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Translation
by R.B. Anderson from his book Norse Mythology with footnotes by
Anderson in Orange
1.
All door-ways
Before going forward,
Should be looked to;
For difficult it is to know
Where foes may sit
Within a dwelling
2.
Givers, Hail!
A guest is come in
Where shall he sit?
In much haste is he,
Who on his ways ha
To try his luck.
3.
Fire is needful
To him who is come in,
And whose knees are frozen;
Food and raiment
A man requires,
Who o'er the fell has traveled.
4.
Water to him is needful,
Who for refection comes,
A towel and hospitable invitation,
A good reception;
If he can get it,
Discourse and answer.
5.
Wit is needful
To him who travels far:
At home all is easy.
A laughing-stock is he
Who nothing knows,
And with
the instructed sits.
(*Beowulf,
1839)
6.
Of his understanding
No one should be proud,
But rather in conduct cautious.
When the prudent and taciturn
Come to a dwelling,
Harm seldom befalls the cautious;
For a firmer friend
No man ever gets
Than great sagacity.
7.
A wary guest
Who to refection comes
Keeps a cautious silence;
With his ears listens,
And with his eyes observes:
So explores every prudent man.
8.
He is happy
Who for himself obtains
Fame and kind words:
Less sure is that
Which a man must have
In another's breast.
9.
He is happy
Who in himself possesses
Fame and wit while living;
For bad counsels
Have oft been received
From another's breast.
10.
A better burthen
No man bears on the way
Than much good sense;
That is thought better than riches
In a strange place;
Such is the recourse of the indigent.
11.
A worse provision
On the way he cannot carry
Than too much beer-bibbing,
So good is not,
As it is said,
Beer for the sons of men.
12.
A worse provision
No man can take from table
Than too much beer-bibbing,
For the more he drinks
The less control he has
Of his own mind.
13.
Oblivion's heron 'tis called
That over potations hovers;
He steals the minds of men,
With this bird's pinions
I was fettered
In Gunlad's dwelling.
14.
Drunk I was,
I was over-drunk,
At that cunning Fjalar's.
It's the best drunkenness
When every one after it
Regains his reason.
15.
Taciturn and prudent,
And in war daring
Should a king's children be;
Joyous and liberal
Everyone should be
Until his hour of death.
16.
A cowardly man
Thinks he will ever live
If warfare he avoids;
But old age will
Give him no peace.
Though spears may spare him.
17.
A fool gapes
When to a house he comes,
To himself mutters or is silent;
But all at once,
If he gets drink,
Then is the man's mind displayed.
18.
He alone knows,
Who wanders wide
And has much experienced,
By what disposition
Each man is ruled,
Who common sense possesses.
19.
Let a man hold the cup,
Yet of the mead drink moderately,
Speak sensibly or be silent.
As of a fault
No man will admonish thee,
If thou goest betimes to sleep.
20.
A greedy man,
If he be not moderate,
Eats to his mortal sorrow.
Oftentimes his belly
Draws laughter on a silly man
Who among the prudent comes.
21.
Cattle know
When to go home
And then from grazing cease;
But a foolish man
Never knows
His stomach's measure.
22.
A miserable man
And ill-conditioned,
Sneers at everything:
One thing he knows not,
Which he ought to know,
That he is not free from faults.
23.
A foolish man
Is all night awake,
Pondering over everything;
He then grows tired,
And when morning comes
All is lament as before.
24.
A foolish man
Thinks all who on him smile
To be his friends;
He feels it not,
Although they speak ill of him,
When he sits among the clever.
25.
A foolish man
Thinks all who speak him fair
To be his friends;
But he will find,
If into court he comes,
That he has few advocates.
26.
A foolish man
Thinks he knows everything
If placed in unexpected difficulty;
But he knows not
What to answer
If to the test he is put.
27.
A foolish man
Who among people comes,
Had best be silent;
For no one knows
That he knows nothing
Unless he talks too much.
He who previously knew nothing
Will still know nothing,
Talk he ever so much.
28.
He thinks himself wise
Who can ask questions
And converse also;
Conceal his ignorance
No one can,
Because it circulates among men.
29.
