Step 6 of 11 · Light in the Dark
Stored for the season
Why this step
Stanza 60 of the Hávamál turns to a plainer kind of fire. A man can know the measure of his dry logs and stored roof-bark, and of the firewood that should last him a quarter or half a year to come. The entry says this is often read today as a picture of preparing ahead for a season you can already see coming. Here warmth and light are counted and stacked before the season arrives.
The text, stanza 60
60.
Of dry logs saved and roof-bark stored
a man can know the measure,
of fire-wood too which should last him out
quarter and half years to come.
- 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 60 (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 man can know the measure of his dry logs, roof-bark and firewood, and whether they will last a quarter or half a year.