Before the sagas, we need to know what the Norse thought a good life was. And for that there is a poem called Hávamál, the Sayings of the High One. The High One is Odin, the god of wisdom, and the poem is full of his advice.
Sagas of Iceland · Part 2 · Viking wisdom · A2–B1
Hávamál: The Sayings of the High One
Part 2 of the Sagas of Iceland: Hávamál, the “Sayings of the High One”, the great poem of Norse wisdom, said to be Odin’s own advice on guests and hosts, friendship, drinking, speaking and dying well. Imperatives and advice (Don’t drink too much! You should…), never / always, and the language of proverbs, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
Advice from a god? Like what?
SOPHIA
Very practical advice, Marcos. Give a cold guest fire and a towel. Don’t drink too much at a feast. Never trust a frozen lake or a new friend too quickly. And the most famous lines of all: everything dies, except the reputation of a person who has lived well.
DEMETRIA
That’s good advice for anyone.
Before you read
Iceland and Norway, the Viking Age
Hávamál (“The Sayings of the High One”) is a long poem of about 160 short verses, preserved in a single manuscript, the Codex Regius, written in Iceland around 1270, together with the other great poems about the Norse gods. The verses are much older, and come from different times and places; together they are put into the mouth of Odin, the one-eyed god of wisdom, poetry and the dead.
Most of the poem is practical wisdom for ordinary life in a hard, cold country: how to be a good guest and a good host, how to choose friends, why you shouldn’t drink too much or talk too much, why a man should never leave his weapons behind when he walks in the fields, and why a small farm of your own is better than a great house that belongs to someone else.
Its most famous verses say that cattle die, family members die, and you yourself will die, but one thing never dies: the good name (the reputation) of a person who has lived well. This idea, that what matters most is what people will say about you after your death, is the heart of the sagas.
Live so that people will speak well of you when you are gone.
The story
Retold and translated freely for this lesson from Hávamál, in the Codex Regius (about 1270).
“Whoever comes in from the cold,” says the High One, “needs fire, for his knees are frozen. He needs water and a towel, a friendly welcome, and food: and, if he can get it, a kind word and to be asked his story.” A guest, he says, should be quiet and use his ears and eyes: “So the wise man looks about him.” And a guest should not stay too long: “A friend becomes tiresome if he sits too long in another’s house.”
“Don’t drink too much at the feast,” the High One warns. “There is no worse load to carry on the road than too much ale. The more a man drinks, the less he knows.” Better, he says, to go home sober and remember what was said. “A foolish man lies awake all night thinking about everything; he is tired when morning comes, and his troubles are just as they were.”
He gives advice about friends, too. “Go often to a friend’s house,” he says, “because brushwood grows over the path that no one walks.” Be a friend to your friend, and to his friend, but never to your enemy’s friend. And trust nothing too quickly: “Praise the day in the evening, a woman when she is buried, a sword when it has been tested, ice when it has been crossed, and ale when it has been drunk.”
And then come the most famous words of all. “Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself will die. But I know one thing that never dies: the reputation of each person who has died.” Everything you own will be lost one day, says the High One. Only what people say about you will last. So live in such a way that, when you are gone, they will speak well of you.
Read: the advice of the High One
PHILO
Read the verses. What should a host give a guest? What should a guest not do? What is the one thing that never dies?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
Imperatives for advice
MARCOS
Give the guest a fire. Listen more than you speak. Don’t drink too much. Never trust ice that is one night old!
SOPHIA
The imperative is the verb alone: Give, Listen, Be careful. Negative: Don’t + verb, or Never + verb for strong advice.
Should, shouldn’t and had better
DEMETRIA
A guest should be quiet and listen. You shouldn’t stay too long. You had better take your sword with you.
SOPHIA
should / shouldn’t + verb for advice. had better + verb for strong advice with a warning: You’d better leave now, or…
Always, never and proverbs
PHILO
A wise man always thinks before he speaks. A fool never stops talking. Better a small house of your own than a big house that isn’t yours.
SOPHIA
always / never before the main verb. Proverbs often use Better… than… and the present simple. Hospitality words: a guest, a host, a welcome, a meal, a towel, a fire, to be generous, to stay too long.
Sophia’s comparison: Proverbs, and the Delphic maxims
PHILO
Our book of Proverbs is full of the same kind of wisdom: “A soft answer turns away anger.” “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise.” Odin and Solomon would have understood each other.
SOPHIA
And on the temple of Apollo at Delphi are carved short sayings for every traveller: “Know yourself.” “Nothing too much.” Short, practical, and very hard to follow!
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| verb alone / Don’t + verb / Never + verb | imperatives for advice | Give the guest a fire. |
| should / shouldn’t + verb | advice | A guest shouldn’t stay too long. |
| had better + verb | strong advice with a warning | You’d better take your sword. |
| always / never + verb | habits and rules | A fool never stops talking. |
| Better… than… | proverbs | Better a small house of your own than a big one that isn’t. |
Practice
Read the story for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · The story
Read the story and choose the best answer.
1. Who is the “High One”?
2. Where is Hávamál preserved?
3. What should a host give a cold guest?
4. What does the poem say about drinking?
5. What never dies, according to the poem?
6. What kind of advice is most of the poem?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. the guest a fire. (imperative)
8. drink too much! (negative imperative)
9. A guest stay too long. (advice, negative)
10. You had take your sword.
11. A fool stops talking. (not ever)
12. a small house of your own than a big one that isn’t yours.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “You should to listen more.”
14. “Never trust a frozen lake.”
15. “You had better to go now.”
16. “A wise man always thinks before he speaks.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Our own Hávamál. In groups, write ten pieces of advice for a guest staying at your house, using imperatives, should and had better.
Discuss. 1. Which of Odin’s advice is still useful today? 2. Is a good reputation the most important thing in life? 3. What proverbs do you know in your language?
Write (60–80 words). Advice for a new student. Write advice for someone starting at your school, using imperatives, should, never and always.
Now play the gamebook: a cold stranger arrives in Alexandria, and Philo must be a good host.Play the gamebook →