Original Old Norse: | Auden & Taylor: | Bellows: | Bray: |
Þat kann ek it átjánda er ek æva kennik mey né manns konu alt er betra er einn um kann þat fylgir ljóða lokum nema þeiri einni er mik armi verr eða mín systir sé |
To learn to sing them, Loddfafnir, Will take you a long time, Though helpful they are if you understand them, Useful if you use them, Needful if you need them. |
164. Long these songs | thou shalt, Loddfafnir, Seek in vain to sing; Yet good it were | if thou mightest get them, Well, if thou wouldst them learn, Help, if thou hadst them. |
162. These songs, Stray-Singer, which man's son knows not, long shalt thou lack in life, though thy weal if thou win'st them, thy boon if thou obey'st them thy good if haply thou gain'st them. |
Chisholm: | Hollander: | Terry: | Thorpe: |
- | In this lore wilt thou, Loddfafnir, be unversed forever and say: thy weal were it, if this wisdom thine-- 'tis helpful, if heeded, 'tis needful, if known. |
But all this lore you, Loddfafnir, will long be lacking -- though it would help you to have it, do you good to get it, be needed if you knew it. |
- |
This stanza is almost certainly an interpolation, and seems to have been introduced after the list of charms and the Loddfafnismol (stanzas 111-138) were combined in a single poem, for there is no other apparent excuse for the reference to Loddfafnir at this point. The words "if thou mightest get them" are a conjectural emendation. | |||
Original Old Norse: | Auden & Taylor: | Bellows: | Bray: |
Nú era Háva mál kveðin Háva höllu í allþörf ýta sonum óþörf jötna sonum heill sá er kvað heill sá er kann njóti sá er nam heilir þeirs hlýddu |
I know an eighteenth that I never tell To maiden or wife of man, A secret I hide from all Except the love who lies in my arms, Or else my own sister. |
165. An eighteenth I know, | that ne'er will I tell To maiden or wife of man,-- The best is what none | but one's self doth know, So comes the end of the songs,-- Save only to her | in whose arms I lie, Or who else my sister is. |
163. An eighteenth I know: which I ne'er shall tell to maiden or wife of man save alone to my sister, or haply to her who folds me fast in her arms; most safe are secrets known to but one- the songs are sung to an end. |
Chisholm: | Hollander: | Terry: | Thorpe: |
163. I know an eighteenth that none know, neither maid, nor man’s wife. It is always better kept secret, except to the one who lies in my arms, or my sister. |
That eighteenth I know which to none I will tell, neither maid nor man's wife-- 'tis best warded I but one know it: this speak I last of my spells-- but only to her in whose arms I lie, or else to my sister also. |
I know an eighteenth which I never tell a maiden or any man's wife -- the best of charms if you can chant it; this is the last of my lay -- unless to a lady who lies in my arms, or I'll sing it to my sister. |
165. For the eighteenth I know that which I never teach to maid or wife of man, (all is better what one only knows. This is the closing of the songs) save her alone who clasps me in her arms, or is my sister. |
Some translators insert Stanza 163 before 164, some do not. I've combined them both here to keep in line with the groupings. |
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Stanzas 163 - 164
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