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Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem

XIX.

BEOWULF RECEIVES FURTHER HONOR.

More gifts are offered Beowulf.
A beaker was borne him, and bidding to quaff it
Graciously given, and gold that was twisted
Pleasantly proffered, a pair of arm-jewels,
Rings and corslet, of collars the greatest
5
I’ve heard of ’neath heaven. Of heroes not any
More splendid from jewels have I heard ’neath the welkin,
A famous necklace is referred to, in comparison with the gems presented to Beowulf.
Since Hama off bore the Brosingmen’s necklace,
The bracteates and jewels, from the bright-shining city,1
Eormenric’s cunning craftiness fled from,
10
Chose gain everlasting. Geatish Higelac,
Grandson of Swerting, last had this jewel
When tramping ’neath banner the treasure he guarded,
The field-spoil defended; Fate offcarried him
When for deeds of daring he endured tribulation,
15
Hate from the Frisians; the ornaments bare he
O’er the cup of the currents, costly gem-treasures,
Mighty folk-leader, he fell ’neath his target;
The2 corpse of the king then came into charge of
The race of the Frankmen, the mail-shirt and collar:
20
Warmen less noble plundered the fallen,
When the fight was finished; the folk of the Geatmen
The field of the dead held in possession.
The choicest of mead-halls with cheering resounded.
Wealhtheo discoursed, the war-troop addressed she:
Queen Wealhtheow magnifies Beowulf’s achievements. 25
“This collar enjoy thou, Beowulf worthy,
Young man, in safety, and use thou this armor,
Gems of the people, and prosper thou fully,
Show thyself sturdy and be to these liegemen
Mild with instruction! I’ll mind thy requital.
30
Thou hast brought it to pass that far and near
Forever and ever earthmen shall honor thee,
Even so widely as ocean surroundeth
The blustering bluffs. Be, while thou livest,
A wealth-blessèd atheling. I wish thee most truly
May gifts never fail thee. 35
Jewels and treasure. Be kind to my son, thou
Living in joyance! Here each of the nobles
Is true unto other, gentle in spirit,
Loyal to leader. The liegemen are peaceful,
The war-troops ready: well-drunken heroes,3
40
Do as I bid ye.” Then she went to the settle.
There was choicest of banquets, wine drank the heroes:
They little know of the sorrow in store for them.
Weird they knew not, destiny cruel,
As to many an earlman early it happened,
When evening had come and Hrothgar had parted
45
Off to his manor, the mighty to slumber.
Warriors unnumbered warded the building
As erst they did often: the ale-settle bared they,
’Twas covered all over with beds and pillows.
A doomed thane is there with them.
Doomed unto death, down to his slumber
50
Bowed then a beer-thane. Their battle-shields placed they,
Bright-shining targets, up by their heads then;
O’er the atheling on ale-bench ’twas easy to see there
Battle-high helmet, burnie of ring-mail,
They were always ready for battle.
And mighty war-spear. ’Twas the wont of that people
55
To constantly keep them equipped for the battle,4
At home or marching—in either condition—
At seasons just such as necessity ordered
As best for their ruler; that people was worthy.
[1] C. suggests a semicolon after ‘city,’ with ‘he’ as supplied subject of ‘fled’ and ‘chose.’
[2] For ‘feorh’ S. suggests ‘feoh’: ‘corpse’ in the translation would then be changed to ‘possessions,’ ‘belongings.’ This is a better reading than one joining, in such intimate syntactical relations, things so unlike as ‘corpse’ and ‘jewels.’
[3] S. suggests ‘wine-joyous heroes,’ ‘warriors elated with wine.’
[4] I believe this translation brings out the meaning of the poet, without departing seriously from the H.-So. text. ‘Oft’ frequently means ‘constantly,’ ‘continually,’ not always ‘often.’—Why ‘an (on) wíg gearwe’ should be written ‘ánwíg-gearwe’ (= ready for single combat), I cannot see. ‘Gearwe’ occurs quite frequently with ‘on’; cf. B. 1110 (ready for the pyre), El. 222 (ready for the glad journey). Moreover, what has the idea of single combat to do with B. 1247 ff.? The poet is giving an inventory of the arms and armor which they lay aside on retiring, and he closes his narration by saying that they were always prepared for battle both at home and on the march.

