131. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
I bid thee be wary, | but be not fearful;
(Beware most with ale or another's wife,
And third beware | lest a thief outwit thee.)
132. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,-
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Scorn or mocking | ne'er shalt thou make
Of a guest or a journey-goer.
133. Oft scarcely he knows | who sits in the house
What kind is the man who comes;
None so good is found | that faults he has not,
Nor so wicked that nought he is worth.
134. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,--
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Scorn not ever | the gray-haired singer,
Oft do the old speak good;
(Oft from shrivelled skin | come skillful counsels,
Though it hang with the hides,
And flap with the pelts,
And is blown with the bellies.)
135. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,--
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Curse not thy guest, | nor show him thy gate,
Deal well with a man in want.
[131. Lines 5-6 probably were inserted from a different poem.
133. Many editors reject the last two lines of this stanza as spurious, putting the first two lines at
the end of the preceding stanza. Others, attaching lines 3 and 4 to stanza 132, insert as the first two
lines of stanza 133 two lines from a late paper manuscript, running:
"Evil and good | do men's sons ever
"Mingled bear in their breasts."
134. Presumably the last four lines have been added to this stanza, for the parallelism in the last three
makes it probable that they belong together. The wrinkled skin of the old man is {footnote p. 59} compared
with the dried skins and bellies of animals kept for various purposes hanging in an Icelandic house.]
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131. Ráðumk þér, Loddfáfnir, en þú ráð nemir, -
njóta mundu, ef þú nemr,
þér munu góð, ef þú getr -:
varan bið ek þik vera ok eigi ofvaran;
ver þú við öl varastr ok við annars konu
ok við þat it þriðja, at þjófar né leiki.
132. Ráðumk þér, Loddfáfnir, en þú ráð nemir, -
njóta mundu, ef þú nemr,
þér munu góð, ef þú getr -:
at háði né hlátri hafðu aldregi
gest né ganganda.
133. Oft vitu ógörla, þeir er sitja inni fyrir,
hvers þeir ro kyns, er koma;
er-at maðr svá góðr at galli né fylgi,
né svá illr, at einugi dugi.
134. Ráðumk þér, Loddfáfnir, en þú ráð nemir, -
njóta mundu, ef þú nemr,
þér munu góð, ef þú getr -:
at hárum þul hlæ þú aldregi,
oft er gótt,
þat er gamlir kveða;
oft ór skörpum belg skilin orð koma
þeim er hangir með hám ok skollir með skrám
ok váfir með vílmögum.
135. Ráðumk þér, Loddfáfnir, en þú ráð nemir, -
njóta mundu, ef þú nemr,
þér munu góð, ef þú getr -:
gest þú né geyja né á grind hrekir;
get þú váluðum vel.
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