The Value of True Friends
A faithful friend is the greatest treasure; friendship must be cultivated with mutual loyalty and gifts.
Norse culture placed immense value on friendship bonds. True friends exchange not only gifts but also their hearts. One should visit friends often, for paths grow over with weeds when not traveled. Friendship requires active maintenance and reciprocity.
To his friend a man should be a friend, and to his friend's friend too; but no man should be friend to his enemy's friend.
The gift-giving cycle was central to Norse social bonds and political alliances.
Poetic Edda
Written about in
- What Norse wisdom says about friendship
The central claim: friends exchange gifts and hearts, and must be visited often or the path grows over. The same stanza says you should be a friend to your friend's friend but never to your enemy's friend — Norse friendship is factional, and it does not pretend otherwise.