Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/403

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Reginsmol

They sailed to the land, and the man went on board the ship, and the storm subsided. Sigurth spake:

19.[1] "Hnikar, say,  for thou seest the fate That to gods and men is given;What sign is fairest  for him who fights, And best for the swinging of swords?"
  Hnikar spake:20. "Many the signs,  if men but knew, That are good for the swinging of swords;It is well, methinks,  if the warrior meets A raven black on his road.
21. "Another it is  if out thou art come, And art ready forth to fare,To behold on the path  before thy house Two fighters greedy of fame.
22. "Third it is well  if a howling wolf Thou hearest under the ash;And fortune comes  if thy foe thou seest Ere thee the hero beholds.
23.[2] "A man shall fight not  when he must faceThe moon's bright sister  setting late;
  1. ↑ This and the following stanzas are strongly suggestive of the Hovamol, and probably came originally from some such collection.
  2. ↑ This stanza is clearly an interpolation, drawn in by the

[367]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.