Slow Havamal: 91

The 91st verse promises to speak plainly, since Odin knows men and women alike: men lie. Their biggest lies are their mot eloquent, and they seduce even wise women with these lies.

Much ink has been spilled on the demerits of dishonest women. At last, we arrive at the corollary. Men are credited with being excellent liars—more so when the stakes are higher. We will tell women anything in order to seduce them, and women who are often clever in other ways can still fall victim to the right spin.
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Slow Havamal: 92

The 92nd verse tells a man to speak eloquently and give gifts to a woman to win her love. He should praise the beautiful woman’s body, since the enamored man will win her.

I don’t claim to know how effective this advice would be. In my personal experience, it is both helpful and at times, plain wrong. There are women who a gift, a sweet word, and a compliment on her appearance will win. There are others who scorn those cliches. And in many cases in modern America, at least when I was dating, there were a lot of women who said they didn’t care about such things and meant it to some degree, but ultimately still responded to the flowers they claimed they didn’t need, or praise for their looks before heading out of the house. ( Read more... )