Step 2 of 9 · Knowledge, Judgment and Uncertainty
Wits for the road
Why this step
The Hávamál’s first answer to how to learn is to watch and listen. Stanzas 5 to 7 say a traveller needs his wits, should not boast of them, and should enter a strange place cautious and silent, listening with his ears and looking with his eyes. Curiosity here comes with restraint: take information in before giving any out.
The text, stanzas 5–7
5.
He hath need of his wits who wanders wide,
aught simple will serve at home;
but a gazing-stock is the fool who sits
mid the wise, and nothing knows.
6.
Let no man glory in the greatness of his mind,
but rather keep watch o'er his wits.
Cautious and silent let him enter a dwelling;
to the heedful comes seldom harm,
for none can find a more faithful friend
than the wealth of mother wit.
7.
Let the wary stranger who seeks refreshment
keep silent with sharpened hearing;
with his ears let him listen, and look with his eyes;
thus each wise man spies out the way.
- 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 5–7 (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.
From the Lorebook
A traveller needs his wits more than the man at home does. The advice is to stay quiet, watch and listen when entering a strange place.