Henry Adams Bellows · stanza 1
1923Within the gates ere a man shall go,(Full warily let him watch,)Full long let him look about him;For little he knows where a foe may lurk,And sit in the seats within.3 translations are aligned to this passage.
Within the gates ere a man shall go,(Full warily let him watch,)Full long let him look about him;For little he knows where a foe may lurk,And sit in the seats within.All door-ways,before going forward,should be looked to;for difficult it is to knowwhere foes may sitwithin a dwelling.Gáttir allar,áþr gangi fram,umb skoþask skyli,umb skygnask skyli;þvít óvist es,hvar óvinirsitja á fleti fyrir.At every door-way,ere one enters,one should spy round,one should pry roundfor uncertain is the wittingthat there be no foeman sitting,within, before one on the floor.Hávamál, translated by Henry Adams Bellows, in The Poetic Edda (1923). Public-domain transcription sourced from Project Gutenberg ebook 73533.
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