Stanza 62

Original Old Norse:

Snapir ok gnapir

er til sævar kømr

örn á aldinn mar

svá er maðr

er með mörgum kømr

ok á formælendr fá

Auden & Taylor:

As the eagle who comes to the ocean shore, 

Sniffs and hangs her head, 

Dumfounded is he who finds at the Thing 

No supporters to plead his case.

Bellows:

When the eagle comes | to the ancient sea,

He snaps and hangs his head;

So is a man | in the midst of a throng,

Who few to speak for him finds.

62. This stanza follows stanza 63 in the manuscript, but there are marks therein indicating the transposition.

Bray:

Like an eagle swooping over old ocean, 

snatching after his prey, 

so comes a man into court who finds 

there are few to defend his cause.

Chisholm:

The eagle snuffles and droops

when he fares over the waves of the sea.

So fares a man in a throng

where few will plead his case.

Hollander:

With lowered head sweeps, to the sea when he comes,

the eagle o'er the billowing brine;

thus eke the man wmongsth a throng

who finds him but few to befriend him.

Terry:

Sniffing and searching over the sea,

the eagle watches the waves;

he's like the man who comes among many

but has few friends.

Thorpe:

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.

The man without sufficient supporters is like the eagle who swoops down at a fish only to see it disappear beneath the waves. Don't wait until you get to the gathering to form your alliances. Much of viking life was about gift giving and hospitality because you never knew when you would need an important ally. Feuds could break out over fairly small disagreements - about where your land ended and your neighbour's began, or who got to use a certain path to summer pasturing.Alliances were essential. They still are today, after all. "It's not what you know, but WHO you know" is a popular saying.