He utters too many
Futile words
Who is never silent;
A garrulous tongue,
If it be not checked,
Sings often to its own harm.
30.
For a gazing-stock
No man shall have another,
Although he come a stranger to his house.
Many a one thinks himself wise,
If he is not questioned,
And can sit in a dry habit.
31.
Clever thinks himself
The guest who jeers a guest,
If he takes to flight.
Knows it not certainly
He who prates at meat,
Whether he babbles among foes.
32.
May men are mutually
Well disposed,
Yet at table will torment each other.
That strife will over be;
Guest will guest irritate.
33.
Early meals
A man should often take,
Unless to a friend's house he goes;
Else he will sit and mope,
Will seem half famished,
And can of few things inquire.
34.
Long is and indirect the way
To a bad friend's,
Though by the road he dwell;
But to a good friend's
The paths lie direct,
Though he be far away.
35.
A guest should depart,
Not always stay
In one place:
The welcome becomes unwelcome
If he too long continues
In another's house.
36.
One's own house is best,
Small though it be;
At home is every one his own master.
Though he but two goats possess,
And a straw-thatched cot,
Even that is better than begging.
37.
One's own house is best,
Small though it be;
At home is every one his own master.
Bleeding at heart is he
Who has to ask
For food at every meal-tide.
38.
Leaving in the field his arms,
Let no man go
A foot's length forward;
For it is hard to know
When on his way
A man may need his weapon.
39.
I have never found a man so bountiful
Or so hospitable
That he refused a present;
Or of his property
So liberal
That he scorned a recompense.
40.
Of the property
Which he has gained,
No man should suffer need;
For the hated oft is spared
What for the dear was destined:
Much goes worse than is expected.
41.
With arms and vestments
Friends should each other gladden,
Those which are in themselves most sightly.
Givers and requiters
Are longest friends,
If all else goes well.
42.
To his friend
A man should be a friend,
And gifts with gifts requite;
Laughter with laughter
Men should receive,
But leasing with lying.
43.
To his friend
A man should be a friend,
To him and to his friend;
But of his foe
No man shall
His friend's friend be.
44.
Know if thou hast a friend
Whom thou fully trustest,
And from whom thou would'st good derive;
Thou should'st blend thy mind with his,
And gifts exchange,
And often go to see him.
45.
Know if thou hast a friend
Whom though fully trustest,
And from whom thou would'st good derive;
Thou should'st speak him fair,
But think craftily,
And leasing pay with lying.
46.
But of him yet further
Whom thou little trustest,
And thou suspectest his affection,
Before him thou should'st laugh,
And contrary to thy thoughts speak;
Requital should the gift resemble.
47.
I once was young,
I was journeying alone
And lost my way;
Rich I thought myself
When I met another:
Man is the joy of man.
48.
Liberal and brave
Men live best,
The seldom cherish sorrow;
But a bare-minded man
Dreads everything;
The niggardly is uneasy even at gifts.
49.
My garments in a field
I gave away
To two wooden men:
Heroes they seemed to be
Where they
got cloaks;
(*the
tailor makes the man)
Exposed to insult is a naked man.
50.
A tree withers
That on a hill-top stands;
Protects it neither bark nor leaves;
Such is the man
Whom no one favors:
Why should he live long?
51.
Hotter than fire
Love for five days burns
Between false friends;
But is quenched
When the sixth day comes,
And friendship is all impaired.
52.
Something great
Is not always to be given,
Praise is often for a trifle bought
With half a loaf
And a tilted vessel
I got myself a comrade.
53.
Little are the sand grains,
Little the wits,
Little the minds of men;
For all men
Are not wise alike:
Men are everywhere by halves.
54.
Moderately wise
Should each one be,
But never over-wise;
For a wise man's heart
Is seldom glad,
If he is all-wise who owns it
55.
Moderately wise
Should each one be,
But never over-wise;
Of those men
The lives are fairest
Who know much well.
56.
Moderately wise
Should each on be,
But never over-wise;
His destiny let know
No man beforehand;
His mind will be freest from care.
57.
Brand burns from brand
Until it is burnt out,
Fire is from fire quickened;
Man to man
Becomes known by speech,
But a fool by his bashful silence.
58.
