| Original Old Norse: | Auden & Taylor: | Bellows: | Bray: |
| Hér ok hvar myndi mér heim of boðit ef þyrftak at málungi mat eða tvau lær hengi at ins tryggva vinar þars ek hafða eitt etit |
Some would invite me to visit their homes, But none thought I Had eaten a whole joint, Just before with a friend who had two. |
To their homes men would bid | me hither and yon, If at meal-time I needed no meat, Or would hang two hams | in my true friend's house, Where only one I had eaten. |
Here and there to a home I had haply been asked had I needed no meat at my meals, or were two hams left hanging in the house of that friend where I had partaken of one. |
| Chisholm: | Hollander: | Terry: | Thorpe: |
| Here and there they had me in their homes, if I was not hungry for meat or hung two hams for the true friend for the one I had eaten. |
Here or there would they have me in, if no meat at the meal i craved; or hung two hams in my good friend's home, After eating one of his own. |
At some tables I was treated well -- when I did not ask for meat; or when two hams hung in a friend's house where I had eaten one. |
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. |
| The woe of the unwelcome guest among those who do not show sufficient hospitality: to be invited only if you won’t eat anything or if somehow, by eating one ham, another magically appears. Ironic to say the very least; bitter if that’s a ‘true’ friend. Evans discusses this verse at length in the Viking Society edition of the poem (which you can read in PDF form) but the hospitality remains the measure of a friend. Each time we have folks over to the house, we always make sure we have ample amounts of food and drink. I myself am a big guy.. 6'4, 275 lbs. I can eat. It's unsettling when I am invited to someone's home for food, and the meal is.. lacking. I am always grateful for the invite, but it makes me uncomfortable when the food is limited. | |||
I think the point of this verse is to say that the guest is obligated to be a good guest, respectful of the host. It implies that hosts are quicker to re-invite people over if they don't make a pig of themselves. Hosts also appreciate gifts. Gifts that we might describe as housewarming gifts nowadays. I think the take-home value of this is that when you are invited over to someone's place for dinner, or a party, or for a blessing or holiday, that you make a better impression if you're known as that person who always shows up with a gift for the host. Or if you're poor, maybe you always clean up and do the dishes, or maybe you are known to come back next week and mow the lawn for free, or whatever. Basically, don't be a F*ing mooch. Sometimes, you might be emptyhanded when you show up. That's okay. eat hearty. But tomorrow, or the next day, maybe a honey baked ham shows up on their porch, courtesy of you-know-who.
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