XX.

THE MOTHER OF GRENDEL.

They sank then to slumber. With sorrow one paid for
His evening repose, as often betid them
While Grendel was holding1 the gold-bedecked palace,
Ill-deeds performing, till his end overtook him,
5
Death for his sins. ’Twas seen very clearly,
Grendel’s mother is known to be thirsting for revenge.
Known unto earth-folk, that still an avenger
Outlived the loathed one, long since the sorrow
Caused by the struggle; the mother of Grendel,
Devil-shaped woman, her woe ever minded,
10
Who was held to inhabit the horrible waters,
[Grendel’s progenitor, Cain, is again referred to.]
The cold-flowing currents, after Cain had become a
Slayer-with-edges to his one only brother,
The son of his sire; he set out then banished,
Marked as a murderer, man-joys avoiding,
15
Lived in the desert. Thence demons unnumbered
The poet again magnifies Beowulf’s valor.
Fate-sent awoke; one of them Grendel,
Sword-cursèd, hateful, who at Heorot met with
A man that was watching, waiting the struggle,
Where a horrid one held him with hand-grapple sturdy;
20
Nathless he minded the might of his body,
The glorious gift God had allowed him,
And folk-ruling Father’s favor relied on,
His help and His comfort: so he conquered the foeman,
The hell-spirit humbled: he unhappy departed then,
25
Reaved of his joyance, journeying to death-haunts,
Foeman of man. His mother moreover
Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son.
Eager and gloomy was anxious to go on
Her mournful mission, mindful of vengeance
For the death of her son. She came then to Heorot
30
Where the Armor-Dane earlmen all through the building
Were lying in slumber. Soon there became then
Return2 to the nobles, when the mother of Grendel
Entered the folk-hall; the fear was less grievous
By even so much as the vigor of maidens,
35
War-strength of women, by warrior is reckoned,
When well-carved weapon, worked with the hammer,
Blade very bloody, brave with its edges,
Strikes down the boar-sign that stands on the helmet.
Then the hard-edgèd weapon was heaved in the building,3
40
The brand o’er the benches, broad-lindens many
Hand-fast were lifted; for helmet he recked not,
For armor-net broad, whom terror laid hold of.
She went then hastily, outward would get her
Her life for to save, when some one did spy her;
She seizes a favorite liegemen of Hrothgar’s. 45
Soon she had grappled one of the athelings
Fast and firmly, when fenward she hied her;
That one to Hrothgar was liefest of heroes
In rank of retainer where waters encircle,
A mighty shield-warrior, whom she murdered at slumber,
50
A broadly-famed battle-knight. Beowulf was absent,
Beowulf was asleep in another part of the palace.
But another apartment was erstwhile devoted
To the glory-decked Geatman when gold was distributed.
There was hubbub in Heorot. The hand that was famous
She grasped in its gore;4 grief was renewed then
55
In homes and houses: ’twas no happy arrangement
In both of the quarters to barter and purchase
With lives of their friends. Then the well-agèd ruler,
The gray-headed war-thane, was woful in spirit,
When his long-trusted liegeman lifeless he knew of,
Beowulf is sent for. 60
His dearest one gone. Quick from a room was
Beowulf brought, brave and triumphant.
As day was dawning in the dusk of the morning,
He comes at Hrothgar’s summons.
Went then that earlman, champion noble,
Came with comrades, where the clever one bided
65
Whether God all gracious would grant him a respite
After the woe he had suffered. The war-worthy hero
With a troop of retainers trod then the pavement
(The hall-building groaned), till he greeted the wise one,
Beowulf inquires how Hrothgar had enjoyed his night’s rest.
The earl of the Ingwins;5 asked if the night had
70
Fully refreshed him, as fain he would have it.
[1] Several eminent authorities either read or emend the MS. so as to make this verse read, While Grendel was wasting the gold-bedecked palace. So 20 15 below: ravaged the desert.
[2] For ‘sóna’ (1281), t.B. suggests ‘sára,’ limiting ‘edhwyrft.’ Read then: Return of sorrows to the nobles, etc. This emendation supplies the syntactical gap after ‘edhwyrft.’
[3] Some authorities follow Grein’s lexicon in treating ‘heard ecg’ as an adj. limiting ‘sweord’: H.-So. renders it as a subst. (So v. 1491.) The sense of the translation would be the same.
[4] B. suggests ‘under hróf genam’ (v. 1303). This emendation, as well as an emendation with (?) to v. 739, he offers, because ‘under’ baffles him in both passages. All we need is to take ‘under’ in its secondary meaning of ‘in,’ which, though not given by Grein, occurs in the literature. Cf. Chron. 876 (March’s A.-S. Gram. § 355) and Oro. Amaz. I. 10, where ‘under’ = in the midst of. Cf. modern Eng. ‘in such circumstances,’ which interchanges in good usage with ‘under such circumstances.’
[5] For ‘néod-laðu’ (1321) C. suggests ‘néad-láðum,’ and translates: asked whether the night had been pleasant to him after crushing-hostility.

