Title: Vafþrúðnismál

Tags: Riddle contest

Description:

Vafþrúðnismál ("The Words of Vafþrúðnir") is an eddic poem preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript of the Poetic Edda (to distinguish it from another Codex Regius, "royal book," which contains the Prose Edda). It is about a wisdom contest between the Æsir god Óðinn and the jötunn (LINK) (a mythological being which is always glossed as "giant," but this is an imprecise term) named Vafþrúðnir. Vafþrúðnismál is the third poem in Codex Regius. Alongside Völuspá, Hávamál, Grímnismál, and descriptions of the Óðinn in the Gylfaginning section the Prose Edda, Vafþrúðnismál depicts Óðinn always obsessively hunting for wisdom about the beginning and especially the end of the world, the Norse mythological apocalypse Ragnarök (LINK) ("doom of the gods"). 

Synopsis

Óðinn tells his wife, Frigg (LINK), how we wishes to go and question the wise giant, Vafþrúðnir (he is not mentioned anywhere outside this poem). Frigg says she would prefer if he stayed in the realm of the gods, warning how powerful the jötunn is; but Óðinn is not dissuaded, so Frigg asks him to travel and return home safely. Óðinn goes and arrives at Vafþrúðnir's hall disguised and with a different name, as he often does, here using the moniker Gagnráðr ("victory counsellor"). He then begins the wisdom contest with Vafþrúðnir, each wagering their head. First, Vafþrúðnir asks Óðinn questions to name places, things, and beings of mythological importance. After answering and proving that he has some command of knowledge, it is Óðinn's turn to ask. He asks first about the beginning, then the present, and finally the future of the cosmos, asking pointedly about the fate of the gods and his own fate. It is unclear whether Óðinn is asking to find out new information, or asking to corroborate things he already knows from other stories with a wise, ancient, and powerful being. Either way, once Vafþrúðnir confirms that the wolf (Fenrir (LINK)) will be the death of Óðinn, the disguised god swiftly brings an end to the contest with his tricky trump-card of a question: "What did Óðinn say into his son's (Baldr's) ear before he mounted the funeral pyre?" Vafþrúðnir, realizing he has been deceived all along, answers: "No man knows what you said in days of yore, into your son's ears; with a doomed mouth I told my ancient lore, and about the doom of the gods. Now I've contended with Óðinn with my words of wisdom, you will always be the wisest." The poem ends there, but presumably, based on the wager, Óðinn kills Vafþrúðnir after learning his wisdom of the ages.

The trick question Óðinn uses to win the contest is evidently his favorite, as he uses it to win a riddle contest in another story, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (LINK). There, also disguised as a beggar, he riddles against the wise king Heiðrekr in his old age, who also realizes who his opponent is after he asks the impossible question. Instead of accepting his fate with dignity, as Vafþrúðnir did, Heiðrekr draw his sword and strikes at the god, who transforms into a bird and flies, laying a curse upon the king that his death will be at the hands of the lowliest of slaves; an ignominious fate. Such a trick question was also likely an inspiration for the trick question that Bilbo Baggins asks Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. He asks, "What have I got in my pocket?" It is a question that only the questioner has the answer to, just as Óðinn's question about his own final, whispered words to Baldr.

Vafþrúðnismál, alongside Grímnismál, "The Words of Grímnir," which is not a riddle contest story but is still in the form of a dialogue, are two major sources for the names of many mythological places, beings, and things, as their form and structure are geared towards the recitation of many factoids of this type.