From Havamál alone we get directly or indirectly the following:
The giant Suttung, also called Fjalar, has acquired possession of the precious mead for which Odin longs. The Asa-father resolves to capture it by cunning.
There is a feast at Fjalar's. Guests belonging to the clan of rimthurses are gathered in his halls (Havamál, 110). Besides these we must imagine that Suttung-Fjalar's own nearest kith and kin are present. The mythology speaks of a separate clan entirely distinct from the rimthurses, known as Suttungs Synir (Alvismal, Skirnersmal; see No. 78), whose chief must be Suttung-Fjalar, as his very name indicates. The Suttung kin and the rimthurses are accordingly gathered at the banquet on the day in question.
An honoured guest is expected, and a golden high-seat prepared for him awaits his arrival. From the continuation of the story we learn that the expected guest is the wooer or betrothed of Suttung-Fjalar's daughter, Gunlad. On that night the wedding of the giant's daughter is to be celebrated.
Odin arrives, but in disguise. He is received as the guest of honour, and is conducted to the golden high-seat. It follows of necessity that the guise assumed by Odin, when he descends to the mortal foes of the gods and of himself, is that of the expected lover. Who the latter was Havamál does not state, unless strophe 110, 5, like so many other passages, is purposely ambiguous and contains his name, a question which I shall consider later.
After the adventure has ended happily, Odin looks back with pleasure upon the success with which he assumed the guise of the stranger and played his part (str. 107). el keyptz litar hefi ec vel notith: "From the well changed exterior I reaped great advantage." In regard to the mythological meaning of litr, see No. 95: The expression keyptr litr, which literally means "purchased appearance," may seem strange, but kaupa means not only to "buy," but also to "change," "exchange;" kaupa klædum vid einn means "to change clothes with some one." Of a queen who exchanged her son with a slave woman, it is said that she keyptr um sonu vid ambátt. But the cause of Odin's joy is not that he successfully carried out a cunning trick, but that he in this way accomplished a deed of inestimable value for Asgard and for man (str., 107, 4-6), and he is sorry that poor Gunlad's trust in him was betrayed (str. 105). This is a characterisation of Odin's personality.
Nor does Havamál tell us what hinders the real lover from putting in his appearance and thwarting Odin's plan, while the latter is acting his part; but of this we learn something from another source, which we shall consider below.
The adventure undertaken by Odin is extremely dangerous, and he ran the risk of losing his head (str. 106, 6). For this reason he has, before entering Suttung-Fjalar's halls, secured an egress, through which he must be able to fly, and if possible, with the skaldic mead as his booty. There is no admittance for everybody to the rocky abode where the mead-treasure so much desired by all powers is kept. The dwelling is, as Eyvind tells us, situated in an abyss, and the door is, as another record tells us, watched. But Odin has let Rate bore ("gnaw") a tunnel through the mountain large enough to give him room to retire secretly (str. 106). In regard to Rate, see No. 82.
When the pretended lover has seated himself in the golden high-seat, a conversation begins around the banquet table. It is necessary for Odin to guard well his words, for he represents another person, well known there, and if he is not cautious he may be discovered. It is also necessary to be eloquent and winning, so that he may charm Gunlad and secure her devotion, for without her knowledge he cannot gain his end, that of carrying away the supply of inspiration-mead kept at Suttung's. Odin also boasts (str. 103, 104) that on this occasion he proved himself minnigr and málugr and margfrodr and eloquent for the realisation of his plan.