XXI.

HROTHGAR’S ACCOUNT OF THE MONSTERS.

Hrothgar laments the death of Æschere, his shoulder-companion.
Hrothgar rejoined, helm of the Scyldings:
“Ask not of joyance! Grief is renewed to
The folk of the Danemen. Dead is Æschere,
Yrmenlaf’s brother, older than he,
5
My true-hearted counsellor, trusty adviser,
Shoulder-companion, when fighting in battle
Our heads we protected, when troopers were clashing,
He was my ideal hero.
And heroes were dashing; such an earl should be ever,
An erst-worthy atheling, as Æschere proved him.
10
The flickering death-spirit became in Heorot
His hand-to-hand murderer; I can not tell whither
The cruel one turned in the carcass exulting,
This horrible creature came to avenge Grendel’s death.
By cramming discovered.1 The quarrel she wreaked then,
That last night igone Grendel thou killedst
15
In grewsomest manner, with grim-holding clutches,
Since too long he had lessened my liege-troop and wasted
My folk-men so foully. He fell in the battle
With forfeit of life, and another has followed,
A mighty crime-worker, her kinsman avenging,
20
And henceforth hath ‘stablished her hatred unyielding,2
As it well may appear to many a liegeman,
Who mourneth in spirit the treasure-bestower,
Her heavy heart-sorrow; the hand is now lifeless
Which3 availed you in every wish that you cherished.
I have heard my vassals speak of these two uncanny monsters who lived in the moors. 25
Land-people heard I, liegemen, this saying,
Dwellers in halls, they had seen very often
A pair of such mighty march-striding creatures,
Far-dwelling spirits, holding the moorlands:
One of them wore, as well they might notice,
30
The image of woman, the other one wretched
In guise of a man wandered in exile,
Except he was huger than any of earthmen;
Earth-dwelling people entitled him Grendel
In days of yore: they know not their father,
35
Whe’r ill-going spirits any were borne him
The inhabit the most desolate and horrible places.
Ever before. They guard the wolf-coverts,
Lands inaccessible, wind-beaten nesses,
Fearfullest fen-deeps, where a flood from the mountains
’Neath mists of the nesses netherward rattles,
40
The stream under earth: not far is it henceward
Measured by mile-lengths that the mere-water standeth,
Which forests hang over, with frost-whiting covered,4
A firm-rooted forest, the floods overshadow.
There ever at night one an ill-meaning portent
45
A fire-flood may see; ’mong children of men
None liveth so wise that wot of the bottom;
Though harassed by hounds the heath-stepper seek for,
Even the hounded deer will not seek refuge in these uncanny regions.
Fly to the forest, firm-antlered he-deer,
Spurred from afar, his spirit he yieldeth,
50
His life on the shore, ere in he will venture
To cover his head. Uncanny the place is:
Thence upward ascendeth the surging of waters,
Wan to the welkin, when the wind is stirring
The weathers unpleasing, till the air groweth gloomy,
To thee only can I look for assistance. 55
And the heavens lower. Now is help to be gotten
From thee and thee only! The abode thou know’st not,
The dangerous place where thou’rt able to meet with
The sin-laden hero: seek if thou darest!
For the feud I will fully fee thee with money,
60
With old-time treasure, as erstwhile I did thee,
With well-twisted jewels, if away thou shalt get thee.”
[1] For ‘gefrægnod’ (1334), K. and t.B. suggest ‘gefægnod,’ rendering ‘rejoicing in her fill.’ This gives a parallel to ‘æse wlanc’ (1333).
[2] The line ‘And … yielding,’ B. renders: And she has performed a deed of blood-vengeance whose effect is far-reaching.
[3] ‘Sé Þe’ (1345) is an instance of masc. rel. with fem. antecedent. So v. 1888, where ‘sé Þe’ refers to ‘yldo.’
[4] For ‘hrímge’ in the H.-So. edition, Gr. and others read ‘hrínde’ (=hrínende), and translate: which rustling forests overhang.

