hall be given.

15. Go now ever where calamity may be, and no harm shall obstruct
thy wishes. On a stone fast in the earth I have stood within the door,
while songs I sang to thee.

16. My son! bear hence thy mother's words, and in thy breast let
them dwell; for happiness abundant shalt thou have in life, while of
my words thou art mindful.

THE SONG OF THE SUN.

This singular poem, the authorship of which is, in some manuscripts,
assigned to Saemund himself, may be termed a Voice from the Dead, given
under the form of a dream, in which a deceased father is supposed to
address his son from another world. The first 7 strophes seem hardly
connected with the following ones, which, as far as the 32nd consist
chiefly in aphorisms with examples, some closely resembling those in
the Havamal. In the remaining portion is given the recital of the last
illness of the supposed speaker, his death, and the scenes his soul
passed through on the way to its final home.

The composition exhibits a strange mixture of Christianity and
Heathenism, whence it would seem that the poet's own religion was in a
transition state. Of the allusions to Heathenism it is, however, to be
observed that they are chiefly to persons and actions of which there
is no trace in the Odinic mythology, as known to us, and are possibly
the fruits of the poet's own imagination. The title of the poem is no
doubt derived from the allusion to the Sun at the beginning of
strophes 39-45.

For an elaborate and learned commentary, with an interlinear version
of "the Song of the Sun," the reader may consult "Les Chants de Sol,"
by Professor Bergmann, Strasbourg & Paris, 1858.

1. Of life and property a fierce freebooter despoiled mankind; over
the ways beset by him might no one living pass.

2. Alone he ate most frequently, no one invited he to his repast;
until weary, and with failing strength, a wandering guest came from
the way.

3. In need of drink that way-worn man, and hungry feigned to be:
with trembling heart he seemed to trust him who had been so
evil-minded.

4. Meat and drink to the weary one he gave, all with upright heart;
on God he thought, the traveller's wants supplied; for he felt he was
an evil-doer.

5. Up stood the guest, he evil meditated, he had not been kindly
treated; his sin within him swelled, he while sleeping murdered his
wary cautious host.

6. The God of heaven he prayed for help, when being struck he woke;
but he was do