Step 9 of 9 · Protection and Boundaries
Wary, but not too wary
Why this step
The trail ends with a measure, not a rule. In stanza 130 the speaker asks the Stray-Singer to be wary but not too wary, and names ale, another man’s wife and an unnamed third thing as the places for most care. It does not say how to find the line, and the trail does not either.
The text, stanza 130
130.
I counsel thee, Stray-Singer, accept my counsels,
they will be thy boon if thou obey'st them,
they will work thy weal if thou win'st them:
I pray thee be wary, yet not too wary,
be wariest of all with ale,
with another's wife, and a third thing eke,
that knaves outwit thee never.
- 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), stanza 130 (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
Be wary, but not too wary; most of all with ale, with another’s wife and with a third thing, so that knaves never outwit you.
Questions to sit with
- Where is your vigilance doing real work right now, and where is it only habit?