161. A sixteenth I know, | if I seek delight
To win from a maiden wise;
The mind I turn | of the white-armed maid,
And thus change all her thoughts.
162. A seventeenth I know, | so that seldom shall go
A maiden young from me;
Long these songs | thou shalt, Loddfafnir,
Seek in vain to sing;
Yet good it were | if thou mightest get them,
Well, if thou wouldst them learn,
Help, if thou hadst them.
163. An eighteenth I know, | that ne'er will I tell
To maiden or wife of man,--
The best is what none | but one's self doth know,
So comes the end of the songs,--
Save only to her | in whose arms I lie,
Or who else my sister is.
164. Now are Hor's words | spoken in the hall,
Kind for the kindred of men,
Cursed for the kindred of giants:
Hail to the speaker, | and to him who learns!
Profit be his who has them!
Hail to them who hearken!
[162. Some editors have combined these two lines with stanza 164. Others have assumed that the gap follows the first half-line, making "so that-from me" the
end of the stanza. This stanza is almost certainly an interpolation, and seems to have been introduced after the list of charms and the Loddfafnismol
(stanzas 111-138) were combined in a single poem, for there is no other apparent excuse for the reference to Loddfafnir at this point. The words "if thou
mightest get them" are a conjectural emendation.
163. This stanza is almost totally obscure. The third and fourth lines look like interpolations.
164. In the manuscript this stanza comes at the end of the entire poem, following stanza 163. Most recent editors have followed Müllenhoff in shifting it to
this position, as it appears to conclude the passage introduced by the somewhat similar stanza 111.]
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161. Þat kann ek it sextánda:
ef ek vil ins svinna mans hafa
geð allt ok gaman, hugi ek hverfi
hvítarmri konu, ok sný ek hennar öllum sefa.
162. Þat kann ek it sjautjánda
at mik mun seint firrask
it manunga man.
Ljóða þessa mun þú, Loddfáfnir,
lengi vanr vera;
þó sé þér góð, ef þú getr,
nýt ef þú nemr, þörf ef þú þiggr.
163. Þat kann ek it átjánda,
er ek æva kennik mey né manns konu,
- allt er betra, er einn of kann;
þat fylgir ljóða lokum, -
nema þeiri einni, er mik armi verr,
eða mín systir sé.
164. Nú eru Háva mál kveðin Háva höllu í,
allþörf ýta sonum, óþörf jötna sonum;
heill sá, er kvað, heill sá, er kann,
njóti sá, er nam, heilir, þeirs hlýddu.
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