Hello.

I am interested to know if any of you have noticed any parallels
between verse 52 of Hávamál (in Gestaþáttur) and other IE
traditions. The verse runs as follows in normalized orthography:

52. Mikið eitt
skal-a manni gefa;
oft kaupir sér í litlu lof;
með hálfum hleif
og með höllu keri
fékk eg mér félaga.

I am particularly interested in the final three lines (or, really,
final two lines, the two with caesura and then the last full line).
I have found a reference in Xenephon's _Anabasis_ about Cyrus giving
halves of geese and half-drunk bottles to wine to guests staying with
him to win them over, but not much else in other IE traditions. I am
particularly interested in finding something else within Germanic,
but something in Slavic, Celtic, Latin, or Indo-Aryan would be
wonderful. I have searched both Mauss (_The Gift_) and Jamison (_The
Sacificer's Wife_) and found next to nothing useful.

I need not just a mention of a story, but an actual piece of text in
an ancient tradition.

Just to let you know, I am writing an article on Gestaþáttur and am
interested in its composition in general, not just this section on
friendship.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Chad Stone
Department of Literature and Linguistics
University of Iceland
Reykjavík

chad@...