“While the war raged between Aesir and Vanir, threatening to bring down all the gods, Odin sought wisdom. At the well of Mimir he bought a draught of it with one eye. Then he saw how much more there was to know, still dark to him. Mimir could not teach him, for Mimir had not yet died. However, he could tell Odin where a rede might be found.

“Therefore the All-Father made ready and set forth. He went alone. Those were wild and wildering ways he must tread. Any fellow farer, without the insights that were now his, would be a hindrance, endangering them both. Even he often lost his path on that long trek. Only slowly and painfully did he find It again.

“Down he went to Midgard, and through the world of men. They too had taken up warfare. Blood feud and robbery were also spreading among them. Passing himself off as a wanderer, he must often fight. For him that was easy, but it slowed him, the more so because he gave help to those who befriended this lonely old man.

“Harder was it when he came to Ironwood. Trolls and monsters haunted it, though never was flesh or fish, fruit or root to be gotten. More than human might and skill did he need to win through that barren land.

“Worse yet was when the way took him on downward into hell. Through the freezing cold and darkness of Niflheim he fared, rushing rivers and swarming vipers, past the dragon Nidhogg that gnaws on the deepest roots of the World Tree, and evil beset every furlong.

“Beyond that he must skirt the fires of Muspellheim, where Surt lairs, who shall one day bear them forth to burn all the worlds. The jotuns themselves know not how Odin came unscathed from this giant, and he never spoke of it.

“In the end, he reached his goal, afar in the highest mountains of Jotunheim. There from ages aforetime had Farbauti dwelt with his wife, Laufey. They alone had the knowledge he needed.

“They guested him in seemly wise in their huge hall, where swart elves served them and wind forever howled around the walls, driving snowdrift and ice-glitter before it. But they did not want to give him his wish, him who had been there at the slaying of Ymir.