Slow Havamal: 86

[kylec]

The 86th verse says:
a flying spear,
a crashing wave,
one-night-old ice,
a coiled snake,
the words of a bride in bed,
a broken sword,
a playful bear,
the child of a king,

This is the second verse in which we get a list of things that are not to be trusted. As mentioned last week, each of these nouns can have an inert form, or in most cases many pleasant or useful forms, but it’s the adjective that alters it. Therefore, we can’t apply any eternal properties to what is essentially a process. Some stages of the process are tolerable or helpful, and others can harm us if we pay them scant attention.

Some of them are more obvious. We’re not prone to trust a crashing wave, flying spear or a coiled snake, but we may trust that we’re clear of the strike. We can sense a danger yet fail to apply it to ourselves. Young ice and a broken sword both promise to hold together for travel and battle, but thin cracks can soon spread. A bear’s temper can turn, and we recently learned the Old Norse opinion of women’s promises of fidelity is not bullish. A child of a king holds promise for better times ahead, but it may not pan out, if he even makes it to the throne. Coronation could change a pleasant disposition, leaving us with a power-drunk ruler who isn’t mature enough for the task.

A useful habit to keep us focused on what matters might be the practice of giving descriptors to our nouns. For example, instead of thinking “truck” when I see my vehicle outside, I might think “parked truck.” Instead of job, current job. My wife might be loving, sullen, laughing, or sincere. There is a sharp knife or a dull knife in my pocket, a large knife, a serrated knife, a nonlocking knife. What I use it for depends on that adjective, and I often hear people ask me to borrow my “knife” for some purpose which will harm the blade—there are different knives for different tasks, and none that are screwdrivers or pry bars.

By marking each solid thing with an adjective that describes where it is in a process or what limitations it has, our language will be more clear. We’re less likely to make false promises to others and to ourselves through the implications of an unqualified noun.