Road was above,
Road was beneath,
And road in every direction.
Heidrek.
A bird flew above,
A fish swam beneath,
Thou walkedst on a bridge.
Gest.
What kind of drink was it
I drank yesterday?
It was neither water nor wine,
Mead nor ale,
No kind of food.
However, I went thirstless thence.
Heidrek.
Thou went’st into sunshine,
Hiddest thyself in the shade;
There fell dew in the valleys;
Then thou didst taste
The night-dew,
Cooling thy throat by it.
Gest.
Who is the shrill one
That on hard roads walks
On which he has been before?
He kisses rather roughly,
Has two mouths;
And walks on gold only.
Heidrek.
The hammer walks
On the fire of Rin,[286]
It sounds loudly
Falling on the anvil.
Gest.
What wonder is that
Which I saw outside
Before the door of Delling?[287]
Two lifeless ones
And breathless,
Seethed wound-leek.[288]
Heidrek.
There is neither breath nor heat
In the bellows of smiths,
They have neither life nor power;
However one can before them
Make a sword
By the wind they give.
Gest.
What wonder is it
I saw outside
Before the doors of Delling?
It has eight feet,
Eyes four,
And bears its knee higher than its belly.
Heidrek.
From east thou went’st
To the door of a house
To see the hall;
Thou earnest thereto
Where the king of webs[289]
Wove a web from its bowels.
Gest.
What wonder is it
I saw outside
Before the doors of Delling?
It turns its head
On the way to Hel
And its feet to the sun.
Heidrek.
The head of the leek turns
Towards the bosom of the earth
And its leaves into the air.
Gest.
What wonder is it
I saw outside
Before the doors of Delling?
Harder than horn,
Blacker than raven,
Brighter than shield,
Straighter than shaft.
Heidrek.
Now thy riddle-making
Begins to slacken;
Why should a ready man tarry?
Thou lookedst on the roads,
There lay raven-flint,
Glittering in a sunbeam.
Gest.
Two bondwomen,
Light-haired maidens,
Carried ale
To the skemma;[290]
It was not touched with hand,
Nor with hammer shaped;
The wave-breasting one who made it
Was outside the islands.[291]
Heidrek.
White-feathered skin
Have the swans
Which by islands
Sit on the sea;
Nests they built,
Had no hands,
With other swans
Eggs begat.[292]
* * * * *
Gest.
What beast is that
Which defends the Danes?
It has a bloody back
And shelters men,
Meets the weapons,
Exposes its life,
Man lays his body
Against its palm.
Heidrek.
The shields shine
In the battles,
And protect those who wield them.
Gest.
Who are the play sisters
That pass over lands
And play much at will?
They wear a white shield
In winter,
But a dark one
In summer.
Heidrek.
Ptarmigans call
The sons of men
Feather-wearing birds;
Their feathers become black
In summer-time,
But white during the bear’s night.[293]
Gest.
Who are the maidens
That sorrowful go
To seek their father?
To many they have
Harm done,
Passing their life therein.
Heidrek.
The evil-minded
Maidens of Eldir[294]
Slay many men.
Gest.
Who are the maidens
Going many together
Seeking their father?
They have light hair,
These white-hooded ones,
Men cannot be safe against them.
Heidrek.
Gymir[295] has
By Ran begotten[296]
Wise-minded daughters;
Billows they are called,
And also waves;
No man can be safe against them.
Gest.
Who are the widows
That go all together
To seek their father?
They are seldom gentle
To men,
And they must be awake in the wind.
Heidrek.
These are the waves,
Daughters of Ægir,
They let themselves fall heavily.
* * * * *
Gest.
Who are the maidens
That walk over the reefs
And journey along the fjords?
These white-hooded women
Have a hard bed,
And make little stir in calm weather.
Heidrek.
Billows and waves
And all breakers
At last lay themselves on skerries;[297]
Their beds are
Rocks and stone-heaps,
But the calm sea stirs them not.
* * * * *
Gest.
Who lives on high mountains?
Who lives in deep dales?
Who lives without breath?
Who is never silent?
Heidrek.
Ravens live on high mountains;
Dew falls in deep dales;
Fish live without breath in water,
But the sounding waterfall
Is never silent.
Gest.
Four are walking,
Four are hanging,
Two showing the way,
Two keeping dogs off;
One lags behind
All his days,
That one is always dirty.
Heidrek.
A cow is that beast
Which thou didst see
Walk on four feet,
Four teats hang,
And horns defend her:
Her tail hung behind.
Gest.
What kind of wonder is it
I saw outside
Before the door of Delling?
It had ten tongues,
Twenty eyes;
Forty feet
That being moves forward.
Heidrek.
