The Poetic Edda Page 5
standing over a farm,
no longer protected by bark and needles.
A person is the same way
if nobody loves him;
how will he live much longer?
[51] The friendship
among false friends
burns warmly for five days,
but then it’s extinguished
by the sixth day,
and the friendship is over.
[52] You should not give
only big gifts;
often a little thing will win you favor.
I have won friends
with just half a loaf of bread
and a bowl of soup.
[53] Where the beaches are small,
it’s a small sea that washes them—
and so it is with little minds.
Not everyone
is equally wise,
but the average is moderately wise.
[54] You should be
only a little wise,
never too wise.
The happiest people
throughout their lives
are the moderately wise.
{27} [55] You should be
only a little wise,
never too wise.
A wise man’s heart
is seldom glad
if he’s truly wise.
[56] You should be
only a little wise,
never too wise.
It’s best not to know
your fate beforehand;
you’ll live happier if you don’t.
[57] A torch is lit by another
and burns till it’s burned out;
a fire is kindled by another fire.
A man becomes wise
by speaking with other men,
but foolish by keeping to himself.
[58] Rise early, if you want
to take another man’s
property, or his life.
A sleeping wolf
seldom wins a sheep,
or a sleeping warrior a victory.
[59] Rise early
if you have no one to work for you,
and get straight to work.
You lose more than time
if you sleep when it dawns;
for the early riser, wealth is half-won.
[60] You should know how
to dry logs for firewood
and bark for roofing,
and also this:
how to measure
time and the seasons.
{28} [61] You should always go out
with your hair combed
and a meal in your belly,
even if you can’t afford good clothes.
You should not be ashamed
of your shoes and pants,
nor of your horse,
even if it’s not a good one.
[62] A hungry eagle snaps his beak
and stretches out his neck,
when the sea comes into sight.
People get the same look about them
when they walk among strangers
and have no one to speak well of them.
[63] If you want to be called wise,
you should know how
to ask and answer wisely.
Tell your secret to one person,
never to two—
everyone knows, if three people know.
[64] A wise man
should use his abilities
only in moderation.
Otherwise, when he
is in battle, he’ll learn
that no one is bravest of all.
[65] You will often
get repayment in kind
for the words you speak to others.
[66] I have come too early
to some events
and too late to others.
The drinks were all gone,
or else not even made;
a hated man gets little hospitality.
{29} [67] Now and then
I’ve been invited to a friend’s home,
as long as I had no need for food,
or as long as I could make
my inhospitable host’s cellars
fuller rather than emptier.
[68] Fire is best
for mortals,
and sunshine—
and also good health,
if you have it,
and living beyond reproach.
[69] No one is totally wretched,
even if his health is bad—
some find happiness in their children,
some in their kin,
some in their money,
some in work well done.
[70] Better to be alive,
no matter what, than dead—
only the living enjoy anything.
I saw a rich man’s house,
but it was on fire,
and he lay dead outside the door.
[71] A limping man can ride a horse,
a handless man can herd,
a deaf man can fight and win.
It’s better even to be blind
than fuel for the funeral pyre;
what can a dead man do?
[72] Better to have a son than not,
even if he’s born late in life,
even if he’s born after you die.
You’ll rarely see memorials or graves
standing near the road
that were raised for men without sons.
{30} [73] Two men will defeat one;
your tongue can endanger your head.
In every hand hidden by a cloak,
I expect to see a weapon.
[74] The seaman is glad at evening,
looking forward to his dinner,
with just a short distance to row home.
But an autumn night is untrustworthy.
Many things can get worse
in only five days,
and even more in a month.
[75] The ignorant man
does not know how little he knows.
You become foolish by listening to fools.
One man is rich,
another man is poor,
neither has the other to blame.
[76] Cows die,
family die,
you will die the same way.
But a good reputation
never dies
for the one who earns it well.
[77] Cows die,
family die,
you will die the same way.
I know only one thing
that never dies:
the reputation of the one who’s died.
[78] I saw big herds of cattle
owned by a rich man’s sons;
now they carry a beggar’s staff.
Wealth is like
the twinkling of an eye—
no friend could be more faithless.
{31} [79] If an unwise man
chances upon money
or a woman’s love,
he will grow more arrogant
but not more intelligent;
he will be deceived about his own worth.
[80] What you ask of the runes
will prove true;
they are gifts of the Aesir,
made by the gods
and painted by Odin.
You’ll learn best with your mouth shut.
[81] Don’t praise the day until it’s night,
don’t praise your wife until she’s buried,
don’t praise the sword till after the fight,
nor your daughter till she’s married,
don’t praise the ice until it’s crossed,
nor the ale until you’re sloshed.
[82] Chop wood when the wind blows,
row your boat on the sea,
court a lover at nighttime
(for the day has many eyes).
Value a ship for its speed,
a shield for its protection,
> a sword for its sharpness,
and a woman for her kiss.
[83] Drink ale by the fire,
skate on the ice,
buy a thin horse
and a rusty sword.
Give your horse food,
and let your dog feed itself.
[84] No man should trust
the words of a girl,
nor anything a woman says.
Women’s hearts are molded
{32} on a wobbly wheel.
Deception lurks in their words.
