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Hovamol

98. "Othin, again  at evening come,If a woman thou wouldst win;Evil it were  if others than weShould know of such a sin."
99. Away I hastened,  hoping for joy,And careless of counsel wise;Well I believed  that soon I should winMeasureless joy with the maid.
100. So came I next  when night it was,The warriors all were awake;With burning lights  and waving brandsI learned my luckless way.
101. At morning then,  when once more I came,And all were sleeping still,A dog I found  in the fair one's place,Bound there upon her bed.
102.[1] Many fair maids,  if a man but tries them,False to a lover are found;That did I learn  when I longed to gainWith wiles the maiden wise;

  1. Rask adds at the beginning of this stanza two lines from a late paper manuscript, running:
    "Few are so good  that false they are never
    To cheat the mind of a man."
    He makes these two lines plus lines 1 and 2 a full stanza, and lines 3, 4, 5, and 6 a second stanza.

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