Step 7 of 9 · Endings, Mourning and What Lasts
A son, and stones by the road
Why this step
Stanza 72 is about who remains. It is best to have a son, even a late-born one, even if the father dies first, because stones by the wayside are seldom raised except by kinsmen for kinsmen. The entry reads it as a point about who will remember you and who will carry out the last duties.
The text, stanza 72
72.
Best have a son though he be late born
and before him the father be dead:
seldom are stones on the wayside raised
save by kinsmen to kinsmen.
- 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), stanza 72 (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
It is best to have a son, even a late-born one, even if the father dies first. Stones by the road are raised by kin for kin.