[85] A breaking bow,
a burning fire,
a howling wolf,
a cawing crow,
a grunting pig,
a rootless tree,
a swelling wave,
a boiling kettle,
[86] a flying spear,
a crashing wave,
one-night-old ice,
a striped snake,
the words of a bride in bed,
a broken sword,
a playful bear,
the child of a king,
[87] a sick calf,
a stubborn servant,
a prophet who foresees good things,
a corpse on the battlefield,
(89) your brother’s killer
(even if you meet him in public),
a half-burned house,
a horse that’s too fast
(remember, a horse is unusable
if only one foot breaks)—
may you never be so trusting
that you trust all these things.
(88) Do not put too much trust
in your newly planted crops,
nor in your child too early—
weather will shape the field
and whim will shape the child,
and neither will stay the same.
{33} [90] Take care not to love
a deceitful woman,
it is like driving an unshod horse,
a playful, young,
poorly-tamed foal,
across slippery ice,
or like sailing a ship
in a wild wind,
or trying to catch a reindeer on foot
after the mountains thaw.
[91] I’ll speak plainly now, since
I know both men and women:
men lie to women.
We speak most eloquently
when we tell the biggest lies,
and seduce even wise women with lies.
[92] A man should speak eloquently
and offer gifts
to a woman whose love he wants.
Praise the body
of a beautiful woman;
you will win her if you praise her.
[93] No man
should mock another
for falling in love.
Love-sickness
often strikes harder
on a wise man than a fool.
[94] No man
should mock another
for falling in love;
love is strong enough
to make a fool
out of a man who once was wise.
{34} [95] Only you know
what dwells in your heart
when you are alone;
but nothing is worse
for a wise person
than to have nothing to love.
[96] I experienced this
when I waited among the reeds
and my lover did not come to me.
That wise girl
was my flesh and my heart,
though I could not call her my own.
[97] I found Billing’s daughter,
fair as a sun-ray,
asleep on her bed.
The life of a lord
seemed as nothing to me
unless I could live with that woman.
[98] “You should come back
in the evening, Odin,” she said,
“if you want to woo me—
it is improper
for others to know
of such a scandal.”
[99] I turned back,
and thought that I
would win her.
I imagined
that I would win
the woman’s love and all her joy.
[100] But when I came back that night,
there was a good company of warriors
awake and ready for me.
With burning flames
and torches held high,
I was shown my miserable way out.
{35} [101] And when morning came,
and I returned,
everyone in the hall was sleeping—
and then I found a watchdog
tied to the bed
of that good woman.
[102] There’s many a good woman,
if you get to know her,
who’ll change her mind about a man;
I learned that
when I tried
to seduce a wise woman.
That lady
showed me every kind of shame,
and I gained no wife for my trouble.
[103] If you want to be very wise,
be happy at home,
and cheerful with a guest.
Cultivate wisdom,
a good memory, and eloquence,
and speak kind words often.
You’ll be called a fool
if you can’t say much—
that’s the mark of the unwise.
[104] I visited an old giant,
and now I’ve returned.
I didn’t stay silent there.
I spoke many words
in support of my cause
at Suttung’s hall.
[105] Gunnloth, his daughter,
gave me a drink of his precious mead
while I sat on a golden chair.
I would later give her
a bad repayment
for her trusting mind,
for her troubled mind.
{36} [106] Giants’ dwellings were
over and under me.
I used Rati’s tusk
to burrow out
and gnaw away the rock—
in this way, I got out with my head.
[107] I made good use
of the disguise I used;
few things are too difficult for the wise.
Now Othrerir
is rescued
from the clutches of the giants.
[108] I doubt
I could have escaped
Jotunheim
if I hadn’t used Gunnloth,
the good woman
who rested in my arms.
[109] The next day
the frost-giants came
to ask news about Odin
in Odin’s hall;
they inquired about that evildoer,
whether he was among the gods,
or whether Suttung had killed him.
[110] I believe that Odin
swore an oath to them—
but who can trust Odin?
He left Suttung deceived
in his own home,
and he left Gunnloth weeping.
[111] It is time to speak
on the wise man’s chair
at Urth’s well.
I saw and was silent,
I saw and I thought,
{37} I listened to men’s speech.
I heard about runes,
they were not silent with counsel
at Odin’s hall,
in Odin’s hall,
I heard them say so:
[112] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Do not rise at night,
unless you’re spying on your enemies,
or seeking a place to relieve yourself.
[113] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if y
ou’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Do not sleep in the arms
of a sorceress,
or else she will lock your limbs.
[114] She will enchant you
so that you won’t care
for advice nor a powerful man’s words;
you will want neither food
nor the pleasure of friends’ company,
and you will sleep full of sorrow.
[115] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Never seduce
another man’s woman
with whispers in her ear.
[116] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
{38} If you spend time wandering
by land or by sea,
bring plentiful provisions.
[117] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Never let
a bad man
know of your misfortune,
for you will never
profit at all
for telling him about it.
[118] I saw
a bad woman’s words
bite a man in the neck—
a lying tongue
was his death,
and not even with good cause.
[119] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
If you have a friend,
and you trust him,
go and visit him often.
Weeds and high grass
will grow on a path
that nobody travels.
[120] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Get a good man
to teach you the runes,
and learn a healing spell while you live.
{39} [121] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
Never be
the first to break
friendship with your friend.
Sadness will eat up your heart
if you have no one
you can talk to.
[122] I counsel you, Loddfafnir,
if you’ll take my advice,
you’ll profit if you learn it,
it’ll do you good if you remember it:
You should never
exchange words
with someone who won’t see reason.
[123] You will never
get a reward for speaking
with a bad man,
but a good man
will make you happy
with his praise.
[124] Men become friends
when they can share
their minds with one another.
Anything is better
than being lied to: