Hávamál
A sorceress and sorrowful sleep
Never sleep in the arms of a sorceress, or she may lock your limbs and charm you so that you stop caring for counsel, food and the joys of people.
Reference: stanzas 112–113 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanzas 112–113
112.
I counsel thee, Stray-Singer, accept my counsels,
they will be thy boon if thou obey'st them,
they will work thy weal if thou win'st them:
thou shalt never sleep in the arms of a sorceress,
lest she should lock thy limbs;
113.
So shall she charm that thou shalt not heed
the council, or words of the king,
nor care for thy food, or the joys of mankind,
but fall into sorrowful sleep.
- Olive Bray (editor and translator), The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems (opens in a new tab) (1908), stanzas 112–113 (Bray’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Published in 1908, so in the public domain in the United States. Text as edited online by D. L. Ashliman, Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh.
In plain English
Never sleep in the arms of a sorceress, the speaker says, in case she locks your limbs. She will charm you so that you do not heed the council or the words of the king, or care for your food or the joys of mankind, and you fall into a sorrowful sleep.
- Olive Bray (editor and translator), The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems (opens in a new tab) (1908), stanzas 112–113 (Bray’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Published in 1908, so in the public domain in the United States. Text as edited online by D. L. Ashliman, Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh.
Modern interpretation
Read today, this is often taken as a picture of any entanglement that drains your will and your attention until you stop caring for what sustains you. That is a modern reading.
Questions to sit with
- What draws you in so far that you stop caring for the things that keep you going?