Step 9 of 12 · Appetite, Ale and Measure
Too late, too soon, and too hungry
Why this step
Stanzas 66 and 67 turn appetite into a dry joke. The speaker was far too late at many a feast and too early at some, with the ale drunk or not yet served. He would have been asked home more often if he had not needed food at his meals, or if two hams were still hanging where he had eaten one. The entry notes that one line’s exact sense is not clear from Bray’s translation.
The text, stanzas 66–67
66.
At many a feast I was far too late,
and much too soon at some;
drunk was the ale or yet unserved:
never hits he the joint who is hated.
67.
Here and there to a home I had haply been asked
had I needed no meat at my meals,
or were two hams left hanging in the house of that friend
where I had partaken of one.
- Olive Bray (editor and translator), The Elder or Poetic Edda, Commonly Known as Sæmund’s Edda, part I: The Mythological Poems (opens in a new tab) (1908), stanzas 66–67 (Bray’s numbering) Rights: Public domain. Published in 1908, so in the public domain in the United States. Text as edited online by D. L. Ashliman, Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, University of Pittsburgh.
From the Lorebook
The speaker has often arrived at feasts too late or too early, and says he would be asked home more often if he did not need to eat.