Henry Adams Bellows · stanza 151
1923A fifth I know, if I see from afarAn arrow fly ‘gainst the folk;It flies not so swift that I stop it not,If ever my eyes behold it.3 translations are aligned to this passage.
A fifth I know, if I see from afarAn arrow fly ‘gainst the folk;It flies not so swift that I stop it not,If ever my eyes behold it.For the fifth I know,I see a shot from a hostile hand,a shaft flying amid the host,so swift it cannot flythat I cannot arrest it,if only I get sight of it.A fifth I know: when I see, by foes shot,speeding a shaft through the host,flies it never so strongly I still can stay it,if I get but a glimpse of its flight.Hávamál, translated by Henry Adams Bellows, in The Poetic Edda (1923). Public-domain transcription sourced from Project Gutenberg ebook 73533.
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 lur…
Read passage →A man shall not boast of his keenness of mind, But keep it close in his breast; To the silent and wise does ill come seldom When he goes as…
Read passage →The knowing guest who goes to the feast, In silent attention sits; With his ears he hears, with his eyes he watches, Thus wary are wise men…
Read passage →Wise a guest holds it to take to his heels, When mock of another he makes; But little he knows who laughs at the feast, Though he mocks in…
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