Step 8 of 8 · Fate, Time and the Norns
What does not die
Why this step
The trail ends on what stays when a life is over. Stanza 75 says fair fame never dies, and stanza 76 says the doom on each one dead. The entry notes the saying also appears in Hákonarmál. The stanzas turn from what will happen to what is left behind once it has.
The text, stanzas 75–76
75.
Cattle die and kinsmen die,
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die, --
fair fame of one who has earned.
76.
Cattle die and kinsmen die,
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die, --
the doom on each one dead.
- 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 75–76 (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
Cattle die, kinsmen die and so does everyone; the poem says that a good name does not.
Questions to sit with
- Which parts of your next year feel decided already, and which feel open? How does each feel?