He should rise early
Who another's property or life
Desire's to have:
Seldom a sluggish wolf
Gets prey,
Or a sleeping man victory.
59.
Early should rise
He who has few workers,
And go his work to see to;
Greatly is he retarded
Who sleeps the morn away:
Wealth half depends on energy.
60.
Of dry planks
And roof shingles
A man knows the measure;
Of the firewood
That may suffice
Both measure and time.
61.
Washed and refected
Let a man
ride to Thing,
(*the
public assembly)
Although his garments be not too good;
Of his shoes and breeches
Let no one be ashamed,
Nor of his horse,
Although he have not a good one.
62.
Inquire and impart
Should every man of sense,
Who will be accounted sage.
Let one only know,
A second may not;
If three, all the world knows.
63.
Gasps and gapes,
When to the sea he comes,
The eagle over old ocean;
So is a man
Who among many comes,
And has few advocates.
64.
His power should
Every sagacious man
Use with discretion,
For he will find,
When among the bold he comes,
That no one alone is doughtiest.
65.
Circumspect and reserved
Every man should be,
And wary in trusting friends;
Of the words
That a man says to another
He often pays the penalty.
66.
Much too early
I came to many places,
But too late to others;
The beer was drunk,
Or not ready:
The disliked seldom hits the moment.
67.
Here and there I should
Have been invited
If I a meal had needed;
Or two hams had hung
At that true friend's
Where of one I had eaten.
68.
Fire is best
Among the sons of men,
And the sight of the sun,
If his health
A man can have,
With a life free from vice.
69.
No man lacks everything,
Although his health be bad:
One in his sons is happy,
One in his kin,
One in abundant wealth,
One in his good works.
70.
It is better to live,
Even to live miserably;
A living man can always get a cow.
I saw fire consume
The rich man's property,
And death stood without his door.
71.
The halt can ride on horseback,
The on-handed drive cattle;
The deaf, fight and be useful:
To be blind is better
Than to be
burnt:
(*That is,
dead on the funeral pile)
No one gets good from a corpse.
72.
A son is better
Even if born late,
After his father's departure.
Gravestones seldom
Stand by the way-side
Unless raised by a kinsman to a kinsman.
73.
Two are adversaries:
The tongue is the bane of the head:
Under every cloak
I expect a hand.
74.
At night is joyful
He who is sure of traveling entertainment;
A ship's yards are short;
Variable is an autumn night.
Many are the weather's changes
In five days,
But more in a month.
75.
He knows not,
Who knows nothing,
That many a one apes another.
One man is rich,
Another poor:
Let him not be thought blameworthy.
76.
Cattle die,
Kindred die,
We ourselves also die;
But the fair fame
Never dies
Of him who has earned it.
77.
Cattle die,
Kindred die,
We ourselves also die;
But I know one thing
That never dies,---
Judgment on each one dead.
78.
Full storehouses I saw
At Dives' sons':
Now bear they the beggar's staff.
Such are riches,
As is the twinkling of an eye;
Of friends they are most fickle.
79.
A foolish man,
If he acquires
Wealth or woman's love,
Pride grows within him,
But wisdom never:
He goes on more and more arrogant.
80.
Thus 'tis made manifest,
If of runes thou questionest him,
Those to the high ones known,
Which the great powers invented,
And the great talker (*Odin)
painted,
That he had best hold silence.
81.
At eve the day is to be praised,
A woman after she is burnt,
A sword after it is proved,
A maid after she is married,
Ice after it is crossed,
Beer after it is drunk.
82.
In the wind one should hew wood,
In a breeze row out to sea,
In the dark talk with a lass,
Many are the eyes of day.
In a ship voyages are to be made,
But a shield is for protection,
A sword for striking,
But a damsel for a kiss.
83.
By the fire on should drink beer,
One the ice slide;
Buy a horse that is lean,
A sword that is rusty;
Feed a horse at home,
But a dog at the farm.
84.
In a maiden's words
No one should place faith,
Nor in what a woman says;
For on a turning wheel
Have their hearts been formed,
And guile in their breasts been laid.
85.
In a creaking bow,
A burning flame,
A yawning wolf,
A chattering crow,
A grunting swine,
A rootless tree,
A waxing wave,
A boiling kettle,
86.
