Yggdrasil [English translation]

I know that I hung

in a windy tree

for nine whole nights,

wounded by a spear

and given to Odin,

myself given to myself;

in that tree

of which nobody knows

which roots it runs from.

They did not bring me bread,

neither did they bring me a brewage12.

I looked downwards [from the tree];

I took up the runes,

I took them screaming,

and down from there I fell.

Nine magical songs3 I got

from the famous son of

Bölþorn4, the father of Bestla5,

and a drink I got

of the precious mead

poured out from Óðrerir6.

Then, I started to be vigorous,

and I became wise,

and I grew and felt well.

Speech fetched my speech

for speech again;

action fetched my action

for action again.

1. The world "brewage" refers to beer. The original Hávamál text uses the word "hornigi" ("horn") to refer to this beverage, as the Norse people drank beer from a horn.2. The first two lines of this verse differ from the corresponding lines in the original version of the poem, that roughly translate to "No one cheered me with a loaf or a horn."3. The word "tyllesongar" can alternatively be translated as "mighty songs" or "spells" instead of "magical songs".4. In Norse mythology, Bölþorn (Old Norse for "evil thorn"; also written in English as "Bolthorn" or "Boelthor") is a frost giant and the maternal grandfather of the god Odin.5. In Norse mythology, Bestla is the mother of the gods Odin, Vili and Vé; the sister of an unnamed being who assisted Odin; and the daughter or, depending on source, granddaughter of the frost giant Bölþorn.6. In Norse mythology, Óðrerir (also "Óðrørir" or "Óðrœrir") refers either to one of the vessels that contain the Mead of Poetry