Hávamál
Questions, answers and the held tongue
The wise are those who can ask well and answer well. Someone who never holds his peace gives himself away.
Reference: stanzas 28–29 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanzas 28–29
28.
Wise he is deemed who can question well,
and also answer back:
the sons of men can no secret make
of the tidings told in their midst.
29.
Too many unstable words are spoken
by him who ne'er holds his peace;
the hasty tongue sings its own mishap
if it be not bridled in.
- 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 28–29 (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 man is thought wise who can question well and also answer back. People cannot keep the news told among them secret.
Someone who never holds his peace speaks too many unsteady words. A hasty tongue sings its own misfortune if it is not bridled.
- 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 28–29 (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 passage links good conversation to good listening and a careful tongue. That is a modern reading.
Questions to sit with
- Think of something you said too quickly that you would take back. What would a bridle have looked like in that moment?