Step 4 of 9 · Love, Longing and Folly
Fair words and false hearts
Why this step
Stanza 89 opens with the speaker saying he will speak plainly, having seen both sides: unfaithful is man to maid, and the fairest words come when thoughts are falsest. Stanza 90 says soft words and offers of wealth win. The entry reads it as a frank statement that flattery works, written as advice for the wooer and as a warning for the one wooed.
The text, stanzas 89–90
89.
Now plainly I speak, since both I have seen;
unfaithful is man to maid;
we speak them fairest when thoughts are falsest
and wile the wisest of hearts.
90.
-- Let him speak soft words and offer wealth
who longs for a woman's love,
praise the shape of the shining maid --
he wins who thus doth woo.
- 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 89–90 (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
The speaker says he has seen both sides: man is unfaithful to maid, and the fairest words come when thoughts are falsest. A man who woos with soft words and gifts wins.