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Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem
XXXI.
GIFT-GIVING IS MUTUAL.
“So the belovèd land-prince lived in decorum;
I had missed no rewards, no meeds of my prowess,
But he gave me jewels, regarding my wishes,
Healfdene his bairn; I’ll bring them to thee, then,
All my gifts I lay
at thy feet.
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Atheling of earlmen, offer them gladly.
And still unto thee is all my affection:1
But few of my folk-kin find I surviving
But thee, dear Higelac!” Bade he in then to carry2
The boar-image, banner, battle-high helmet,
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Iron-gray armor, the excellent weapon,
This armor I have
belonged of yore to
Heregar.
In song-measures said: “This suit-for-the-battle
Hrothgar presented me, bade me expressly,
Wise-mooded atheling, thereafter to tell thee3
The whole of its history, said King Heregar owned it,
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Dane-prince for long: yet he wished not to give then
The mail to his son, though dearly he loved him,
Hereward the hardy. Hold all in joyance!”
I heard that there followed hard on the jewels
Two braces of stallions of striking resemblance,
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Dappled and yellow; he granted him usance
Of horses and treasures. So a kinsman should bear him,
No web of treachery weave for another,
Nor by cunning craftiness cause the destruction
Higelac loves his
nephew Beowulf.
Of trusty companion. Most precious to Higelac,
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The bold one in battle, was the bairn of his sister,
And each unto other mindful of favors.
Beowulf gives
Hygd the necklace
that Wealhtheow
had given him.
I am told that to Hygd he proffered the necklace,
Wonder-gem rare that Wealhtheow gave him,
The troop-leader’s daughter, a trio of horses
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Slender and saddle-bright; soon did the jewel
Embellish her bosom, when the beer-feast was over.
So Ecgtheow’s bairn brave did prove him,
Beowulf is famous.
War-famous man, by deeds that were valiant,
He lived in honor, belovèd companions
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Slew not carousing; his mood was not cruel,
But by hand-strength hugest of heroes then living
The brave one retained the bountiful gift that
The Lord had allowed him. Long was he wretched,
So that sons of the Geatmen accounted him worthless,
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And the lord of the liegemen loth was to do him
Mickle of honor, when mead-cups were passing;
They fully believed him idle and sluggish,
He is requited for
the slights suffered
in earlier days.
An indolent atheling: to the honor-blest man there
Came requital for the cuts he had suffered.
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The folk-troop’s defender bade fetch to the building
The heirloom of Hrethel, embellished with gold,
Higelac overwhelms
the conqueror
with gifts.
So the brave one enjoined it; there was jewel no richer
In the form of a weapon ’mong Geats of that era;
In Beowulf’s keeping he placed it and gave him
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Seven of thousands, manor and lordship.
Common to both was land ’mong the people,
Estate and inherited rights and possessions,
To the second one specially spacious dominions,
To the one who was better. It afterward happened
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In days that followed, befell the battle-thanes,
After Heardred’s
death, Beowulf becomes
king.
After Higelac’s death, and when Heardred was murdered
With weapons of warfare ’neath well-covered targets,
When valiant battlemen in victor-band sought him,
War-Scylfing heroes harassed the nephew
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Of Hereric in battle. To Beowulf’s keeping
Turned there in time extensive dominions:
He rules the Geats
fifty years.
He fittingly ruled them a fifty of winters
(He a man-ruler wise was, manor-ward old) till
A certain one ’gan, on gloom-darkening nights, a
The fire-drake.
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Dragon, to govern, who guarded a treasure,
A high-rising stone-cliff, on heath that was grayish:
A path ’neath it lay, unknown unto mortals.
Some one of earthmen entered the mountain,
The heathenish hoard laid hold of with ardor;
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[1] This verse B. renders, ‘Now serve I again thee alone as my gracious king.’
[2] For ‘eafor’ (2153), Kl. suggests ‘ealdor.’ Translate then: Bade the
prince then to bear in the banner, battle-high helmet, etc. On the other hand,
W. takes ‘eaforhéafodsegn’ as a compound, meaning ‘helmet’: He bade them
bear in the helmet, battle-high helm, gray armor, etc.
[3] The H.-So. rendering (ærest = history, origin; ‘eft’ for ‘est’), though
liable to objection, is perhaps the best offered. ‘That I should very early tell
thee of his favor, kindness’ sounds well; but ‘his’ is badly placed to limit
‘ést.’—Perhaps, ‘eft’ with verbs of saying may have the force of Lat. prefix
‘re,’ and the H.-So. reading mean, ‘that I should its origin rehearse to thee.’
XXXII.
THE HOARD AND THE DRAGON.