XXII.

BEOWULF SEEKS GRENDEL’S MOTHER.

Beowulf answered, Ecgtheow’s son:
Beowulf exhorts the old king to arouse himself for action.
“Grieve not, O wise one! for each it is better,
His friend to avenge than with vehemence wail him;
Each of us must the end-day abide of
5
His earthly existence; who is able accomplish
Glory ere death! To battle-thane noble
Lifeless lying, ’tis at last most fitting.
Arise, O king, quick let us hasten
To look at the footprint of the kinsman of Grendel!
10
I promise thee this now: to his place he’ll escape not,
To embrace of the earth, nor to mountainous forest,
Nor to depths of the ocean, wherever he wanders.
Practice thou now patient endurance
Of each of thy sorrows, as I hope for thee soothly!”
Hrothgar rouses himself. His horse is brought. 15
Then up sprang the old one, the All-Wielder thanked he,
Ruler Almighty, that the man had outspoken.
Then for Hrothgar a war-horse was decked with a bridle,
Curly-maned courser. The clever folk-leader
They start on the track of the female monster.
Stately proceeded: stepped then an earl-troop
20
Of linden-wood bearers. Her footprints were seen then
Widely in wood-paths, her way o’er the bottoms,
Where she faraway fared o’er fen-country murky,
Bore away breathless the best of retainers
Who pondered with Hrothgar the welfare of country.
25
The son of the athelings then went o’er the stony,
Declivitous cliffs, the close-covered passes,
Narrow passages, paths unfrequented,
Nesses abrupt, nicker-haunts many;
One of a few of wise-mooded heroes,
30
He onward advanced to view the surroundings,
Till he found unawares woods of the mountain
O’er hoar-stones hanging, holt-wood unjoyful;
The water stood under, welling and gory.
’Twas irksome in spirit to all of the Danemen,
35
Friends of the Scyldings, to many a liegeman
The sight of Æschere’s head causes them great sorrow.
Sad to be suffered, a sorrow unlittle
To each of the earlmen, when to Æschere’s head they
Came on the cliff. The current was seething
With blood and with gore (the troopers gazed on it).
40
The horn anon sang the battle-song ready.
The troop were all seated; they saw ’long the water then
The water is filled with serpents and sea-dragons.
Many a serpent, mere-dragons wondrous
Trying the waters, nickers a-lying
On the cliffs of the nesses, which at noonday full often
45
Go on the sea-deeps their sorrowful journey,
Wild-beasts and wormkind; away then they hastened
One of them is killed by Beowulf.
Hot-mooded, hateful, they heard the great clamor,
The war-trumpet winding. One did the Geat-prince
Sunder from earth-joys, with arrow from bowstring,
50
From his sea-struggle tore him, that the trusty war-missile
The dead beast is a poor swimmer
Pierced to his vitals; he proved in the currents
Less doughty at swimming whom death had offcarried.
Soon in the waters the wonderful swimmer
Was straitened most sorely with sword-pointed boar-spears,
55
Pressed in the battle and pulled to the cliff-edge;
The liegemen then looked on the loath-fashioned stranger.
Beowulf prepares for a struggle with the monster.
Beowulf donned then his battle-equipments,
Cared little for life; inlaid and most ample,
The hand-woven corslet which could cover his body,
60
Must the wave-deeps explore, that war might be powerless
To harm the great hero, and the hating one’s grasp might
Not peril his safety; his head was protected
By the light-flashing helmet that should mix with the bottoms,
Trying the eddies, treasure-emblazoned,
65
Encircled with jewels, as in seasons long past
The weapon-smith worked it, wondrously made it,
With swine-bodies fashioned it, that thenceforward no longer
Brand might bite it, and battle-sword hurt it.
And that was not least of helpers in prowess
He has Unferth’s sword in his hand. 70
That Hrothgar’s spokesman had lent him when straitened;
And the hilted hand-sword was Hrunting entitled,
Old and most excellent ’mong all of the treasures;
Its blade was of iron, blotted with poison,
Hardened with gore; it failed not in battle
75
Any hero under heaven in hand who it brandished,
Who ventured to take the terrible journeys,
The battle-field sought; not the earliest occasion
That deeds of daring ’twas destined to ’complish.
Unferth has little use for swords.
Ecglaf’s kinsman minded not soothly,
80
Exulting in strength, what erst he had spoken
Drunken with wine, when the weapon he lent to
A sword-hero bolder; himself did not venture
’Neath the strife of the currents his life to endanger,
To fame-deeds perform; there he forfeited glory,
85
Repute for his strength. Not so with the other
When he clad in his corslet had equipped him for battle.

