Section 1f

Fire for men | is the fairest gift, And power to see the sun; Health as well, | if a man may have it, And a life not stained with sin. 69. All wretched is no man, | though never so sick; Some from their sons have joy, Some win it from kinsmen, | and some from their wealth, And some from worthy works. 70. It is better to live | than to lie a corpse, The live man catches the cow; I saw flames rise | for the rich man's pyre, And before his door he lay dead. 71. The lame rides a horse, | the handless is herdsman, The deaf in battle is bold; The blind man is better | than one that is burned, No good can come of a corpse. [70. The manuscript has "and a worthy life" in place of "than to lie a corpse" in line I, but Rask suggested the emendation as early as 1818, and most editors have followed him.] p. 43 72. A son is better, | though late he be born, And his father to death have fared; Memory-stones | seldom stand by the road Save when kinsman honors his kin. 73. Two make a battle, | the tongue slays the head; In each furry coat | a fist I look for. 74. He welcomes the night | whose fare is enough, (Short are the yards of a ship,) Uneasy are autumn nights; Full oft does the weather | change in a week, And more in a month's time. 75. A man knows not, | if nothing he knows, That gold oft apes begets; One man is wealthy | and one is poor, Yet scorn for him none should know. 76. Among Fitjung's sons | saw I well-stocked folds,-- Now bear they the beggar's staff; [73-74. These seven lines are obviously a jumble. The two lines of stanza 73 not only appear out of place, but the verse form is unlike that of the surrounding stanzas. In 74, the second line is clearly interpolated, and line I has little enough connection with lines 3, 4 and 5. It looks as though some compiler (or copyist) had inserted here various odds and ends for which he could find no better place. 75. The word "gold" in line 2 is more or less conjectural, the manuscript being obscure. The reading in line 4 is also doubtful.] p. 44 Wealth is as swift | as a winking eye, Of friends the falsest it is. 77. Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; But a noble name | will never die, If good renown one gets. 78. Cattle die, | and kinsmen die, And so one dies one's self; One thing now | that never dies, The fame of a dead man's deeds. 79. Certain is that | which is sought from runes, That the gods so great have made, And the Master-Poet painted; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of the race of gods: Silence is safest and best. 80. An unwise man, | if a maiden's love Or wealth he chances to win, [76. in the manuscript this stanza follows 79, the order being: 77, 78, 76, 80, 79, 81. Fitjung ("the Nourisher"): Earth. 79. This stanza is certainly in bad shape, and probably out of place here. Its reference to runes as magic signs suggests that it properly belongs in some list of charms like the Ljothatal (stanzas 147-165).