3 translations are aligned to this passage.
I rede thee, Loddfafnir! and hear thou my rede,—Profit thou hast if thou hearest,Great thy gain if thou learnest:When ale thou drinkest, seek might of earth,(For earth cures drink, and fire cures ills,The oak cures tightness, the ear cures magic,Rye cures rupture, the moon cures rage,Grass cures the scab, and runes the sword-cut;)The field absorbs the flood.I counsel thee, etc.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 sorcerya hall for domestic strife.In bitter hates invoke the moon;the biter for bite-injuries is good;but runes against calamity;fluid let earth absorb.Ráþumk þér, Loddfáfnir! en þú ráþ nemir,njóta mundu, ef nemr,þér munu góþ, ef getr:hvars öl drekkr, kjóstu þér jarþarmegin—[þvít jörþ tekr viþ ölþri, en aldr viþ sóttum,eik viþ abbindi, ax viþ fjölkyngi,viþ haulvi hýrogi, heiptum skal mána kveþja,beiti viþ bitsóttum, en viþ bölvi rúnar—]fold skal viþ flóþi taka.I counsel thee, Stray-Singer, accept my counsels,they will be thy boon if thou obey’st them,they will work thy weal if thou win’st them:when ale thou quaffest, call upon earth’s might—‘tis earth drinks in the floods.[Earth prevails o’er drink, but fire o’er sickness,the oak o’er binding, the earcorn o’er witchcraft,the rye spur o’er rupture, the moon o’er rages,herb o’er cattle plagues, runes o’er harm.]Hávamál, translated by Henry Adams Bellows, in The Poetic Edda (1923). Public-domain transcription sourced from Project Gutenberg ebook 73533.
A twelfth I know, if high on a tree I see a hanged man swing; So do I write and color the runes That forth he fares, And to me talks.
Read passage →A man shall not boast of his keenness of mind, But keep it close in his breast; To the silent and wise does ill come seldom When he goes as…
Read passage →A better burden may no man bear For wanderings wide than wisdom; It is better than wealth on unknown ways, And in grief a refuge it gives.
Read passage →Drunk I was, I was dead-drunk, When with Fjalar wise I was; ‘Tis the best of drinking if back one brings His wisdom with him home.
Read passage →Only you can see these notes.
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