Mead 213 



The mead-hall was the meeting-place of heroes where, 



" Went there at times a fair maid round the board, upfilling the 



mead-horns, — 

 Blush'd she with downcast eyne, — in the mirrowing shield her 



image, 

 Even as she blush'd too ; — how it gladded the deep-drinking 



champions ! " 



After the battle, the feast ; care has no place here. 



" What wilt thou ? — For have we not more than we need 

 Of rich yellow bacon and brown-foaming mead ? " 



In Frithiof's Saga we have the hero's love song in which 

 he assures his beloved, — 



" Did Valhall's blushing maids round-proffer 

 The Mead-Horns, rich with foam of gold, — 

 I Thee alone would pledge, Thee offer 

 In gentle whispers love untold." 



The fatal potency of mead was not ignored even in song, 

 for in the " Elder Edda," where Lok picks a quarrel with 

 Elder, we read : — 



" For Asi sons the bowl I fill 

 With mead, the source of many an ill." 



A fearful revenge did Gudrun take upon her husband 

 Atli, in one of the oldest epics of the north. The mead she 

 brewed him was mixed with the blood of his — and her — 

 sons, because he had killed the brothers of his fierce spouse. 



When Atli returned from the carnage Gudrun received him. 



" The bright-faced Gudrun, that fierce lady, hastened to 

 bear the wine to the lords, and in her cruelty to share 

 out the dainty morsels to the pale-faced princes, but to Adi 

 she spoke a word of mockery. ' Thou hast eaten the fresh- 

 bleeding hearts of thy sons, mi.xed with honey, thou giver 

 of swords. Now thou shalt digest the gory flesh of man, 

 thou stern king, having eaten of it as a dainty morsel, and 

 sent it as a mess to thy friends. Never shalt thou, merry 



