Spoken Lore

Wise was Kostbera, and cunning in rune_craft, The letters would she read by the light of the fire; But full quickly her tongue to her palate clave, So strange did they seem that their meaning she saw not.

Full soon then his bed came Hogni to seek, (But sleep to the woman so wise came little) The clear_souled one dreamed, and her dream she kept not, To the warrior the wise one spake when she wakened:

“Thou wouldst go hence, Hogni, but heed my counsel,_ Known to few are the runes, and put off thy faring; I have read now the runes that thy sister wrote, And this time the bright one did not bid thee to come.

“Full much do I wonder, nor well can I see, Why the woman wise so wildly hath written; But to me it seems that the meaning beneath Is that both shall be slain if soon ye shall go. But one rune she missed, or else others have marred it.”

Hogni spake: “All women are fearful; not so do I feel, Ill I seek not to find till I soon must avenge it; The king now will give us the glow_ruddy gold; I never shall fear, thou of dangers I know.”

Kostbera spake: “In danger ye fare, if forth ye go thither, No welcoming friendly this time shall ye find; For I dreamed now, Hogni, and nought will I hide, Full evil thy faring, if rightly I fear.

~ Atlamol en Gronlenzku, Stanzas 9 through 14

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