Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Buzzed, part 1

Hávamál (Bellows and Thorpe translations): The Sayings of the High One - the High One being Odin. It's the "Best of Miss Manners" of the Norse. Or rather, the "How not to get yourself killed in a stupid way" of the Norse. Not to say that it's the 'Bible', so to speak - you won't find a lot of Heathens willing to admit that they believe Odin himself dictated it - but it's still good, common sense.

One of the most famous stanzas is probably this one -

Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing now | that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds.


- but there's much more than that to be found lurking around. Advice on life, love, friendship, family, and well, how not to get yourself killed in a stupid way. It also include a section on Odin's ordeal to obtain the runes as well as a section on the use of them.

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