Step 8 of 12 · Sorrow and Healing
The righteous, and a healing song
Why this step
Stanza 119 gives two counsels together: in sweet conversation call the righteous to your side, and learn a healing song while you are alive. The entry reads it as pairing good company with a useful skill for helping others. After the warning about the evil man, this is the other half: the right people, and something you can do for someone else.
The text, stanza 119
119.
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:
in sweet converse call the righteous to thy side,
learn a healing song while thou livest.
- 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 119 (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
Call the righteous to your side in pleasant talk, and learn a healing song while you live.