Quote from Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology

by Neil Gaiman

W. W. Norton & Company, New York, New York & London, England, 2017           299 pages

The highest and oldest of all the gods is Odin.

Odin knows many secrets. He gave an eye for wisdom. More than that, for knowledge of runes and for power, he sacrificed himself to himself.

He hung from the world-tree, Yggdrasil, hung there for nine nights. His side was pierced by the point of a spear, which wounded him greatly. The winds clutched at him, buffeted his body as it hung. Nothing did he eat for nine days or nine nights, nothing did he drink. He was alone there, in pain, the light of his life slowly going out.

He was cold, in agony, and on the point of death when his sacrifice bore fruit: in the ecstasy of his agony he looked down and the runes were revealed to him. He knew them, and understood them and their power. The rope broke then, and he fell, screaming, from the tree.

Now he understood magic. Now the world was his to control. (pp. 21-22)

-- quote submitted by Oriana K.H.