Stanza 145

Original Old Norse:	Auden & Taylor:	Bellows:	Bray:
Betra er óbeðit en sé ofblótit ey sér til gildis gjöf betra er ósent en sé ofsóit svá Þundr um reist fyr þjóða rök þar hann upp um reis er hann aptr of kom	Better not to ask than to over-pledge As a gift that demands a gift"; Better not to send than to slay too many,	146. Better no prayer | than too big an offering, By thy getting measure thy gift; Better is none | than too big a sacrifice, . . . . . . . . . . So Thund of old wrote | ere man's race began, Where he rose on high | when home he came.	144. Better ask for too little than offer too much, like the gift should be the boon; better not to send than to overspend. ........ Thus Odin graved ere the world began; Then he rose from the deep, and came again.
Chisholm:	Hollander:	Terry:	Thorpe:
It is better not to ask, than to sacrifice too much. A gift always looks for a gift. It is better unsent, than over sacrificed. So Thund carved before the doom of mankind. He rose up and came back after that.	'Tis better unasked than offered overmuch; for ay doth a gift look for gain; 'tis better unasked than offered overmuch: thus did Othin write ere the earth began, when up he rose in after time.	Better no prayers than too many presents, gift ever looks for gift; rather be forgotten than fed too much. Thus wrote Odin before the world began, where he rose up when he returned.	147. ‘Tis better not to pray than too much offer; a gift ever looks to a return. ‘Tis better not to send than too much consume. So Thund graved before the origin of men, where he ascended, to whence he afterwards came.
This stanza as translated here follows the manuscript reading, except in assuming a gap between lines 3 and 5. In Vigfusson and Powell's Corpus Poeticum Boreale the first three lines have somehow been expanded into eight. The last two lines are almost certainly misplaced; Bugge suggests that they belong at the end of stanza 144. Thund: another name for Othin. When home he came: presumably after obtaining the runes as described in stanzas 139 and 140.