XXIII.

BEOWULF’S FIGHT WITH GRENDEL’S MOTHER.

Beowulf makes a parting speech to Hrothgar.
Beowulf spake, Ecgtheow’s son:
“Recall now, oh, famous kinsman of Healfdene,
Prince very prudent, now to part I am ready,
Gold-friend of earlmen, what erst we agreed on,
If I fail, act as a kind liegelord to my thanes, 5
Should I lay down my life in lending thee assistance,
When my earth-joys were over, thou wouldst evermore serve me
In stead of a father; my faithful thanemen,
My trusty retainers, protect thou and care for,
Fall I in battle: and, Hrothgar belovèd,
and send Higelac the jewels thou hast given me 10
Send unto Higelac the high-valued jewels
Thou to me hast allotted. The lord of the Geatmen
May perceive from the gold, the Hrethling may see it
I should like my king to know how generous a lord I found thee to be.
When he looks on the jewels, that a gem-giver found I
Good over-measure, enjoyed him while able.
15
And the ancient heirloom Unferth permit thou,
The famed one to have, the heavy-sword splendid1
The hard-edgèd weapon; with Hrunting to aid me,
I shall gain me glory, or grim-death shall take me.”
Beowulf is eager for the fray.
The atheling of Geatmen uttered these words and
20
Heroic did hasten, not any rejoinder
Was willing to wait for; the wave-current swallowed
He is a whole day reaching the bottom of the sea.
The doughty-in-battle. Then a day’s-length elapsed ere
He was able to see the sea at its bottom.
Early she found then who fifty of winters
25
The course of the currents kept in her fury,
Grisly and greedy, that the grim one’s dominion
Grendel’s mother knows that some one has reached her domains.
Some one of men from above was exploring.
Forth did she grab them, grappled the warrior
With horrible clutches; yet no sooner she injured
30
His body unscathèd: the burnie out-guarded,
That she proved but powerless to pierce through the armor,
The limb-mail locked, with loath-grabbing fingers.
The sea-wolf bare then, when bottomward came she,
She grabs him, and bears him to her den.
The ring-prince homeward, that he after was powerless
35
(He had daring to do it) to deal with his weapons,
But many a mere-beast tormented him swimming,
Sea-monsters bite and strike him.
Flood-beasts no few with fierce-biting tusks did
Break through his burnie, the brave one pursued they.
The earl then discovered he was down in some cavern
40
Where no water whatever anywise harmed him,
And the clutch of the current could come not anear him,
Since the roofed-hall prevented; brightness a-gleaming
Fire-light he saw, flashing resplendent.
The good one saw then the sea-bottom’s monster,
Beowulf attacks the mother of Grendel. 45
The mighty mere-woman; he made a great onset
With weapon-of-battle, his hand not desisted
From striking, that war-blade struck on her head then
A battle-song greedy. The stranger perceived then
The sword will not bite.
The sword would not bite, her life would not injure,
50
But the falchion failed the folk-prince when straitened:
Erst had it often onsets encountered,
Oft cloven the helmet, the fated one’s armor:
’Twas the first time that ever the excellent jewel
Had failed of its fame. Firm-mooded after,
55
Not heedless of valor, but mindful of glory,
Was Higelac’s kinsman; the hero-chief angry
Cast then his carved-sword covered with jewels
That it lay on the earth, hard and steel-pointed;
The hero throws down all weapons, and again trusts to his hand-grip.
He hoped in his strength, his hand-grapple sturdy.
60
So any must act whenever he thinketh
To gain him in battle glory unending,
And is reckless of living. The lord of the War-Geats
(He shrank not from battle) seized by the shoulder2
The mother of Grendel; then mighty in struggle
65
Swung he his enemy, since his anger was kindled,
That she fell to the floor. With furious grapple
Beowulf falls.
She gave him requital3 early thereafter,
And stretched out to grab him; the strongest of warriors
Faint-mooded stumbled, till he fell in his traces,
The monster sits on him with drawn sword. 70
Foot-going champion. Then she sat on the hall-guest
And wielded her war-knife wide-bladed, flashing,
For her son would take vengeance, her one only bairn.
His armor saves his life.
His breast-armor woven bode on his shoulder;
It guarded his life, the entrance defended
75
’Gainst sword-point and edges. Ecgtheow’s son there
Had fatally journeyed, champion of Geatmen,
In the arms of the ocean, had the armor not given,
Close-woven corslet, comfort and succor,
God arranged for his escape.
And had God most holy not awarded the victory,
80
All-knowing Lord; easily did heaven’s
Ruler most righteous arrange it with justice;4
Uprose he erect ready for battle.
[1] Kl. emends ‘wæl-sweord.’ The half-line would then read, ‘the battle-sword splendid.’—For ‘heard-ecg’ in next half-verse, see note to 20 39 above.
[2] Sw., R., and t.B. suggest ‘feaxe’ for ‘eaxle’ (1538) and render: Seized by the hair.
[3] If ‘hand-léan’ be accepted (as the MS. has it), the line will read: She hand-reward gave him early thereafter.
[4] Sw. and S. change H.-So.’s semicolon (v. 1557) to a comma, and translate: The Ruler of Heaven arranged it in justice easily, after he arose again.

