Olive Bray:

Each man should be watchful and wary in speech,
and slow to put faith in a friend.
for the words which one to another speaks
he may win reward of ill

Original Norse text

***need citation***

Bellows:

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.

Original Norse Text:

Haltr ríðr hrossi,

hjörð rekr handar vanr,

daufr vegr ok dugir,

blindr er betri

en brenndr séi,

nýtr manngi nás.

Bellows:

He must early go forth who fain the blood

Or the goods of another would get;

The wolf that lies idle shall win little meat,

Or the sleeping man success.

Original Old Norse:

Ár skal rísa

sá er annars vill

fé eða fjör hafa

sjaldan liggjandi úlfr

lær um getr

né sofandi maðr sigr

Bellows:

Forth shall one go, nor stay as a guest
in a single spot forever.
Love becomes loathing if one long sits
By the hearth in another’s home.

Thorpe:

A guest should depart, not always stay in one place.
The welcome becomes unwelcome
if he too long continues
in another’s house.  

Original Old Norse:

Ganga skal

skala gestr vera

ey í einum stað

ljúfr verðr leiðr

ef lengi sitr

annars fletjum á

Bellows:

Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
A shoemaker be, or a maker of shafts,
For only thy single self;
If the shoe is ill made, or the shaft prove false,
Then evil of thee men think.

Original Text

Ráðumk þér Loddfáfnir

en þú ráð nemir

njóta mundu ef þú nemr

þér munu góð ef þú getr

skósmiðr þú verir

né skeptismiðr

nema þú sjálfum þér sér

skór er skapaðr illa

eða skapt sé rangt

þá er þér böls beðit      

Bellows:

Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Be never the first to break with thy friend
The bond that holds you both;
Care eats the heart if thou canst not speak
To another all thy thought.

Original Old Norse:

Ráðumk þér, Loddfáfnir,
en þú ráð nemir, –
njóta mundu, ef þú nemr,
þér munu góð, ef þú getr -:
vin þínum ver þú aldregi fyrri at flaumslitum;
sorg etr hjarta, ef þú segja né náir
einhverjum allan hug.

Now bear they the beggar’s staff;
Wealth is as swift as a winking eye,
Of friends the falsest it is.


Deyr fé, deyja frændr,
deyr sjalfr it sama,
en orðstírr deyr aldregi,
hveim er sér góðan getr.

There have been many interpretations of this stanza in the Hávamál by many people who are by far more educated than myself. The original text of it appears thusly for those who have not seen it, at least this is the text according to those who drafted Declaration 127.

“hvars þú böl kannt kveðu þat bölvi at ok gefat þínum fjándum frið”
English translation
“When you see misdeeds, speak out against them, and give your enemies no frith“

The interpretations of it have been many. But what does it really mean to the lay person? what does it mean to you?