ame the mighty king of spells."

Vafthrudni's-mal (W. Taylor's tr.).

Odin and Vafthrudnir

On this occasion Odin had disguised himself as a Wanderer, by Frigga's
advice, and when asked his name declared it was Gangrad. The contest of
wit immediately began, Vafthrudnir questioning his guest concerning
the horses which carried Day and Night across the sky, the river
Ifing separating Joetun-heim from Asgard, and also about Vigrid,
the field where the last battle was to be fought.

All these questions were minutely answered by Odin, who, when
Vafthrudnir had ended, began the interrogatory in his turn, and
received equally explicit answers about the origin of heaven and
earth, the creation of the gods, their quarrel with the Vanas, the
occupations of the heroes in Valhalla, the offices of the Norns, and
the rulers who were to replace the AEsir when they had all perished
with the world they had created. But when, in conclusion, Odin bent
near the giant and softly inquired what words Allfather whispered
to his dead son Balder as he lay upon his funeral pyre, Vafthrudnir
suddenly recognised his divine visitor. Starting back in dismay, he
declared that no one but Odin himself could answer that question,
and that it was now quite plain to him that he had madly striven
in a contest of wisdom and wit with the king of the gods, and fully
deserved the penalty of failure, the loss of his head.

"Not the man of mortal race
Knows the words which thou hast spoken
To thy son in days of yore.
I hear the coming tread of death;
He soon shall raze the runic lore,
And knowledge of the rise of gods,
From his ill-fated soul who strove
With Odin's self the strife of wit,
Wisest of the wise that breathe:
Our stake was life, and thou hast won."

Vafthrudni's-mal (W. Taylor's tr.).

As is the case with so many of the Northern myths, which are often
fragmentary and obscure, this one ends here, and none of the scalds
informs us whether Odin really slew his rival, nor what was the answer
to his last question; but mythologists have hazarded the suggestion
that the word whispered by Odin in Balder's ear, to console him for
his untimely death, must have been "resurrection."

Invention of Runes

Besides being god of wisdom, Odin was god and inventor of runes,
the earliest alphabet used by Northern nations, which characters,
signifying mystery, were at first used for