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Poetic Edda

So do I write  and color the runes
 That forth he fares,
 And to me talks.

159.[1] A thirteenth I know,  if a thane full young
 With water I sprinkle well;
He shall not fall,  though he fares mid the host,
 Nor sink beneath the swords.

160. A fourteenth I know,  if fain I would name
 To men the mighty gods;
All know I well  of the gods and elves,—
 Few be the fools know this.

161.[2] A fifteenth I know,  that before the doors
 Of Delling sang Thjothrörir the dwarf;
Might he sang for the gods,  and glory for elves,
 And wisdom for Hroptatyr wise.

162. A sixteenth I know,  if I seek delight
 To win from a maiden wise;
The mind I turn  of the white-armed maid,
 And thus change all her thoughts.

  1. ↑ The sprinkling of a child with water was an established custom long before Christianity brought its conception of baptism.
  2. ↑ This stanza, according to Müllenhoff, was the original conclusion of the poem, the phrase "a fifteenth" being inserted only after stanzas 162-165 had crept in. Delling: a seldom mentioned god who married Not (Night). Their son was Dag (Day). Thjothrörir: not mentioned elsewhere. Hroptatyr: Othin.

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