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Poetic Edda

93. Fault for loving  let no man find Ever with any other;Oft the wise are fettered,  where fools go free, By beauty that breeds desire.
94. Fault with another  let no man find For what touches many a man;Wise men oft  into witless fools Are made by mighty love.
95. The head alone knows  what dwells near the heart, A man knows his mind alone;No sickness is worse  to one who is wise Than to lack the longed-for joy.
96.[1] This found I myself,  when I sat in the reeds, And long my love awaited;As my life the maiden  wise I loved, Yet her I never had.
97. Billing's daughter  I found on her bed, In slumber bright as the sun;Empty appeared  an earl's estate Without that form so fair.
  1. ↑ Here begins the passage (stanzas 96-102) illustrating the falseness of woman by the story of Othin's unsuccessful love-affair with Billing's daughter. Of this person we know nothing beyond what is here told, but the story needs little comment.

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