| schema:text
| - A goat that serves fallen Viking warriors in the afterlife features in Norse mythology. However, multiple translations state the animal limitlessly produces mead, rather than beer.
A rumor has spread online for years that Vikings believed a goat whose udders produced an endless supply of beer awaited them in the afterlife, as a reward for giving their life on the battlefield.
A January 2025 Instagram post (archived) made the claim alongside an image purporting to show the mythological goat.
The tale also spread across other platforms, including Facebook, Threads and YouTube, and a user on TikTok made a skit about it. Reddit users have discussed the story for more than a decade.
It is true that sources on Norse mythology tell the story of an unusual goat from whose udders dead warriors could drink their fill. However, some details have been altered as the story has been passed around online. Known as Heiðrún in Norse mythology, the singularly gifted goat features in two key texts from the time.
In the early Viking period, Norse people placed their faith in the Nordic gods. The National Museum of Denmark describes current knowledge of Vikings' pre-Christianity belief system as a "patchwork quilt of information." However, the two most renowned sources on the old religion are the collection of poems on Norse gods and heroes in the Poetic (or Elder) Edda and the retellings of the Nordic myths in the Prose (or Younger) Edda. The latter was written by Snorri Sturluson around the year 1220 A.D. Both describe Heiðrún, the goat mentioned in the social media posts.
Heiðrún is said to live in Valhalla, also known as Valhöll or the "Hall of the Slain," where fallen soldiers go when they die if they are chosen to be rewarded by the Norse god Odin.
Translations of the prose and verse in which Heiðrún appears vary in syntax and spelling. However, they agree the goat boundlessly produces mead, which is an alcoholic honey wine, rather than beer. Jean I. Young's 1954 translation of a section of the Prose Edda reads:
A goat called Heiðrún stands up (on its hind legs) in Valhalla biting the buds off the branches of that very famous tree which is called Lærað. From her teats runs the mead with which every day she fills a cauldron, which is so big that all the Einherjar can drink their fill from it.
The world "Einherjar" refers to all men who fell in battle, John Lindow, professor emeritus in the Old Norse/folklore department at the University of California, Berkeley, explains in his book "Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs."
In the Poetic Edda, the mythological poem "Grímnismál" describes Heiðrún. Translations by Benjamin Thorpe, republished in 2004, and by Olive Bray, published in 1908, also say the goat produces mead. Their texts read:
(Benjamin Thorpe p. 33)
("The Elder or Poetic Edda" edited and translated by Olive Bray, digital document p. 97)
Other translations say Heiðrún fills a pitcher with "fair, clear mead" and that the "foaming" drink "ne'er fails."
Primary sources corroborate the central idea of the rumor — that Heiðrún produces an endless supply of an alcoholic drink for dead warriors in heaven — although many people making the claim refer to beer instead of mead.
The image used in the Instagram post above is a genuine image depicting Heiðrún in a manuscript called SÁM 66, which was written from 1765 to 1766 and includes the Prose Edda. It is kept at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies at the University of Iceland. The ink drawing is reproduced here in full.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)