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54 FRITHIOF’S SAGA
Men, mighty once, I’ve seen on crutches borne,
And fortune changeth like storm-blasted corn.
" Praise not the day before the night arrive,
Mead till’t is drunk, or counsel till it thrive.
Youth trusteth soon to many an idle word,
Need proves a friend, as battle proves a sword.
"Trust not to one night’s ice, to spring-day snow,
To serpent’s slumber, or to maiden’s vow;
For heart of woman turneth like a wheel,
And ’neath the snowy breast doth falsehood dwell.
"Thyself must perish, all thou hast must fade:
One thing alone on earth is deathless made,
That is the dead man’s glory: therefore thou
Will what is right, and what is noble, do."
So warned the graybeards in the royal hall,
As later warned the Skald in Havamal;
From mouth to mouth went words of wisdom round,
Which, whispered still, through Northland’s hills resound.
Then both full many a hearty memory named
Of their true friendship, in the Northland famed;
How, faithful unto death, in joy or need,
Like two clasped hands, together they had staid.
"Sons! back to back our stand we ever made;
So ever to each Nome a shield displayed;
And now, we aged, to Valhalla haste,
Oh! with our sons may their sires’ spirits rest!"
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