Spark [Kathleen_N._Daly]_Norse_Mythology_A_to_Z,_3rd_Edi | Page 75

K 8 K arl   (Freeman)  time, according to G rimnismal , a section of the P oetic E dda . The other two rivers are the Kerlaugs. Snorri Sturluson quotes this poem in the P rose E dda . The location of these rivers is unclear, though scholars suggest they, like the river Ifing, separate the land of the Jotun from the lands of the Aesir, since Thor spends much of his time fighting the giants, the enemies of the gods. The second son conceived by the god Heimdall as he journeyed through Mid- gard, the land of humans, according to the poem R igsthula . In his second stop, Heimdall, using the name Rig, slept between Afi and Amma (grandfather and grandmother) and nine months later Amma bore a son, Karl. He was red of face with flashing eyes. He raised oxen and built houses and barns. He mar- ried Snot, and they gave birth to the human race of working-class people. (See also Thrall and Jarl.) K vasir (1)  (Spittle)  A wise man who was created from the spit of the Aesir and the Vanir gods after their battle (see Aesir/Vanir war). Kvasir walked the world spreading his great wisdom to any who asked for it. He was slain by two dwarfs, Fjalar (2) and Galar, who mixed his blood with honey to make a powerful mead that inspired any who drank it to talk with wisdom and poetry (see “The Mead of Poetry,” under Odin). kenning   A poetic technique used most frequently by the Norse writers of skaldic poetry, who created their art from about a.d. 700 to 1100. Essentially a kenning is a type of metaphor, using a set of words to represent a common noun. For example, for sword, the poet might use the name of a famous sword such as Dainsleif, which means “Dain’s heirloom.” Or a poet might refer to gold as “Sif’s hair,” which would remind the audience of the myth of the golden hair the god Loki had the dwarfs make after he cut off the locks of the goddess Sif, wife of Thor. Many kennings contain names and objects impor- tant to Norse mythology and provide scholars with hints and clues of stories that have been lost over time. At the same time, however, kennings are often the only mention of a name, and modern scholars and students have no other information to understand the meaning of that kenning. Kennings at the very least provide experts with the understanding that much about Norse mythology is lost to modern audiences. K vasir (2)  A Vanir god known for his great wis- dom. With the gods Njord, Frey, and Freya, Kvasir went to live in Asgard as part of the peace settlement after the Aesir/Vanir war. He was a symbol of the pledge for peace and of the end of the fighting between the two great races of gods. (Mimir (2) and Hoenir were the Aesir gods sent to the Vanir.) Kvasir went with Odin and a party of gods to cap- ture Loki, who was hiding as a salmon after mocking the gods at the feast in Aegir’s hall. Kvasir deduced from the ashes in the fire of the hut where Loki had been hiding that the trickster god had been making a fishing net. The gods immediately knew that they had to make a similar device to catch Loki. Snorri Sturluson includes this story of Kvasir in his P rose E dda . K ormt and O rmt   Two of the four rivers that Thor must wade through each day as he travels to Asgard to sit in judgment and at Ragnarok, the end 60