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He sought of himself who sorely did harm him,
But, for need very pressing, the servant of one of
The sons of the heroes hate-blows evaded,
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Seeking for shelter and the sin-driven warrior
Took refuge within there. He early looked in it,
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* * * * * when the onset surprised him,
The hoard.
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He a gem-vessel saw there: many of suchlike
Ancient ornaments in the earth-cave were lying,
As in days of yore some one of men of
Illustrious lineage, as a legacy monstrous,
There had secreted them, careful and thoughtful,
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Dear-valued jewels. Death had offsnatched them,
In the days of the past, and the one man moreover
Of the flower of the folk who fared there the longest,
Was fain to defer it, friend-mourning warder,
A little longer to be left in enjoyment
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Of long-lasting treasure.1 A barrow all-ready
Stood on the plain the stream-currents nigh to,
New by the ness-edge, unnethe of approaching:
The keeper of rings carried within a
2Ponderous deal of the treasure of nobles,
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Of gold that was beaten, briefly he spake then:3
The ring-giver bewails
the loss of
retainers.
“Hold thou, O Earth, now heroes no more may,
The earnings of earlmen. Lo! erst in thy bosom
Worthy men won them; war-death hath ravished,
Perilous life-bale, all my warriors,
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Liegemen belovèd, who this life have forsaken,
Who hall-pleasures saw. No sword-bearer have I,
And no one to burnish the gold-plated vessel,
The high-valued beaker: my heroes are vanished.
The hardy helmet behung with gilding
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Shall be reaved of its riches: the ring-cleansers slumber
Who were charged to have ready visors-for-battle,
And the burnie that bided in battle-encounter
O’er breaking of war-shields the bite of the edges
Moulds with the hero. The ring-twisted armor,
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Its lord being lifeless, no longer may journey
Hanging by heroes; harp-joy is vanished,
The rapture of glee-wood, no excellent falcon
Swoops through the building, no swift-footed charger
Grindeth the gravel. A grievous destruction
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No few of the world-folk widely hath scattered!”
So, woful of spirit one after all
Lamented mournfully, moaning in sadness
By day and by night, till death with its billows
The fire-dragon
Dashed on his spirit. Then the ancient dusk-scather
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Found the great treasure standing all open,
He who flaming and fiery flies to the barrows,
Naked war-dragon, nightly escapeth
Encompassed with fire; men under heaven
Widely beheld him. ’Tis said that he looks for4
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The hoard in the earth, where old he is guarding
The heathenish treasure; he’ll be nowise the better.
The dragon meets
his match.
So three-hundred winters the waster of peoples
Held upon earth that excellent hoard-hall,
Till the forementioned earlman angered him bitterly:
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The beat-plated beaker he bare to his chieftain
And fullest remission for all his remissness
Begged of his liegelord. Then the hoard5 was discovered,
The treasure was taken, his petition was granted
The hero plunders
the dragon’s den
The lorn-mooded liegeman. His lord regarded
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The old-work of earth-folk—’twas the earliest occasion.
When the dragon awoke, the strife was renewed there;
He snuffed ’long the stone then, stout-hearted found he
The footprint of foeman; too far had he gone
With cunning craftiness close to the head of
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The fire-spewing dragon. So undoomed he may ’scape from
Anguish and exile with ease who possesseth
The favor of Heaven. The hoard-warden eagerly
Searched o’er the ground then, would meet with the person
That caused him sorrow while in slumber reclining:
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Gleaming and wild he oft went round the cavern,
All of it outward; not any of earthmen
Was seen in that desert.6 Yet he joyed in the battle,
Rejoiced in the conflict: oft he turned to the barrow,
Sought for the gem-cup;7 this he soon perceived then
The dragon perceives
that some
one has disturbed
his treasure.
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That some man or other had discovered the gold,
The famous folk-treasure. Not fain did the hoard-ward
Wait until evening; then the ward of the barrow
Was angry in spirit, the loathèd one wished to
Pay for the dear-valued drink-cup with fire.
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Then the day was done as the dragon would have it,
He no longer would wait on the wall, but departed
The dragon is infuriated.
Fire-impelled, flaming. Fearful the start was
To earls in the land, as it early thereafter
To their giver-of-gold was grievously ended.
[1] For ‘long-gestréona,’ B. suggests ‘láengestréona,’ and renders, Of fleeting
treasures. S. accepts H.’s ‘long-gestréona,’ but renders, The treasure long
in accumulating.
[2] For ‘hard-fyrdne’ (2246), B. first suggested ‘hard-fyndne,’ rendering:
A heap of treasures … so great that its equal would be hard to find. The same
scholar suggests later ‘hord-wynne dæl’ = A deal of treasure-joy.
