Step 1 of 12 · Spells, Songs and Runes
On the runes, silence is best
Why this step
The poem’s first word on runes comes in stanza 79. Whatever you ask of the runes that came from the gods, which the high Powers made and Odin painted, will prove true, and then silence is surely best. The entry points out that the stanza does not say who is asking or what is being asked. The trail starts with that mix of confidence and silence.
The text, stanza 79
79.
All will prove true that thou askest of runes --
those that are come from the gods,
which the high Powers wrought, and which Odin painted:
then silence is surely best.
- 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 79 (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
Whatever is asked of the runes that came from the gods will prove true, and then silence is surely best.
Questions to sit with
- Is there something you know that you would rather keep quiet about than explain? What makes silence feel right there?