Step 8 of 8 · Resources, Work and Generosity
The Fatling’s sons
Why this step
The trail ends with a reminder that none of this is permanent. In stanza 77 the Fatling’s sons, who once had full folds, now carry a beggar’s staff, and wealth is called brief and the most faithless of friends. The stanza does not say what to do about that. It only changes how much weight the earlier steps can bear.
The text, stanza 77
77.
Full-stocked folds had the Fatling's sons,
who bear now a beggar's staff:
brief is wealth, as the winking of an eye,
most faithless ever of friends.
- 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 77 (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
The Fatling’s sons once had full folds of stock and now carry beggars’ staffs. Wealth is brief and the most faithless of friends.