Runes

Sigrdrifa brought down Helmet-Gunnar in battle. And Odin pricked her with a sleep-thorn in revenge for this and said that she would never again fight victoriously in battle and said that she should be married. ‘And I said to him that I had sworn a great counter-oath, to marry no man who was acquainted with fear.’* He asked her to teach him wisdom, if she had news from all the worlds. Sigrdrifa said:

5 ‘Beer I give you, apple-tree of battle,*
mixed with magical power and mighty glory;
it is full of spells and favourable letters,
good charms and runes of pleasure.

6 ‘Victory-runes you must cut if you want to have victory,
and cut them on your sword-hilt;
some on the blade-guards, some on the handle,
and invoke Tyr twice.

7 ‘Ale-runes must you know if you do not want another’s wife
to beguile your trust, if you trust her;
on a horn they should be cut and on the back of the hand,
and mark your nail with “Nauð”.*

8 ‘The full cup should be signed over and guarded against mischief,
and leek thrown in the liquid;
then I know that for you there will never be
mead blended with malice.

9 ‘Helping-runes you must know if you want to assist
and release children from women;
they shall be cut on the palms and clasped on the joints,
and then the disir asked for help.*

10 ‘Sea-runes you must cut if you want to have guaranteed
the sail-horses on the sea;
on the prow they must be cut and on the rudder,
and burnt into the oar with fire;
however steep the breakers or dark the waves,
yet you’ll come safe from the sea.

11 ‘Limb-runes you must know if you want to be a healer
and know how to see to wounds;
on bark they must be cut and of the tree of the wood,
on those whose branches bend east.

12 ‘Speech-runes you must know if you want no one to requite
your sorrow with enmity;
you wind them about, weave them about,
set them all together
at that meeting where people must go
to fully constituted courts.

13 ‘Mind-runes you must know if you want to be
wiser-minded than every other man;
Hropt interpreted them,
cut them, thought them out,
from that liquid which had leaked
from Heiddraupnir’s skull
and from Hoddrofnir’s horn.*

14 ‘On a cliff he stood with Brimir’s sword,*
a helmet he had on his head;
then Mim’s head spoke*
wisely the first word
and told the true letters.

15 ‘ “On a shield”, he said, “they should be cut,
the one which stands before the shining god,
on Arvak’s ear and Alsvinn’s hoof,*
on that wheel which turns under [H]rungnir’s chariot,
on Sleipnir’s teeth and on the sledges’ strap-bands;

16 on the bear’s paw and on Bragi’s tongue,
on the wolf’s claw, and the eagle’s beak,
on bloody wings and at the end of the bridge,
on hands which deliver and on the trail of a helpful man,

17 on glass and on gold, and on men’s amulets,
in wine and on wort and on a favourite seat,
on the point of Gungnir and the breast of Grani,
on the nail of the norn, and the beak of the owl.”

18 ‘All were shaved off, those which were carved on,
and stirred into the sacred mead
and sent on wandering ways;
they are among the Æsir, they are among the elves,
some are with the wise Vanir,
some with humankind.

19 ‘Those are book-runes, those are helping-runes,*
and all the ale-runes,
and precious runes of power,
for those who can, without confusing them, without destroying them,
possess them for good fortune;
use them, if you get them,
until the gods are torn asunder!

20 ‘Now you must choose, since choice is offered to you,
maple of sharp weapons,*
speech or silence—you can make up your own mind,
all harms are measured out.’

21 ‘I will not flee, even if you know I am doomed
I was not born a coward;
your loving advice I want in its entirety,
as long as I live.’


- Poetic Edda, Sigrdrifumal


("Hoddrofnir’s horn: this verse is obscure; the liquid referred to here may be identical in some way with the mead of poetry (see Sayings of the High One above). Heiddraupnir (‘Bright-dropper’) and Hoddrofnir (‘Hoardtearer’) are unknown. Hropt is a name for Odin; compare Hroptatyr in Grimnir’s Sayings, v. 54." - from the Explanatory Notes section included with the translation)

("book-runes: or possibly beech-runes, but most likely an error for ‘healing-runes’ (bótrúnar)." - from the Explanatory Notes section included with the translation)