XXIV.

BEOWULF IS DOUBLE-CONQUEROR.

Beowulf grasps a giant-sword,
Then he saw mid the war-gems a weapon of victory,
An ancient giant-sword, of edges a-doughty,
Glory of warriors: of weapons ’twas choicest,
Only ’twas larger than any man else was
5
Able to bear to the battle-encounter,
The good and splendid work of the giants.
He grasped then the sword-hilt, knight of the Scyldings,
Bold and battle-grim, brandished his ring-sword,
Hopeless of living, hotly he smote her,
10
That the fiend-woman’s neck firmly it grappled,
and fells the female monster.
Broke through her bone-joints, the bill fully pierced her
Fate-cursèd body, she fell to the ground then:
The hand-sword was bloody, the hero exulted.
The brand was brilliant, brightly it glimmered,
15
Just as from heaven gemlike shineth
The torch of the firmament. He glanced ’long the building,
And turned by the wall then, Higelac’s vassal
Raging and wrathful raised his battle-sword
Strong by the handle. The edge was not useless
20
To the hero-in-battle, but he speedily wished to
Give Grendel requital for the many assaults he
Had worked on the West-Danes not once, but often,
When he slew in slumber the subjects of Hrothgar,
Swallowed down fifteen sleeping retainers
25
Of the folk of the Danemen, and fully as many
Carried away, a horrible prey.
He gave him requital, grim-raging champion,
Beowulf sees the body of Grendel, and cuts off his head.
When he saw on his rest-place weary of conflict
Grendel lying, of life-joys bereavèd,
30
As the battle at Heorot erstwhile had scathed him;
His body far bounded, a blow when he suffered,
Death having seized him, sword-smiting heavy,
And he cut off his head then. Early this noticed
The clever carles who as comrades of Hrothgar
The waters are gory. 35
Gazed on the sea-deeps, that the surging wave-currents
Were mightily mingled, the mere-flood was gory:
Of the good one the gray-haired together held converse,
Beowulf is given up for dead.
The hoary of head, that they hoped not to see again
The atheling ever, that exulting in victory
40
He’d return there to visit the distinguished folk-ruler:
Then many concluded the mere-wolf had killed him.1
The ninth hour came then. From the ness-edge departed
The bold-mooded Scyldings; the gold-friend of heroes
Homeward betook him. The strangers sat down then
45
Soul-sick, sorrowful, the sea-waves regarding:
They wished and yet weened not their well-loved friend-lord
The giant-sword melts.
To see any more. The sword-blade began then,
The blood having touched it, contracting and shriveling
With battle-icicles; ’twas a wonderful marvel
50
That it melted entirely, likest to ice when
The Father unbindeth the bond of the frost and
Unwindeth the wave-bands, He who wieldeth dominion
Of times and of tides: a truth-firm Creator.
Nor took he of jewels more in the dwelling,
55
Lord of the Weders, though they lay all around him,
Than the head and the handle handsome with jewels;
The brand early melted, burnt was the weapon:2
So hot was the blood, the strange-spirit poisonous
The hero swims back to the realms of day.
That in it did perish. He early swam off then
60
Who had bided in combat the carnage of haters,
Went up through the ocean; the eddies were cleansèd,
The spacious expanses, when the spirit from farland
His life put aside and this short-lived existence.
