Step 6 of 12 · Sorrow and Healing
Telling an evil man your troubles
Why this step
The next counsel adds a limit. Stanza 116 says never to tell an evil man when misfortunes befall you, because from such an ill friend you need not look for any return for your trusting mind. The entry reads the passage today as being about whom to confide in, and how much damage a false account can do. Speaking helps, but the poem does not say it helps with everyone.
The text, stanzas 116–117
116.
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:
tell not ever an evil man
if misfortunes thee befall,
from such ill friend thou needst never seek
return for thy trustful mind.
117.
Wounded to death, have I seen a man
by the words of an evil woman;
a lying tongue had bereft him of life,
and all without reason of right.
- 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 116–117 (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
Do not tell an evil man about your misfortunes, or expect anything back from a bad friend for your trust. The speaker has seen a man killed by the lying words of an evil woman.
Questions to sit with
- Who in your life could you tell a trouble to, and who have you learned not to tell?