If thou art the one thou sayest,
Then thou art wiser
Than I expected;
Thou talkest of
A sow outside
Which walked in the yard;
She was slaughtered
At the king’s will,
And she was with nine pigs.
Gest.
Who are those two
That go to the thing?
They have three eyes both,
Ten feet,
And one tail have they both.
Thus they pass over lands.
Heidrek.
It is Odin
When riding along on Sleipnir;
He has one eye,
His horse two,
The drösul[298]
Runs on eight feet,
Ygg[299] on two,
The horse has one tail.
Gest.
Tell me that only,
As thou seemest to be
Wiser than any king;
What did Odin say
Into the ear of Baldr
Before he was carried on the pyre?
Heidrek.
This is wonder and wickedness,
And cravenness only,
Jugglery and trickery only;
But no one knows those words of thine
Except thyself,
Thou evil and wretched being.
* * * * *
The king burnt with anger,
He drew Tyrfing[300]
And wanted to strike Gest;
But he turned himself
Into the shape of a hawk,
And thus saved his life.
The hawk attempted
To escape by the light-holes,
But the king struck after him;
He cut off the tip of his tail
And shortened his feathers,
Therefore the hawk has a docked tail.
«Меч ударил по хвосту и отсек то, к чему прикоснулся, и оттого у ястреба отныне короткий хвост; затем меч поразил хирдмана, и тот был тут же убит. Тогда Один промолвил: „Поскольку ты, конунг Хейдрек, обнажил меч и возжелал убить меня, и сам нарушил перемирие, что установил между нами, худшие из треллов станут твоими убийцами“. После этого Один улетел, и так они расстались» (Сага о Хервёр, гл. 15).
Рис. 1349. Позолоченная серебряная фибула, одна четвертая натуральной величины. Зеланд.
ГЛАВА XXIV. ОБРАЗ ЖИЗНИ. «ХАВАМАЛ».
Правила жизни — Долг гостеприимства — Глупость хвастовства — Мудрый держит глаза и уши открытыми — Ум лучше богатства — Питье губит рассудок — Долг жизнерадостности и храбрости — Переедание — Не следует тревожиться — Не всякий улыбающийся человеку — его друг — Ценность молчания — Гостю не следует засиживаться дольше, чем рады его визиту — Ценность дома, сколь бы скромным он ни был — Ни один человек не должен быть другом друга своего врага — У каждого человека две стороны характера — Счастье человека — Богатство — самый непостоянный из друзей — Непостоянство женщины — В любви все средства хороши — Не пренебрегай своими друзьями — Ни один человек не лишен изъянов — Пословицы и мудрые изречения.
Всем великим народным вождям и законодателям часто приписывают догматы и изречения мудрости, составляющие часть их вероучения. Поэтому неудивительно, что великий свод скандинавской морали, известный под названием «Хавамал», приписывается Одину; «Хавамал» означает «Песнь Высокого».
All door-ways
Before one goes forth
Should be looked over,
Should be searched out,
For ‘tis hard to know
Where foes sit
On the benches before one.
Hail my host![302]
A guest has come in;
Where shall he sit?
In hot haste is he
Who has to try his luck
On snow-shoes.
Fire is needed
By him who has come in
And is benumbed in his knees;
Food and clothes
Are needed by one
Who has travelled over the mountain.
Water is needed
By the one who comes to the meal,
A towel and a hearty welcome,
Good-will
If he can get it,
Talk and answer.
Wisdom is wanted
By him who travels widely;
Anything is easy at home;[303]
He who nothing knows
And sits among the wise
Becomes a gazing-stock.
A man with a thinking mind
Should not boast,
But rather be heedful in his mood.
When a wise and silent man
Comes to a homestead
The wary man seldom makes a slip,
For a more faithful friend
Will a man never get
Than great man-wit.[304]
The wary guest
Who comes to a meal
Is silent and talks little,
Listens with (his) ears,
Looks on with (his) eyes;
Thus every wise man looks about him.
He is happy
Who gets for himself
Praise and good-will;
That which a man must own
In the mind[305] of another
Is less easy to deal with.
He is happy
Who himself has
Praise and wits while alive;
For evil counsels
Has one often got
Out of another’s breast.
A better burthen
A man carries not on the road
Than great wits;
Better than wealth
It is thought at strange places;
It is the strength of the poor.
Better burthen
A man carries not on the road
Than great good sense;
No worse journey-provisions
Weigh him to the ground
Than too much ale-drinking.
The ale of men’s sons
Is not so good
As men say it is;
For the more
A man drinks
The less has he his senses.
He is called heron of Oblivion
The one who soars over ale-bouts,
He steals away men’s senses;
With the feathers of that bird
I was bound[306]
In the house of Gunnlód.[307]
I got drunk,
I got too drunk
At the wise Fjalar’s;
The ale is best when
Every man
Gets his reason back.
