deeds, but that he acquired all this from the power of the mead. This is precisely the same idea as we constantly meet with in Rigveda, in regard to the soma-mead as the liquid from which the gods got creative power, wisdom, and desire to accomplish great deeds. Odin's greatest and most celebrated achievement was that he, with his brothers, created Midgard. Would it then be reasonable to suppose that he performed this greatest and wisest of his works before he began to develop fruit, and before he got wisdom and the power of activity? It must be evident to everybody that this would be unreasonable. It is equally manifest that among the works which he considered himself able to perform after the drink from Mimer's fountain had given him strength, we must place in the front rank those for which he is most celebrated: the slaying of the chaos-giant Ymer, the raising of the crust of the earth, and the creation of Midgard. This could not be said more clearly than it is stated in the above strophe of Havamál, unless Odin should have specifically mentioned the works he performed after receiving the drink. From Mimer's fountain and from Mimer's hand Odin has, therefore, received his creative power and his wisdom. We are thus able to understand why Odin regarded this first drink from Odrærer so immensely important that he could resolve to subject himself to the sufferings which are mentioned in strophes 138 and 139. But when Odin by a single drink from Mimer's fountain is endowed with creative power and wisdom, how can the conclusion be evaded, that the myth regarded Mimer as endowed with Promethean power, since it makes him the possessor of the precious fountain, makes him drink therefrom every day, and places him nearer to the deepest source and oldest activity of these forces in the universe than Odin himself? The given and more instantaneous power, thanks to which Odin was made able to form the upper world, came from the lower world and from Mimer. The world-tree has also grown out of the lower world and is Mimer's tree, and receives from his hands its value. Thus the creative power with which the dwarf-list in Völuspa endowed the "mead-drinker" is rediscovered in Mimer. It is, therefore, perfectly logical when the mythology makes him its first smith and chief artist, and keeper of treasures and the ruler of a group of dwarfs, underground artists, for originally these were and remained creative forces personified, just as Rigveda's Rubhus, who smithied flowers and grass, and animals, and opened the veins of the earth for fertilising streams, while they at the same time made implements and weapons.
That Mimer was the profound counsellor and faithful friend of the Asas has already been shown. Thus we discover in Mimer Modsogner's governing position among the artists, his creative activity, and his friendly relation to the gods.
Dvalin, created by Modsogner, is in the Norse sagas of the middle ages remembered as an extraordinary artist. He is there said to have assisted in the fashioning of the sword Tyrfing (Fornald. Saga, i. 436), of Freyja's splendid ornament Brisingamen, celebrated also in Anglo-Saxon poetry (Fornald. Saga, i. 391). In the Snofrid song, which is attributed to Harald Fairhair, the drapa is likened unto a work of art, which rings forth from beneath the fingers of Dvalin (hrynr fram ur Dvalin's greip—Fornm. Saga, x. 208; Flat., i. 582). This beautiful poetical figure is all the more appropriately applied, since Dvalin was not only the producer of the beautiful works of the smith, but also sage and skald. He was one of the few chosen ones who in time's morning were permitted to taste of Mimer's mead, which therefore is called his drink (Dvalin's drykkr—Younger Edda, i. 246).
But in the earliest antiquity no one partook of this drink who did not get it from Mimer himself.
Dvalin is one of the most ancient rune-masters, one of those who brought the knowledge of runes to those beings of creation who were endowed with reason (Havamál, 143). But all knowledge of runes came originally from Mimer. As skald and runic scholar, Dvalin, therefore, stood in the relation of disciple under the ruler of the lower world.
The myth in regard to the runes (cp. No. 26) mentioned three apprentices, who afterwards spread the knowledge of runes each among his own class of beings. Odin, who in the beginning was ignorant of the mighty and beneficent rune-songs (Havamál, 138-143), was by birth Mimer's chief disciple, and taught the knowledge of runes among his kinsmen, the Asas (Havamál, 143), and among men, his protégés (Sigdrifm., 18). The other disciples were Dain (Dáinn) and Dvalin (Dvalinn). Dain, like Dvalin, is an artist created by Modsogner (Völuspa, 11, Hauks Codex). He is mentioned side by side with Dvalin, and like him he has tasted the mead of poesy (munnvigg Dáins—Fornm. Saga, v. 209). Dain and Dvalin taught the runes to their clans, that is, to elves and dwarfs (Havamál, 143). Nor were the giants neglected. They learned the runes from Ásvidr. Since the other teachers of runes belong to the clans, to which they teach the knowledge of runes—"Odin among Asas, Dain among elves, Dvalin among dwarfs"—there can be no danger of making a mistake, if we assume that Ásvidr was a giant. And as Mimer himself is a giant, and as the name Ásvidr (= Ásvinr) means Asa-friend, and as no one—particularly no one among the giants—has so much right as Mimer to this epithet, which has its counterpart in Odin's epithet, Mims vinr (Mimer's friend), then caution dictates that we keep open the highly probable possibility that Mimer himself is meant by Ásvidr.
All that has here been stated about Dvalin shows that the mythology has referred him to a place within the domain of Mimer's activity. We have still to point out two statements in regard to him. Sol is said to have been his leika (Fornald., i. 475; Allvism, 17; Younger Edda, i. 472, 593). Leika, as a feminine word and referring to a personal object, means a young girl, a maiden, whom one keeps at his side, and in whose amusement one takes part at least as a spectator. The examples which we have of the use of the word indicate that the leika herself, and the person whose leika she is, are presupposed to have the same home. Sisters are called leikur, since they live together. Parents can call a foster-daughter their leika. In the neuter gender leika means a plaything, a doll or toy, and even in this sense it can rhetorically be applied to a person.