162 



HUN EN. 



Tlic ninth I know, 



1! I am in need 



TII save my ship alloat, 



I hush the wind 



>n the waves, 



And calm all the sea. 



Tin- tenth I know, 

 I!' I sec hedge-riders ' 

 I'layinii in the air, 

 I cause thai-, 

 They go astrav 

 Out of their skins, 

 < hit id' their minds. 



The eleventh 1 know, 



If! shall to Lattle 



Lead my old friends, 



I sing under the shields, 



And they go with might 



Safe to the fray. 



Sale out of the fray, 



Safe wherever they come from. 



The twelfth I know, 



If I see on a tree 



A halter-corpse swinging ; 



1 carve so 



And draw in runes, 



That the man shall walk 



And talk to me. 



The thirteenth I know, 



If 1 do on a young thegn 3 



Water sprinkle ; 



I le will not fall 



Though he go into kittle; 



That man sinks not by swords. 



The fourteenth I know, 

 If I shall reckon up 



The gods for the host of men : 



Asar and Altar 4 



I know all well ; 



Few unwise know so much. 



The fifteenth I know, 



That which Thjodreyrir "' sang, 



The Dverg, before the door of 



Belling ; 



lie sang strength to the Asar 

 And fame to the Alfar, 

 Wisdom to Hroptayr. 7 



The sixteenth 1 know, 



If of the comely maiden 



I want all the heart and the love, 



1 change the mind 



Of the white-armed woman 



And turn all her heart. 



The seventeenth I know, 



That the youthful maiden 



Will late forsake me. 



These songs 



Wilt thou Loddfafnir s 



Long have lacked, 



Though they are good if thou takest 



them, 



Useful if thou learnest them, 

 Profitable if thou takest them. 



I know the eighteenth, 



Which I will never tell 



To maiden or man's wife, 



Except to her alone 



That holds me in her arms, 



( >r is my sister; 



All is better 



That one alone only knows.'-' 



This is the end of the song. 



1 Witches and ghosts were believed to 

 riilc on hedges and tops of houses at 

 night. 



'-' Hanged corjisr. 



:: Mao. 



' lli'iv the Altar arc reckoned anion 

 tlu> gods. 



''' The mightv rearer. 



u Del ling is the father of Day (Vaf- 

 thrudnismal, 25 ; Later Edda). 

 ' Odin. 



8 Loddfafnir is some one whom Odin 

 is teaching. 



'' One must not tell his secret to any 

 one 