Silent and thoughtful
Should a king’s son be
And bold in battle;
Glad and cheerful
Should every man be
Till he meet his death.
The unwise man
Thinks he will live for ever
If he shuns fight,
But old age gives him
No peace
Though spears may spare him.
A fool gapes
When he comes into company,
He mutters or sulks;
All at once
If he gets a drink
His mind is displayed.
He alone knows
Who widely travels
And has seen much
What the temper is
Of every man
Who has his wits about him.
A man shall not send away the cup
But drink mead moderately,
Speak usefully or be silent;
No man will blame thee
For ill-breeding
Though thou goest early to sleep.
A greedy man
Unless he has sense
Eats ill-health for himself;
A foolish man’s belly
Often causes laughter
When he is among the wise.
Herds know
When they shall go home
And then walk off the grass;
But an unwise man
Never knows
The measure of his stomach.
A wretched man
With evil mind
Sneers at everything;
He knows not that,
Which he needed to know,
That he is not himself faultless.
An unwise man
Is awake all night
Worrying about everything;
He is weary
When the morning comes
All the woe is as it was.
An unwise man
Thinks all who smile on him
To be his friends;
He does not know
When he sits among wise men
Though they speak badly of him.
An unwise man
Thinks all who smile on him
To be his friends;
But he will find
When he comes to the thing
That he has few spokesmen.[308]
An unwise man
Thinks he knows everything
If he has shelter in a corner;
He knows not
What he should say
If men test him.
An unwise man
When he comes among people,
Had best be silent;
No one knows
That he nothing knows,
Unless he talks too much;
The man who nothing knows
Knows not of it
Though he talk too much.
He who can ask
And answer questions
Thinks himself wise;
The sons of men
Can hide nothing
That passes among men.
He who is never silent
Speaks too many
Meaningless words;
A glib tongue
Unless it has restrainers
Often does harm to itself.
A man shall not
Have another for a gazing-stock[309]
Though he come into company;
Many one thinks himself wise
If he is not asked questions
And can loiter with dry clothes.
Wise thinks himself
The guest who drives away
Another guest with mocking;
He is not wise
Who sneers at a meal
If he prates among angry men.
Many men
Are kind to one another,
Yet quarrel at the meal;
This will always be
The cause of men’s strife;
Guest gets angry with guest.
An early meal
Should a man often take
And not go without it into company;
(Otherwise) he sits and sulks,
Looks as if he were hungry,
And cannot talk.
It is long out of one’s way
To a bad friend,
Though he live on the road;
But to a good friend
There are short paths
Though he be farther off.
One should take leave,
The guest should not stay
Always in one place;
The loved becomes loathed
If he sits too long
In another’s house.
A homestead is best
Though it be small;
A man is master at home;
Though he has but two goats
And a straw-thatched hall (house)
It is better than begging.
A homestead is best
Though it be small;
A man is a man (master) at home;
Bleeding is the heart
Of him who must beg
His food for every meal.
A man shall not on the ground
Go a step forward
Without his weapons;
For it is hard to know
When out on roads
If a man may need his spear.
I never met a man
So openhanded or free with his food
That he would not take a gift,
Nor one so lavish
With his property
That rewards were to him unwelcome.
A man
When he has gained property
Should not suffer want;
What was meant for the loved
Is often spared for the hated;
Many things go worse than expected.
With weapons and clothes
Such as are most sightly on oneself
Shall friends gladden each other;
Givers and receivers
Are the longest friends,
If they give with good wishes.
A man should be
A friend to his friend
And give gift for gift;
Laughter for laughter
And lie for lie
Should men return.
To his friend
A man should be a friend,
To him and his friend;
But no man
Should be the friend
Of his foe’s friend.
Know if thou hast a friend
Whom thou trustest well
And thou wilt good from him get,
Thou must blend thoughts with him,
And exchange gifts,
Go often and meet him.
If thou hast another
Whom thou trustest little
Yet wilt good from him get,
Kindly shalt thou talk to him,
But think deceitfully
And give lie back for lie.
That is further from him
Whom thou trustest little
And whose mind thou suspectest,
Thou shalt smile at him
And speak contrary to thy thoughts,
The reward should be like the gift.
I once was young,
I travelled alone,
And missed my way;
I thought myself wealthy
When I another met;
Man is the delight of man.
Liberal and valiant
Men live best;
They seldom harbour grief;
But unwise men
Fear everything;
The miser always longs for gifts.
My clothes
Gave I to two wood-men (men of the forest)
In the field;
They thought themselves men,
When they got the garments;
Ashamed is a naked man.
The fir withers
That stands on a fenced field;
Neither bark nor foliage shelter it;
Thus is a man
Whom no one loves;
Why should he live long?
