Editing Kvasir (section)

==Attestations==
In the ''[[Prose Edda]]'', Kvasir appears in the books ''[[Gylfaginning]]'' and ''[[Skáldskaparmál]]''. Kvasir is mentioned a single time in ''[[Gylfaginning]]''; in chapter 50, where the enthroned figure of [[High, Just-As-High, and Third|High]] tells Gangleri ([[Gylfi]] in disguise) of how Loki was caught by the gods after being responsible for the murder of the god [[Baldr]]. In the chapter, High says that while [[Loki]] was hiding from the gods, he often took the form of a [[salmon]] during the day and swam in the waterfall [[Franangrsfors]]. Loki considered what sort of device the gods might craft to catch him there, and so, sitting in his four-door mountain lookout house, knotted together linen thread in "which ever since the [[fishing net|net]] has been". Loki noticed that the gods were not far away from him and that Odin had spotted him from [[Hliðskjálf]]. Loki sat before a fire, and when he noticed the gods were coming near him, he threw the net into the fire and jumped up, and slipped into the river. The gods reached Loki's house, and the first to enter was Kvasir, who the High describes as "the wisest of all". Kvasir saw the shape of the net in the ash of the fire, and so realized its purpose; to catch fish. And so Kvasir told the gods about it. The gods used the shape found in the ash as their model, and with it fished Loki from the river to make him their prisoner, later binding him in torment until the coming of [[Ragnarök]].<ref name="FAULKES51-52">Faulkes (1995:51—52).</ref>

[[File:Honey comb.jpg|thumb|Honey combs; following his death, Kvasir's blood was drained and mixed with honey, which became the [[Mead of Poetry]]]]

In ''Skáldskaparmál'', Kvasir is mentioned several times. In chapter 57 of the book, [[Ægir]] asks the skaldic god [[Bragi]] where the craft of poetry originated. Bragi says that the [[Æsir]] once wrangled with the [[Vanir]] (see [[Æsir–Vanir War]]) but eventually came together to make peace. The two groups decided to form a truce by way of both sides spitting into a vat. After they left, the gods kept the vat as a symbol of their truce, "and decided not to let it be wasted and out of it made a man". The man was named Kvasir, and he was extremely wise; he knew the answer to any question posed to him. Kvasir traveled far and wide throughout the world teaching mankind and spreading his vast knowledge. In time, two [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarf]]s, [[Fjalar and Galar]], invited Kvasir to their home for a private talk. Upon Kvasir's arrival, the two dwarfs killed him and drained his blood into three objects. Two of the objects were vats, called [[Són]] and [[Boðn]], and the third was a pot called [[Óðrerir]]. Fjalar and Galar mixed the blood with honey and made [[mead]] of it. Whoever drank of it would become a poet or scholar (Kvasir's blood had become the [[Mead of Poetry]]). The two dwarfs explained to the Æsir that Kvasir had died from "suffocating in his own intelligence", as there were none among them who were so well educated as to be able to pose him questions. Bragi then tells how the Mead of Poetry, by way of the god [[Odin]], ultimately came into the hands of mankind.<ref name="FAULKES61-64">Faulkes (1995:61—64).</ref>

In chapter 2 ''Skáldskaparmál'', poetic ways of referring to poetry are provided, including "Kvasir's blood". In reference, part of ''[[Vellekla]]'' by the 10th century Icelandic [[skald]] [[Einarr skálaglamm]] is provided, where the term "Kvasir's blood" for 'poetry' is used.<ref name="FAULKES70">Faulkes (1995:70).</ref> Further, in chapter 3, a prose narrative mentions that the Kvasir's blood was made into the Mead of Poetry.<ref name="FAULKES72">Faulkes (1995:72).</ref>

Kvasir is mentioned in an [[Euhemerus|euhemerized]] account of the origin of the gods in chapter 4 of ''[[Ynglinga saga]]'', contained within ''Heimskringla''. The chapter narrative explains that Odin [[Æsir–Vanir War|waged war on the Vanir]], yet the Vanir could not be defeated, and so the two decided to exchange hostages in a peace agreement. Kvasir, here a member of the Vanir and described as the "cleverest among them", is included among the hostages.<ref name="HOLLANDER7-8">Hollander (2007:7—8).</ref>