Slow Havamal: 97

[kylec]

In the 97th verse, Odin tells of the time he saw the fair daughter of Billing asleep on her bed, and remarked that the life of a lord seemed paltry to him if he couldn’t live beside her.

Crawford remarks that the word he translates as “daughter” simply means a young woman or girl, and can refer also to a romantic partner or a young wife. We don’t know who Billing is, or how this woman relates to him, but suffice to say, he wasn’t interested in loaning her out.

Having spoken already about the necessary pain of love, this week I’ll comment that Odin is quite an eveyman’s figure, given that he’s also the chief of the Norse pantheon. When he describes his own adventures, he is often working or suffering or having to deceive his way to his goals. Whatever his power, he’s not usually in a position to simply make a proclamation and have it be so. There are many forces outside his circle of friends who don’t care to cooperate, which makes him very relatable. Who among us hasn’t yearned for someone he couldn’t have?

I’m not sure why he includes these personal anecdotes. Could they be stories crafted to make him feel more human and give us a sense of connection? Are they nearest-approximate metaphors to something that a go can’t communicate except through allegory? Or are they simply the news as it happened? Whatever the case, Havamal doesn’t just feel like a list of advice. It’s rather like sitting at the feet of an old man, connecting the advice to a life actually lived, and a presence in which we share. These are lessons learned the hard way. He didn’t make the rules, he just found them out.

Love is important to experience even for the wise. It begins as something like infatuation. We cannot imagine drawing another breath without the one we desire. There are other stages to come, but to yearn and be forbidden, at least for a moment, is the first. It can hardly be skipped, by gods or men. We know little about Billing or the woman he guards. But we’ve all had our Billings and our sun-rays of obsession. It’s no affront to the wise. One could hardly become wise without crossing the first yards of this territory.