Prosperity awaits the free. At last they shall see me again. Through
him only can I recognise as free who is neither a slave to another
nor to himself. This is my counsel:--
1. When in dire distress, and when mental and physical energy avail
nothing, then have recourse to the spirit of Wr-alda; but do not
appeal to him before you have tried all other means, for I tell you
beforehand, and time will prove its truth, that those who give way
to discouragement sink under their burdens.
2. To Wr-alda's spirit only shall you bend the knee in
gratitude--thricefold--for what you have received, for what you do
receive, and for the hope of aid in time of need.
3. You have seen how speedily I have come to your assistance. Do
likewise to your neighbour, but wait not for his entreaties. The
suffering would curse you, my maidens would erase your name from the
book, and I would regard you as a stranger.
4. Let not your neighbour express his thanks to you on bended knee,
which is only due to Wr-alda's spirit. Envy would assail you, Wisdom
would ridicule you, and my maidens would accuse you of irreverence.
5. Four things are given for your enjoyment--air, water, land, and
fire--but Wr-alda is the sole possessor of them. Therefore my counsel
to you is, choose upright men who will fairly divide the labour and
the fruits, so that no man shall be exempt from work or from the duty
of defence.
6. If ever it should happen that one of your people should sell his
freedom, he is not of you, he is a bastard. I counsel you to expel him
and his mother from the land. Repeat this to your children morning,
noon, and night, till they think of it in their dreams.
7. If any man shall deprive another, even his debtor, of his liberty,
let him be to you as a vile slave; and I advise you to burn his body
and that of his mother in an open place, and bury them fifty feet
below the ground, so that no grass shall grow upon them. It would
poison your cattle.
8. Meddle not with the people of Lyda, nor of Finda, because Wr-alda
would help them, and any injury that you inflicted on them would
recoil upon your own heads.
9. If it should happen that they come to you for advice or assistance,
then it behoves you to help them; but if they should rob you, then
fall upon them with fire and sword.
10. If any of them should seek a daughter of yours to wife, and she is
willing, explain to her her folly; but if she will follow her lover,
let her go in peace.
11. If your son wishes for a daughter of theirs, do the same as to your
daughter; but let not either one or the other ever return among you,
for they would introduce foreign morals and customs, and if these
were accepted by you, I could no longer watch over you.
12. Upon my servant Fasta I have placed all my hopes. Therefore
you must choose her for Eeremoeder. Follow my advice, then she will
hereafter remain my servant as well as all the sacred maidens who
succeed her. Then shall the lamp which I have lighted for you never be
extinguished. Its brightness shall always illuminate your intellect,
and you shall always remain as free from foreign domination as your
fresh river-water is distinct from the salt sea.