Hávamál
The unwise man, his nights and his friends
The faultfinder cannot see his own faults, the worrier lies awake and gains nothing, and the man who trusts flatterers finds few to defend him.
Reference: stanzas 22–25 (Bray’s numbering) (The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems)
The text, stanzas 22–25
22.
The miserable man and evil minded
makes of all things mockery,
and knows not that which he best should know,
that he is not free from faults.
23.
The unwise man is awake all night,
and ponders everything over;
when morning comes he is weary in mind,
and all is a burden as ever.
24.
The unwise man weens all who smile
and flatter him are his friends,
nor notes how oft they speak him ill
when he sits in the circle of the wise.
25.
The unwise man weens all who smile
and flatter him are his friends;
but when he shall come into court he shall find
there are few to defend his cause.
- 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 22–25 (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
The wretched, ill-minded man makes a mockery of everything and does not know what he most needs to know: that he is not free from faults.
The unwise man lies awake all night, turning everything over. When morning comes he is weary in mind, and everything is as heavy as before.
The unwise man thinks everyone who smiles at him and flatters him is his friend. He does not notice how often they speak ill of him when he sits in the circle of the wise. When he comes into court he finds there are few to defend his cause.
- 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 22–25 (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
Stanzas 24 and 25 begin with the same two lines about the man who thinks flatterers are friends, then end differently: in 24 they speak ill of him among the wise, and in 25 few will defend him in court. The last line of 25 comes back in stanza 62.
- 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 22–25 (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
One modern reading is about the difference between people who are pleasant to you and people who would stand up for you. Another is about night-time worrying that changes nothing by morning. Both are modern readings.
Questions to sit with
- Who around you is pleasant to your face? Who would speak up for you when you were not in the room?
- What do you turn over at night that the morning shows to be no lighter?