Hávamál
Courage and cowardice
A prince’s child should be silent, thoughtful and bold in a fight, and generous to the end. The coward who avoids every fight does not escape old age.
Reference: stanzas 15–16 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanzas 15–16
15.
Silent and thoughtful and bold in strife
the prince's bairn should be.
Joyous and generous let each man show him
until he shall suffer death.
16.
A coward believes he will ever live
if he keep him safe from strife:
but old age leaves him not long in peace
though spears may spare his life.
- 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 15–16 (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
A prince’s child should be silent, thoughtful and bold in a fight. Everyone should show himself cheerful and generous until the day he dies.
A coward believes he will live for ever if he keeps out of every fight. But old age will not leave him in peace for long, even if spears spare his life.
- 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 15–16 (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, the second stanza says that avoiding all risk does not save you from anything; it only changes what you lose. That is a modern way of reading it.
Questions to sit with
- What have you been avoiding in the hope that avoiding it keeps you safe? What is the avoiding costing you?