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Sigrdrifumol

Thy loving word  for mine will I win,
As long as I shall live."

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22.[1] Then first I rede thee,  that free of guilt
Toward kinsmen ever thou art;
No vengeance have,  though they work thee harm,
Reward after death thou shalt win.

23.[2] Then second I rede thee,  to swear no oath
If true thou knowest it not;
Bitter the fate  of the breaker of troth,
And poor is the wolf of his word.

24. Then third I rede thee,  that thou at the Thing
Shalt fight not in words with fools;
For the man unwise  a worser word
Than he thinks doth utter oft.

25.[3] Ill it is  if silent thou art,
A coward born men call thee,
And truth mayhap they tell;


  1. With this stanza begins the list of numbered counsels, closely resembling the Loddfafnismol (Hovamol, 111-138), here attributed to Brynhild. That the section originally had anything to do with Brynhild is more than improbable.
  2. Wolf of his word: oath-destroyer, oath-breaker.
  3. This chaotic and obscure jumble of lines has been unsuccessfully "improved" by various editors. It is clearly an interpolation, meaning, in substance: "It is dangerous to keep silent too long, as men may think you a coward; but if any one taunts

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