A flying dart,
A falling billow,
A one night's ice,
A coiled serpent,
A woman's bed-talk,
Or a broken sword,
A bear's play
Or a royal child,
87.
A sick calf,
A self-willed thrall,
A flattering prophetess,
A corpse newly slain,
A serene sky,
A laughing lord,
A barking dog
And a harlot's grief,
88.
An early-sown field,
Let no one trust,
Nor prematurely in a son:
Weather rules the field,
And wit the son,
Each of which is doubtful.
89.
A brother's murderer,
Though on the high-road met,
A half-burnt house,
An over-swift horse
(A horse is useless
If a leg be broken):
No man is so confiding
As to trust any of these.
90.
Such is the love of women,
Who falsehood meditate,
As if one drove not rough-shod
On slippery ice,
A spirited two-year-old
And unbroken horse;
Or as in a raging storm
A helmless ship is beaten;
Or as if the halt were set to catch
A reindeer
in the thawing fell.
(*Such
lines as this show the Norse origin of the Edda)
91.
Openly I now speak,
Because I both sexes know:
Unstable are men's minds toward women;
'Tis then we speak most fair,
When we most falsely think:
That deceives even the cautious.
92.
Fair shall speak,
And money offer,
Who would obtain a woman's love
Praise the form
Of a fair damsel;
He gets, who courts her.
93.
At love should no one
Ever wonder
In another:
A beauteous countenance
Oft captivates the wise,
Which captivates not the foolish.
94.
Let no one wonder at
Another's folly,
It is the lot of many.
All-powerful desire
Makes of the sons of men
Fools even of the wise.
95.
The mind only knows
What lies near the heart;
That alone is conscious of our affections
No disease is worse
To a sensible man
Than not to be content with himself.
96.
That I experienced
When in the reeds I sat
Awaiting my delight.
Body and soul to me
Was that discreet maiden:
Nevertheless I possess her not.
97.
Billing's lass
On her couch I found,
Sun-bright, sleeping.
A prince's joy
To me seemed naught,
If not with that form to live.
98.
Yet nearer ever
Must thou, Odin, come, she said,
If though wilt talk the maiden over;
All will be disastrous
Unless we alone
Are privy to such misdeed.
99.
I returned,
Thinking to love
At her wise desire;
I thought I should obtain
Her whole heart and love.
100.
When next I came,
The bold warriors were
All awake,
With lights burning,
And bearing torches:
101.
But at the approach of morn,
When again I came,
The household all was sleeping:
The good damsel's dog
Alone I found
Tied to the bed.
102.
Many a fair maiden,
When rightly known,
Toward men is fickle:
That I experienced
When that discreet maiden
I decoyed into danger:
Contumely of every kind
That wily girl
Heaped upon me;
Nor of that damsel gained I aught.
103.
At home let a man be cheerful,
And toward a guest liberal;
Of wise conduct he should be,
Of good memory and ready speech;
If much knowledge he desires,
He must often talk on what is good.
Fimbulfambi he is called
Who little has to say:
Such is the nature of the simple.
___________________________________
104.
The old giant I sought;
Now I am come back:
Little got I there by silence;
In many words
I spoke to my advantage
In
Suttung's halls.
(*Story of
Suttung and Gunlad)
105.
Gunlad gave me,
On her golden seat,
A draught of the precious mead;
A bad recompense I afterwards made her
For her whole soul,
Her fervent love.
106.
Rate's mouth I caused
To make a space,
And to gnaw the rock;
Over and under me
Were the giant's ways:
Thus I my head did peril.
107.
Of a well assumed form
I made good use:
Few things fail the wise,
For Odrærer is now come up
To men's earthly dwellings.
108.
'Tis to me doubtful,
That I could have come
From the giant's courts,
Had not Gunlad aided me,---
That good damsel
Over whom I laid my arm.
109.
On the day following
Came the frost-giants
To learn something of the High One
In the High One's hall;
After Belverk they inquired,
Whether he with the gods were come,
Or Suttung had destroyed him.
110.
Odin I believe
A ring-oath
gave.
(*In the
North a holy oath was taken on aring kept in the temple for that
purpose)
Who in his faith will trust?
