[SCA-AE] Skaldic poetry riddle

[David Friedman]

The short answer, as I already implied, is "poetry." Untangling the 
whole thing:

"Hangi" is Odin, due to his having been hanged from the tree. (got to 
wonder about a fellow with so many aliases).

"Bruni" is also (sometimes) Odin, so Bruni's mead is poetry. It is 
used to praise bold deeds, and it can be remembered and repeated long 
after--when both the poet and the doer of the deeds are dead (not 
explicit, but implied). I don't know if the poet intends a 
(non-skaldic) pun between draughts of mead and drafts drawn on a bank.

The poem can be read either as urging the listener to write 
poetry--how I chose to interpret it in my initial reply--or to do 
bold deeds in order that poets will write about him, thus getting him 
remembered.

Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But the good name never dies
Of one who has done well.

>Oh, I will give the answer on Friday. There is both a long and short 
>answer to this. Extra Norse points to the person who gives the long 
>answer. (Why would I give brownie points for guessing a Skaldic 
>Riddle?)
>
>Torvaldr
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Torvaldr
>   To: discussion at aethelmearc.org
>   Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 1:52 PM
>   Subject: [SCA-AE] Skaldic poetry riddle
>
>
>   Folks seemed to like the last skaldic riddle so here is a brand 
>new one. Who can translate this out?
>
>   Torvaldr Torgarson
>
>   Harken to Hangi wise
>   heroes, lest ye fail to
>   meet the measure of the
>   man who is remembered.
>   Bruni's mead is banked for
>   boldness shown in deeds,
>   and drawn in draughts in time
>   dawning for long after.
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>Email Official announcements to announcements at aethelmearc.org .
>Visit https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/sca-aethelmearc for:
>  more info, archives, subscription changes, etc.
>When replying to posts, you should remove excess quotage.
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-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com