Step 4 of 8 · Resources, Work and Generosity
Gifts, and not stinting yourself
Why this step
The Hávamál weighs in on saving. In stanzas 39 and 40 (Olive Bray’s translation) the speaker has found no one so generous that he did not like a return, and warns against going short of the wealth you have won, since what was kept for a friend may end up with an enemy. It supports the locked chest only partly: caution about spending is fine, but saving too long has a cost.
The text, stanzas 39–40
39.
I found none so noble or free with his food,
who was not gladdened with a gift,
nor one who gave of his gifts such store
but he loved reward, could he win it.
40.
Let no man stint him and suffer need
of the wealth he has won in life;
oft is saved for a foe what was meant for a friend,
and much goes worse than one weens.
- 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 39–40 (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
Everyone, however generous, is glad of a gift and likes a return. The speaker warns against going without the wealth you have won, because it may end up with an enemy instead of a friend.