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FRITHIOF’S SAGA 107
But in the open heart and honest eye
Odin hath written Runes that ne’er can lie.
"Helge! be not severe, be firm alone:
By bending most the truest sword is known.
Mercy adorns a king, as flowers a shield,
More than all winter can one spring-day yield.
"A friendless man, however mighty he,
Fadeth deserted, like a bark-stripped tree;
With roots refreshed, though fierce the storm-winds strive,
By friendship’s stream thou may’st securely thrive.
" Boast not thy father’s fame, ’t is his alone;
A bow thou canst not bend is scarce thine own.
What can a buried glory be to thee?
By its own force the river gains the sea.
" Gladness, O Halfdan, doth the wise adorn,
But folly, most of all in kings, brings scorn!
Mix hops with honey, when thou mead wilt brew;
Make thy sports sterner, and thy weapon too.
"None is too learned, however wise he be.
That many knowledge lack, too well know we;
Despised the witless sitteth at the feast,
The learned hath the ear of every guest.
"To trusty comrade, or to friend in war,
Be thy way near, although his home be far;
Yet let thy foeman’s house, where’er it lie,
Be ever distant, though thou pass it by.
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