Coloured Runes

78 Fully stocked folds I saw for Fitiung’s sons,
now they carry a beggar’s staff;
wealth is like the twinkling of an eye,
it is the most unreliable of friends.

79 The foolish man, if he manages to get
money or the love of a woman,
his arrogance increases, but not his common sense;
on he goes deeply sunk in delusion.

80 That is now proved, what you asked of the runes,
of divine origin
which the great gods made
and the mighty sage coloured;*
then it is best for him if he stays silent.

81 At evening should the day be praised, the woman when she is cremated,
the blade when it is tested, the girl when she is married,
the ice when it is crossed, the ale when it is drunk.


- Poetic Edda, Havamal


("mighty sage coloured: the sage is probably Odin. Carved runic letters appear originally to have been filled in with some kind of paint." - from the Explanatory Notes section included with the translation)