And spring can more accomplish than winter's powers.

"A man, however mighty, deprived of friends,
Like tree of bark denuded, how soon life ends!
But he by friends surrounded, like trees shall flourish,
Whose crowns, in groves protected, the brooklets nourish.

"Boast not ancestral wisdom; each man alone
A single bowstring uses, and that his own;
What matters it to any the worth that's buried?
By its own waves the current o'er seas is carried.

"A joyous spirit, Halfdan, advantage brings,
But idle talk is needless, and most, to kings;
Of hops, as well as honey, is mead compounded,
Let sports on vigor, lances on steel, be founded.

"No man has too much wisdom, though learned he be,
And much too little, many less learned than he;
To fools, though high in station, no praise is meted,
The wise hy all are honored, though lowly seated.

"The steadfast friend, O Halfdan! of mingled blood,
Lives near indeed, though distant be his abode;
But to thy foeman's dwelling the way is weary,--
Though standing by thy pathway, 'tis far and dreary.

"For friend choose not the first one that's so disposed,--
An empty house stands open, a full one closed;
Choose one, the best, O Halfdan, nor seek another,