Ætt 3 · Pos. 5
Name
A ride, a journey on horseback. Some take the oldest sense to be a wagon.
Meaning
A ride is a journey, and the poems see it from both sides. In the English poem it is light talk in the hall and hard work in the saddle; the Nordic poems weigh the rider’s joy against the horse’s toil. Someone carries, someone is carried. A journey passes thresholds and can reach further than any road. Every day, in Grímnismál, the Æsir ride to the tree to sit in judgement, and in Baldrs draumar Óðinn rides Sleipnir down to Hel to wake a dead seeress. Riding carries the Æsir between the realms of the world.
The poems
English Rune Poem
Ride is, in the hall,
easy for every warrior,
and very hard
for the one who sits
on a mighty horse
over the long miles.
Icelandic Rune Poem
Ride is the joy
of the one who sits,
and a swift journey,
and the horse’s toil.
Norwegian Rune Poem
Ride they say,
is worst for horses;
Reginn forged the best sword.
Swedish Rune Poem
Ride is a horse at full gallop.