Hotter than fire
Burns between bad friends
Friendship for five days;
But when the sixth comes
It is quenched
And all the friendship vanishes.
Much at once
Should one not give;
With little you often get praise;
With half a loaf
And a half-filled cup
I got a companion.
Small are sand grains,
Small are drops of water,
Small are men’s minds;
For all men
Were not made equally wise;
Men are everywhere by halves.[310]
Middling wise
Should every man be,
Never too wise;
Happiest live
Those men
Who know many things well.
Middling wise
Should every man be,
Never too wise;
For the heart of a wise man
Is seldom glad
If its owner is all-wise.
Middling wise
Should every man be
Never too wise;
No man ought to
Know his fate beforehand,
Then his mind is freest from sorrow.
Brand is kindled from brand
Till it is burnt out;
Fire is kindled from fire;
A man gets knowledge
By talk with a man
But becomes wilful by self-conceit.
Early should rise
He who wants the property
Or the life of another;
Seldom a sleeping wolf
Gets a thigh-bone
Or a sleeping man victory.
Early should rise
He who has few workers
And go to his work;
Many hindrances has he
Who sleeps in the morning;
Half one’s wealth depends on activity.
Of dry logs
And thatching-bark
A man knows the measure
And of the fire-wood
Which can last
For meals and for seasons.[311]
Washed and well-fed
Should a man ride to the thing,
Though he be not so well dressed;
Of his shoes and breeches
Let no man be ashamed,
Nor of his horse, though he has not a good one.
Sniffs and hangs with its head,
When it comes on the sea,
The eagle on the old ocean;
So is the man
Who comes among many
And has few spokesmen.
Ask and answer
Should every sage man
Who wants to be called wise;
One may know
But not another;
All know if three know.
His power
Should every foresighted man
Use moderately;
He will feel
When he comes among the skilled
That no one is the best.
* * * * *
For the words
That a man says to another
He has often to pay the penalty.[312]
Much too early
Came I to many places
And too late to some;
The ale was drunk
Or it was unbrewed;
An unwelcome man seldom finds the ale.
Here and there
Might I be invited home
If I needed not food for a meal
Or if two hams hung
At my trusty friend’s
Where I had eaten one.
Fire is the best thing
Among the sons of men,
And the sight of the sun,
His good health
If a man can keep it,
And a blameless life.
A man is not utterly unhappy
Though he be in ill-health;
Some are happy in sons,
Some in kinsmen,
Some in much wealth,
Some in good deeds.
Better is it to live
Than not to live;
A living man (may) always get a cow;
I saw fire blaze
Before a wealthy man
And outside was death at the door.
The lame may ride a horse,
The handless may drive a herd,
The deaf may fight and do well;
A blind man is better
Than a burnt one;
The dead are of no use.
A son is better
Though he be late born,
After a man’s death;
Seldom memorial stones
Stand near the road
Unless kinsman raise
Them after kinsman.
Two are of one host
The tongue is the head’s bane;
Under every fur-coat
I expect a hand.[313]
He who trusts to his knapsack
Is glad when night comes;
The ship’s corners are small;
The autumn night is changeable;
There are many weathers
In five days[314]
And more in a month.
He who nothing knows
Knows not this;
Many are made fools by wealth;
One man is wealthy,
And another poor;
Blame not a man for that.
Cattle die,
Kinsmen die,
One’s self dies too;
But the fame
Never dies
Of him who gets a good name.
Cattle die,
Kinsmen die,
We ourselves die;
I know one thing
That never dies,
The doom over every dead man.[315]
Full stocked folds
I saw at the sons of Fitjung;
Now they carry beggars’ staffs;
Wealth is
Like the twinkling of an eye
The most unstable of friends.
An unwise man
If he gets
Wealth or a woman’s love
Grows in pride,
But never in wits;
He goes on further in his conceit.
It will be found
When thou askest about
The god-born runes
Which the high powers made,
And the all wise marked,
Then it is best that he be silent.
A day should be praised at night,
A woman when she is burnt,
A sword when it is tried,
A maiden when she is married,
Ice when crossed,
Ale when drank.
In a gale should trees be cut,
In a breeze row out at sea,
In the dark to a maiden talk,
Many are the eyes of day,
A ship is made for sailing,
A shield for sheltering,
A sword for striking,
A maiden for kisses.
At the fire shalt thou drink ale
And glide on the ice,
Buy a lean horse,
And a rusty sword,
Fatten (thy) horse at home,
And (thy) dog at (thy) farm.
The words of a maiden
Or the talk of a woman
Should no man trust;
For their hearts were shaped
On a whirling wheel,
And fickleness laid in their breasts.
A creaking bow,
A burning flame,
A gaping wolf,