Step 2 of 9 · Hospitality and the Stranger
A guest comes in from the cold
Why this step
Then the host’s side. A tired, frozen traveller arrives and the household is asked where he should sit. The passage lists what he needs: fire, food, clothing, water, a chance to dry himself and a welcome given more than once. The entry reads it as a plain list of what hospitality is made of.
The text, stanzas 2–4
2.
Hail, ye Givers! a guest is come;
say! where shall he sit within?
Much pressed is he who fain on the hearth
would seek for warmth and weal.
3.
He hath need of fire, who now is come,
numbed with cold to the knee;
food and clothing the wanderer craves
who has fared o'er the rimy fell.
4.
He craves for water, who comes for refreshment,
drying and friendly bidding,
marks of good will, fair fame if 'tis won,
and welcome once and again.
- 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 2–4 (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
A tired, frozen traveller arrives. The household is asked where he should sit, and what he needs is listed: fire, food, clothing, water and a welcome.