“I've tricks of the tongue to beguile them and turn them from handsomer lads."

“I've tricks of the tongue to beguile them and turn them from handsomer lads." Kormak’s Saga

This line is uttered by Kormak to the beautiful and coveted maiden, Steingerd. Kormak knows that he is considered less than handsome but there is no holding this man back when he eyes Steingerd.

He woos her with attentive conversation and reels off poetry and verses on the spot, and he does so often.

[Such versifying is rife in the sagas. The ability to improvise complicated tales to entertain those around you at a meal was valued. The ability to compose intricate insults in verse, a sort of poetic Viking trash-talk that rises above the mere inarticulate “FU!” was a mark of esteem. And many, as Kormak does with Steingerd, were admired for their ability to woo with wit and banter, which is a far cry from “sharing” someone else’s meme to impress or taking one to a movie allowing the words of the screenwriter to stand in place of one’s lack of artful gab.]

Kormak reminds us to not covet what others have [good looks in his case] or to allow seeming deficits to lay us low or leave us languishing on the sidelines as proverbial ever-wilting wallfowers to life, love, and adventures.

He looks to where his gifts are and makes the most of them with no apology whatsoever.

An echo of this advice can be found in Joey Birlem’s advice to women who don’t fit the cookie-cutter magazine-cover “standard” of beauty.

 “Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be you.”

We also hear it in the like-minded gorgeously empowered “I may not be perfect but parts of me are incredible.”

Kormak was well aware of this wise conformist bucking wisdom nine-centuries early. His words and his example are a brazen urge to freedom, the freedom of being you, the freedom to openly and proudly express your own gifts and attributes, other handsome lads and winsome lasses be damned.

"Ekki fela þig. Ekki reyna að vera einhver annar. Vertu þér. Vertu óttalaust. Til að áhorfandinn tilheyrir spilla. "

“Don’t hide yourself. Don’t try to be someone else. Be YOU. Be you fearlessly. To the daring belongs the spoils.”