The Merseburger charms are two incantations in old High German written down in the 10th century.
Incantation 1
The first spell is an incantation to free captured warriors from their fetters. In the spell it is written how the Idisi remove the chains of the prisoners.
"Eiris sazun idisi
sazun hera duoder
suma hapt heptidun
suma heri lezidun
suma clubodun
umbi cuoniouuidi
insprinc haptbandun
inuar uigandun"
"Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters:
Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy"
Incantation 2
The second spell is an incantation to heal a horse. It almost reads like a poem, describing how Wodan heals a horse of Phol. This Phol character might be another name for Baldr but this is not entirely sure.
"Phol ende uuodan
uuorun zi holza
du uuart demo balderes uolon
sin uuoz birenkict
thu biguol en sinhtgunt
sunna era suister
thu biguol en friia
uolla era suister
thu biguol en uuodan,
so he uuola conda
sose benrenki
sose bluotrenki
sose lidirenki
ben zi bena
bluot zi bluoda
lid zi geliden
sose gelimida sin"
"Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could
Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain
so joint-sprain
Bone to bone, blood to blood
joints to joints, so may they be glued"
This incantation is much older than just the Germanic culture. It might be proto-indo European (Aryan) in origin.
