Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/80

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Poetic Edda

The horse at home fatten,  the hound in thy dwelling.
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84.[1] A man shall trust not  the oath of a maid, Nor the word a woman speaks;For their hearts on a whirling  wheel were fashioned, And fickle their breasts were formed.
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85.[2] In a breaking bow  or a burning flame,A ravening wolf  or a croaking raven,In a grunting boar,  a tree with roots broken,In billowy seas  or a bubbling kettle,
86. In a flying arrow  or falling waters,In ice new formed  or the serpent's folds,In a bride's bed-speech  or a broken sword,In the sport of bears  or in sons of kings,
87.[3] In a calf that is sick  or a stubborn thrall,A flattering witch  or a foe new slain.

    adventure with Billing's daughter (stanzas 96-102). Some such process of growth, whatever its specific stages may have been, must be assumed to account for the curious chaos of the whole passage from stanza 81 to stanza 102.

  1. ↑ Lines 3 and 4 are quoted in the Fostbrœthrasaga.
  2. ↑ Stanzas 85-88 and 90 are in Fornyrthislag, and clearly come from a different source from the rest of the Hovamol.
  3. ↑ The stanza is doubtless incomplete. Some editors add from a late paper manuscript two lines running:
    "In a light, clear sky  or a laughing throng,
    In the howl of a dog  or a harlot's grief."

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