Suttung defrauded,
Of his drink bereft,
And Gunlad made to weep!
_________________________________
111.
Time 'tis to discourse
From the speaker's chair.
By the well of Urd
I silent sat,
I saw and meditated,
I listened to men's words.
112.
Of runes I heard discourse,
And of things divine,
Nor of
risting them were they silent.
(*Carving:
runes are risted = runes are carved)
Nor of sage counsels,
At the High One's hall.
In the High One's hall
I thus heard say:
113.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Rise not at night,
Unless to explore,
Or art compelled to go out.
114.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
In an enchantress' embrace
Thou mayest not sleep,
So that in her arms she clasp thee.
115.
She will be the cause
That though carest not
For Thing or prince's words;
Food thou wilt shun
And human joys;
Sorrowful wilt thou go to sleep.
116.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Another's wife
Entice thou never
To secret converse.
117.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
By fell or firth
If thou have to travel,
Provide thee well with food.
118.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
A bad man
Let thou never
Know thy misfortunes;
For from a bad man
Thou never wilt obtain
A return for thy good will.
119.
I saw mortally
Wound a man
A wicked woman's words;
A false tongue
Caused his death,
And most unrighteously.
120.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Whom thou well canst trust,
Go oft to visit him;
For with brushwood overgrown
And with high grass
Is the way that no on treads.
121.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
A good man attract to thee
In pleasant converse,
And salutary speech learn, while thou livest.
122.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
With thy friend
Be thou never
First to quarrel.
Care gnaws the heart,
If thou to no one canst
Thy whole mind disclose.
123.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Words thou never
Should'st exchange
With a witless fool.
124.
For from an ill-conditioned man
Thou wilt never get
A return for good;
But a good man will
Bring thee favor
By his praise.
125.
There is a mingling of affection,
Where one can tell
Another all his mind.
Everything is better
Than being with the deceitful.
He is not another's friend
Who ever says as he says.
126.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Even in three words
Quarrel not with a worse man:
Often the better yields,
When the worse strikes.
127.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Be not a shoemaker
Nor a shaftmaker,
Unless for thyself it be;
For a shoe, if ill made,
Or a shaft if crooked,
Will call down evil on thee.
128.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Wherever of injury thou knowest,
Regard that injury at thy own;
And give to thy foes no peace.
129.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Rejoiced at evil
Be thou never,
But let good give thee pleasure.
130.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
In a battle
Look not
up,
(*in a
battle we must no look up, but forward)
(Like swine
The sons of men then become),
(*To become
panic-stricken, which the Norsemen called swine)
That men may not fascinate thee.
131.
If thou wilt induce a good woman
To pleasant converse,
Thou must promise fair,
And hold to it:
No on turns from good, if it can be got.
132.
I enjoin thee to be wary,
But not over-wary;
At drinking be thou most wary,
And with another's wife;
And thirdly,
That thieves delude thee not.
133.
With insult or derision
Treat thou never
A guest or wayfarer;
They often little know,
Who sit within,
Of what race they are who come.
134.
Vices and virtues
The sons of mortals bear
In their breasts mingled;
No one is so good
That no failing attends him,
Nor so bad as to be good for nothing.
135.
At a hoary speaker
Laugh thou never,
Often is good that which the aged utter;
Oft from a shriveled hide
Discreet words issue,
From those whose skin is pendent
And decked with scares,
And who go loitering among the vile.
136.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Rail not at a guest,
Nor from thy gate thrust him;
Treat well the indigent,
They will speak well of thee.
137.
Strong is the bar
That must be raised
To admit
all.
(*the
meaning is, it is difficult to show hospitality to everybody. A door
would have to be strong to stand so much opening and shutting)
Do thou give a penny,
Or they will call down on thee
Every ill on thy limbs.
138.
I counsel thee, Lodfafner,
To take advice;
Thou wilt profit, if thou takest it.
Wherever thou beer drinkest,
Invoke to thee the power of earth;
For earth is good against drink,
Fire for distempers,
The oak for constipation,
A corn-ear for sorcery,
A hall for domestic strife.
In bitter hates invoke the moon;
The bitter for bite-injuries is good,
But runes against calamity;
Fluid let earth absorb. |
