THE ELDER EDDA OF SAEMUND
149. For the second I know, what the sons of men require, who will as leeches live. * * * *
150. For the third I know,[1] if I have great need to restrain my foes, the weapons' edge I deaden: of my adversaries nor arms nor wiles harm aught.
151. For the fourth I know, if men place bonds on my limbs, I so sing that I can walk; the fetter starts from my feet, and the manacle from my hands.
152. For the fifth I know, if I see a shot from a hostile hand, a shaft flying amid the host, so swift it cannot fly that I cannot arrest it, if only I get sight of it.
153. For the sixth I know, if one wounds me with a green tree's roots;[2] also if a man declares hatred to me, harm shall consume them sooner than me.
154. For the seventh I know, if a lofty house I see blaze o'er its inmates, so furiously it shall not burn that I cannot save it. That song I can sing.
155. For the eighth I know, what to I all is useful to learn: where hatred grows among the sons of men—that I can quickly assuage.
156. For the ninth I know, if I stand in need my bark on the water to save, I can the wind on the waves allay, and the sea lull.
157. For the tenth I know, if I see troll-wives sporting in air, I can so operate that they will forsake their own forms, and their own minds.
158. For the eleventh I know, if I have to lead my
- ↑ The miraculous powers here ascribed by Odin to himself bear, in many instances, a remarkable similarity to those attributed to him by Snorri.
- ↑ The ancient inhabitants of the North believed that the roots of trees were particularly fitted for hurtful trolldom, or witchcraft, and that wounds caused thereby were mortal. In India a similar superstition prevails of the hurtfulness of the roots of trees.
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