Slow Havamal 73

[kylec]

The 73rd verse cautions that two men will overcome one, that your running mouth can endanger your head, and that in a hand concealed by a cloak, you should expect to see a weapon.

In four short lines, we get enough advice about personal combat to extend our lives by many years. It’s easy to overestimate our martial prowess, especially for men. One of the things that training martial arts has taught me is just how many people can kick my ass. Short people, old people, kind, unassuming...and of course big and scary. It’s much harder to defeat a single opponent than many folks think. Even if you’re near the top of the pecking order, though, the chances are slim of beating two men who are anything north of incompetent. It happens often in heroic sagas and movies alike. I’m sure a good many people have pulled it off and will again. But as a general operating procedure, fighting at a numerical disadvantage is a fragile proposition.

Odin adds that your tongue can risk your head. Regardless of the numbers, impulsive speech wins as many enemies as friends, and sooner or later, will cause matters to escalate from the verbal to the physical. We speak this way out of pride—a desire to feel large and important; or out of threat—to dissuade another or put them in their place. Better to know exactly where we stand, how others perceive their position, and to remain humble even if it means allowing someone else to have an inflated sense of their worth. The satisfying feeling we get from trash talk is outweighed by the physical pain of a whooping. Even a victory comes with its wounds.

In less literal terms, we should avoid taking on greater forces that can bring us harm. This could include organizations, projects, physical feats, personal goals, or other hubristic pursuits when something different would suffice. We shouldn’t court trouble, even through negligent speech. Our rivals may not punch us, but there are other ways we can come to harm. Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of speaking softly and carrying a big stick would probably get a nod of approval from Old Norse culture.

We close with a couplet that warns to expect the worst from a hand hidden in a cloak. It may hold any number of things, or have simply retreated to warm itself, but if those things are true, then we need not worry. To expect the situation that can harm us means to be prepared for it, however unlikely. If someone might be lying, it’s worth taking into consideration. If something looks off, feels off, smells off—it’s off. Get out of there!

I hate to promote pessimism and doom-spotting. Perhaps this differs in that the expectation is a reasonable one. It’s one thing to fear that everything will turn out badly at all times, and another to mark a certain man in a certain cloak from the time he enters until he leaves this very room, and to assume there’s a blade in there if your tongue wags itself the wrong way.

Odin’s advice holds true in personal combat, as well as any situation in which two forces come into contention. The watchful, humble soul will stay out of trouble, and never get blindsided.

Comments

[boccaderlupo]

Some of the most concise and on-point fighting advice I've ever read. (Never overestimate one's ego in thinking two-against-one ain't bad odds...same goes for limbs in terms of grappling.)

[kylec]

Yep it's two very poor fellows who can't equal one.