Fehu
Cattle, and the Quarrel
The f-rune, named for cattle and so for movable wealth, and for the discord that wealth breeds among kin.
Fehu is a reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the attested forms are Old English feoh and Old Norse fé, both meaning cattle and, by extension, movable property. It is glossed by all three medieval rune poems, and they disagree. The Old English calls wealth a comfort to every man, yet says each must share it freely to gain honour before the Lord. The Norwegian answers that wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen, and adds that the wolf lives in the forest. The Icelandic keeps the discord and calls gold the fire of the sea. The prosperity readings printed in modern rune sets are twentieth-century.
Light
The comfort of the Old English poem: herds, increase and sufficiency, and the honour that comes of giving wealth away rather than holding on to it.
Shadow
The Norse reading, twice stated: property as a source of discord among kinsmen, with the wolf waiting in the forest. Wealth counted rather than shared isolates whoever counts it.