The seamen’s defender came swimming to land then
65
Doughty of spirit, rejoiced in his sea-gift,
The bulky burden which he bore in his keeping.
The excellent vassals advanced then to meet him,
To God they were grateful, were glad in their chieftain,
That to see him safe and sound was granted them.
70
From the high-minded hero, then, helmet and burnie
Were speedily loosened: the ocean was putrid,
The water ’neath welkin weltered with gore.
Forth did they fare, then, their footsteps retracing,
Merry and mirthful, measured the earth-way,
75
The highway familiar: men very daring3
Bare then the head from the sea-cliff, burdening
Each of the earlmen, excellent-valiant.
It takes four men to carry Grendel’s head on a spear.
Four of them had to carry with labor
The head of Grendel to the high towering gold-hall
80
Upstuck on the spear, till fourteen most-valiant
And battle-brave Geatmen came there going
Straight to the palace: the prince of the people
Measured the mead-ways, their mood-brave companion.
The atheling of earlmen entered the building,
85
Deed-valiant man, adorned with distinction,
Doughty shield-warrior, to address King Hrothgar:
Then hung by the hair, the head of Grendel
Was borne to the building, where beer-thanes were drinking,
Loth before earlmen and eke ’fore the lady:
90
The warriors beheld then a wonderful sight.
[1] ‘Þæs monige gewearð’ (1599) and ‘hafað þæs geworden’ (2027).—In a paper published some years ago in one of the Johns Hopkins University circulars, I tried to throw upon these two long-doubtful passages some light derived from a study of like passages in Alfred’s prose.—The impersonal verb ‘geweorðan,’ with an accus. of the person, and a þæt-clause is used several times with the meaning ‘agree.’ See Orosius (Sweet’s ed.) 1787; 20434; 20828; 21015; 28020. In the two Beowulf passages, the þæt-clause is anticipated by ‘þæs,’ which is clearly a gen. of the thing agreed on.

The first passage (v. 1599 (b)-1600) I translate literally: Then many agreed upon this (namely), that the sea-wolf had killed him.

The second passage (v. 2025 (b)-2027): She is promised …; to this the friend of the Scyldings has agreed, etc. By emending ‘is’ instead of ‘wæs’ (2025), the tenses will be brought into perfect harmony.

In v. 1997 ff. this same idiom occurs, and was noticed in B.’s great article on Beowulf, which appeared about the time I published my reading of 1599 and 2027. Translate 1997 then: Wouldst let the South-Danes themselves decide about their struggle with Grendel. Here ‘Súð-Dene’ is accus. of person, and ‘gúðe’ is gen. of thing agreed on.

With such collateral support as that afforded by B. (P. and B. XII. 97), I have no hesitation in departing from H.-So., my usual guide.

The idiom above treated runs through A.-S., Old Saxon, and other Teutonic languages, and should be noticed in the lexicons.

[2] ‘Bróden-mæl’ is regarded by most scholars as meaning a damaskeened sword. Translate: The damaskeened sword burned up. Cf. 25 16 and note.
[3] ‘Cyning-balde’ (1635) is the much-disputed reading of K. and Th. To render this, “nobly bold,” “excellently bold,” have been suggested. B. would read ‘cyning-holde’ (cf. 290), and render: Men well-disposed towards the king carried the head, etc. ‘Cynebealde,’ says t.B., endorsing Gr.