Hávamál

 

RunatalsÞáttr Oðins

___

 Odin´s Rune-song.[1]

 

140. I know that I hung,

on a wind-rocked tree,

nine whole nights,

with a spear wounded,

and to Odin offered,

myself to myself;

on that tree,

of which no one knows

from what root it springs.

 

141. Bread no one gave me,

nor a horn of drink,

downward I peered,

to runes applied myself,

wailing learnt them,

then fell down thence.

 

142. Potent songs nine

from the famed son I learned

of Bölthorn, Bestla’s sire,

and a draught obtained

of the precious mead,

drawn from Odhrærir.

 

143. Then I began to bear fruit,

and to know many things,

to grow and well thrive:

word by word

I sought out words,

fact by fact

I sought out facts.

 

144. Runes thou wilt find,

and explained characters,

very large characters,

very potent characters,

which the great speaker depicted,

and the high powers formed,

and the powers’ prince graved:

 

145. Odin among the Æsir,

but among the Alfar, Dáin,

and Dvalin for the dwarfs,

Ásvid for the Jötuns:

some I myself graved.

 

146. Knowest thou how to grave them?

knowest thou how to expound them?

knowest thou how to depict them?

knowest thou how to prove them?

knowest thou how to pray?

knowest thou how to offer?

knowest thou how to send?[2]

knowest thou how to consume?

 

147. ‘Tis better not to pray

than too much offer;

a gift ever looks to a return.

‘Tis better not to send

than too much consume.

So Thund graved

before the origin of men,

where he ascended,

to whence he afterwards came.

 

148. Those songs I know

which the king’s wife knows not

nor son of man.

Help the first is called,

for that will help thee

against strifes and cares.

 

149. For the second I know,

what the sons of men require,

who will as leeches live.

 

*  *  *

 *   *   *

*  *  *

 

150. For the third I know,[3]

if I have great need

to restrain my foes,

the weapons’ edge I deaden:

of my adversaries

nor arms nor wiles harm aught.

 

 151. For the forth I know,

if men place

bonds on my limbs,

I so sing

that I can walk;

the fetter starts from my feet,

and the manacle from my hands.

 

152. For the fifth I know,

I see a shot from a hostile hand,

a shaft flying amid the host,

so swift it cannot fly

that I cannot arrest it,

if only I get sight of it.

 

153. For the sixth I know,

if one wounds me

with a green tree’s roots;[4]

also if a man

declares hatred to me,

harm shall consume them sooner than me.

 

154. For the seventh I know,

if a lofty house I see

blaze o’er its inmates,

so furiously it shall not burn

that I cannot save it.

That song I can sing.

 

155. For the eighth I know,

what to all is

useful to learn:

where hatred grows

among the sons of men -

that I can quickly assuage.

 

156. For the ninth I know,

if I stand in need

my bark on the water to save,

I can the wind

on the waves allay,

and the sea lull.

 

157. For the tenth I know,

if I see troll-wives

sporting in air,

I can so operate

that they will forsake

their own forms,

and their own minds.

 

158. For the eleventh I know,

if I have to lead

my ancient friends to battle,

under their shields I sing,

and with power they go

safe to the fight,

safe from the fight;

safe on every side they go.

 

159. For the twelfth I know,

if on a tree I see

a corpse swinging from a halter,

I can so grave

and in runes depict,

that the man shall walk,

and with me converse.

 

160. For the thirteenth I know,

if on a young man

I sprinkle water,

he shall not fall,

though he into battle come:

that man shall not sink before swords.

 

161. For the fourteenth I know,

if in the society of men

I have to enumerate the gods,

Æsir and Alfar,

I know the distinctions of all.

This few unskilled can do.

 

162. For the fifteenth I know

what the dwarf Thiodreyrir sang

before Delling’s doors.

Strength he sang to the Æsir,

and to the Alfar prosperity,

wisdom to Hroptatýr.

 

163. For the sixteenth I know,

if a modest maiden’s favour and affection

I desire to possess,

the soul I change

of the white-armed damsel,

and wholly turn her mind.

 

164. For the seventeenth I know,

that that young maiden will

reluctantly avoid me.

These songs, Loddfafnir!

thou wilt long have lacked;

yet it may be good if thou understandest them,

profitable if thou learnest them.

 

165. For the eighteenth I know

that which I never teach

to maid or wife of man,

(all is better

what one only knows.

This is the closing of the songs)

save her alone

who clasps me in her arms,

or is my sister.

 

166. Now are sung the

High-one’s songs,

in the High-one’s hall,

to the sons of men all-useful,

but useless to the Jötun’s sons.

Hail to him who has sung them!

 

Hail to him who knows them!

May he profit who has learnt them!

Hail to hose who have listened to them!

 

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[1] The first eight strophes of this composition require an explanation which I am incompetent to afford. They have had many interpreters and as many interpretations. The idea of Odin hanging on a tree would seem to have been suggested by what we read of the grove at Upsala, or Sigtuna, in which the victims to that deity were suspended from the trees. In the guise of an unknown wanderer, Odin may be supposed to have been captured and thus offered to himself. It  no doubt refers to some lost legend.

[2] Probably, send them (the runes) forth on their several missions.

[3] The miraculous powers here ascribed by Odin to himself bear, in many instances, a remarkable similarity to those attributed to him by Snorri (Yngl. Saga, cc.  6+7).

[4] The ancient inhabitants of the North believed that the roots of trees were particularly fitted for hurtful trolldom, or witchcraft, and that wounds caused thereby were mortal. In India, a similar superstition prevails of the hurtfulness of the roots of trees. F.M.