Ætt 2 · Pos. 6

Name

Unknown. Guesses run from a pear tree to a dice cup; the English poem says it is play.

Meaning

We do not know what this rune meant. Only the English poem keeps it, and all it gives is a scene: warriors laughing and playing together in the hall. Most read it as a game, dice or pieces on a board, but that reading mostly comes from the poem itself. The tradition knows such a game. In Völuspá the Æsir play at tafl in the meadow, cheerful and lacking nothing, until three jotun women arrive and the world is set on its course toward Ragnarök. After the end, their golden game pieces are found again in the grass.

The poems

English Rune Poem

? is always
play and laughter
for the proud …
where warriors sit
in the beer-hall
glad together.