The Wee Hávamál

The Wee Havamal is an adaptation of the original work for fun and easy reading

by children. I’ve re-written selected stanzas into modern English and adopted a

rhyming scheme to make the reading as engaging and memorable as possible.

I mostly included themes like wisdom, friendship, martial virtue, and hospitality,

as these are recurring themes in the original work and understandable for all age

groups. The seduction and magic themes largely did not make the cut, as these

will have limited relevance to kids.

What was chosen for adaptation has been re-ordered to reflect the visual story

told by the illustrations. The original stanza number is shown in the scrollwork

header for easy reference.

I’ve tried to keep this work as close to the original meaning as possible. I don’t

know any Old Norse, however, so this work was based on Olive Bray’s

translation. Where that translation proved difficult to adapt to children’s rhyme,

other translations were consulted, but all stanza numbers are derived from

Bray’s work.