Step 6 of 9 · Speech, Silence and Secrets
Into Suttung’s halls
Why this step
In stanza 102 the speaker admits that his silence “little served” him in Suttung’s halls, and that he won what he wanted by whispering many soft speeches. The entry points out that earlier stanzas recommend silence, for example 7, 27 and 79, so the poem contradicts itself here. The trail takes that as the point: the right amount of speech depends on the situation.
The text, stanzas 102–103
102.
I sought that old Jötun, now safe am I back,
little served my silence there;
but whispering many soft speeches I won
my desire in Suttung's halls.
103.
I bored me a road there with Rati's tusk
and made room to pass through the rock;
while the ways of the Jötuns stretched over and under,
I dared my life for a draught.
- 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 102–103 (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 tells how he went to the old Jötun, found silence of little use, won his desire with whispered soft speeches, and bored a road through the rock.