Step 3 of 9 · Speech, Silence and Secrets
What to say, and to whom
Why this step
Stanzas 63 to 65 are the poem’s plainest rules for talk. Ask and answer aright. Let one person know your secret and never a second, because if three know it a thousand will. Be watchful and wary in speech and slow to put faith in a friend, since the words you speak may win a bad reward.
The text, stanzas 63–65
63.
Each man who is wise and would wise be called
must ask and answer aright.
Let one know thy secret, but never a second, --
if three a thousand shall know.
64.
A wise counselled man will be mild in bearing
and use his might in measure,
lest when he come his fierce foes among
he find others fiercer than he.
65.
Each man should be watchful and wary in speech,
and slow to put faith in a friend.
for the words which one to another speaks
he may win reward of ill.
- 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 63–65 (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 wise ask and answer well. Tell a secret to one person and no more. A mild man uses his strength in measure, and a careful man is slow to trust a friend with his words.