Hávamál
What to say, and to whom
The wise ask and answer well. Tell a secret to one person and no more. A mild man uses his strength in measure, and a careful man is slow to trust a friend with his words.
Reference: stanzas 63–65 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems); Notes to the Hovamol (The Poetic Edda)
The text, stanzas 63–65
63.
Each man who is wise and would wise be called
must ask and answer aright.
Let one know thy secret, but never a second, --
if three a thousand shall know.
64.
A wise counselled man will be mild in bearing
and use his might in measure,
lest when he come his fierce foes among
he find others fiercer than he.
65.
Each man should be watchful and wary in speech,
and slow to put faith in a friend.
for the words which one to another speaks
he may win reward of ill.
- 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 63–65 (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 who is wise and wants to be called wise must ask and answer aright. Let one person know your secret, but never a second; if three know it, a thousand will.
A wise, well-counselled man is mild in bearing and uses his might in measure, so that when he meets fierce foes he does not find others fiercer than he.
Each man should be watchful and wary in speech, and slow to put his trust in a friend, because the words one speaks to another may bring a bad reward.
- 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 63–65 (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.
How the stanzas are built
Stanza 63 returns to the idea of stanza 28, in the passage on questions and answers: that the wise man is the one who can ask and answer well.
- 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 63–65 (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 the manuscripts and scholarship
This stretch has a textual problem. In the Codex Regius the stanza that follows the advice on using one’s strength with care is missing its first two lines, and the manuscript shows no gap. Many editors have filled them from late paper manuscripts, which give a line about being watchful and wary and fearful of trusting a friend. Bellows prints the stanza with the gap and records the paper-manuscript lines in a note, so editions differ on whether those lines appear. Because the paper manuscripts are far later than the Codex Regius, the filled-in lines are an editor’s repair rather than the medieval text.
- Henry Adams Bellows (translator), The Poetic Edda (1936), Notes to the Hovamol
Modern interpretation
Today this is often read as practical advice about confidences, restraint and care with what you say. That is a modern reading.
Questions to sit with
- What have you told only one person that has gone further? Who is your one?