[4] An earlier reading of H.’s gave the following meaning to this passage:
He is said to inhabit a mound under the earth, where he, etc. The translation
in the text is more authentic.
[5] The repetition of ‘hord’ in this passage has led some scholars to suggest
new readings to avoid the second ‘hord.’ This, however, is not under the
main stress, and, it seems to me, might easily be accepted.
[6] The reading of H.-So. is well defended in the notes to that volume. B.
emends and renders: Nor was there any man in that desert who rejoiced in
conflict, in battle-work. That is, the hoard-ward could not find any one who
had disturbed his slumbers, for no warrior was there, t.B.’s emendation
would give substantially the same translation.
[7] ‘Sinc-fæt’ (2301): this word both here and in v. 2232, t.B. renders
‘treasure.’
XXXIII.
BRAVE THOUGH AGED.—REMINISCENCES.
The dragon spits fire.The stranger began then to vomit forth fire,
To burn the great manor; the blaze then glimmered
For anguish to earlmen, not anything living
Was the hateful air-goer willing to leave there.
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The war of the worm widely was noticed,
The feud of the foeman afar and anear,
How the enemy injured the earls of the Geatmen,
Harried with hatred: back he hied to the treasure,
To the well-hidden cavern ere the coming of daylight.
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He had circled with fire the folk of those regions,
With brand and burning; in the barrow he trusted,
In the wall and his war-might: the weening deceived him.
Beowulf hears of
the havoc wrought
by the dragon.
Then straight was the horror to Beowulf published,
Early forsooth, that his own native homestead,1
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The best of buildings, was burning and melting,
Gift-seat of Geatmen. ’Twas a grief to the spirit
Of the good-mooded hero, the greatest of sorrows:
He fears that
Heaven is punishing
him for some
crime.
The wise one weened then that wielding his kingdom
’Gainst the ancient commandments, he had bitterly angered
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The Lord everlasting: with lorn meditations
His bosom welled inward, as was nowise his custom.
The fire-spewing dragon fully had wasted
The fastness of warriors, the water-land outward,
The manor with fire. The folk-ruling hero,
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Prince of the Weders, was planning to wreak him.
The warmen’s defender bade them to make him,
Earlmen’s atheling, an excellent war-shield
He orders an iron
shield to be made
from him, wood is
useless.
Wholly of iron: fully he knew then
That wood from the forest was helpless to aid him,
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Shield against fire. The long-worthy ruler
Must live the last of his limited earth-days,
Of life in the world and the worm along with him,
Though he long had been holding hoard-wealth in plenty.
He determines to
fight alone.
Then the ring-prince disdained to seek with a war-band,
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With army extensive, the air-going ranger;
He felt no fear of the foeman’s assaults and
He counted for little the might of the dragon,
His power and prowess: for previously dared he
Beowulf’s early
triumphs referred
to
A heap of hostility, hazarded dangers,
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War-thane, when Hrothgar’s palace he cleansèd,
Conquering combatant, clutched in the battle
The kinsmen of Grendel, of kindred detested.2
Higelac’s death
recalled.
’Twas of hand-fights not least where Higelac was slaughtered,
When the king of the Geatmen with clashings of battle,
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Friend-lord of folks in Frisian dominions,
Offspring of Hrethrel perished through sword-drink,
With battle-swords beaten; thence Beowulf came then
On self-help relying, swam through the waters;
He bare on his arm, lone-going, thirty
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Outfits of armor, when the ocean he mounted.
The Hetwars by no means had need to be boastful
Of their fighting afoot, who forward to meet him
Carried their war-shields: not many returned from
The brave-mooded battle-knight back to their homesteads.
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Ecgtheow’s bairn o’er the bight-courses swam then,
Lone-goer lorn to his land-folk returning,
Where Hygd to him tendered treasure and kingdom,
Heardred’s lack of
capacity to rule.
Rings and dominion: her son she not trusted,
To be able to keep the kingdom devised him
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’Gainst alien races, on the death of King Higelac.
Beowulf’s tact and
delicacy recalled.
Yet the sad ones succeeded not in persuading the atheling
In any way ever, to act as a suzerain
To Heardred, or promise to govern the kingdom;
Yet with friendly counsel in the folk he sustained him,
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Gracious, with honor, till he grew to be older,
Reference is here
made to a visit
which Beowulf receives
from Eanmund
and Eadgils,
why they come is
not known.
Wielded the Weders. Wide-fleeing outlaws,
Ohthere’s sons, sought him o’er the waters:
They had stirred a revolt ’gainst the helm of the Scylfings,
The best of the sea-kings, who in Swedish dominions
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Distributed treasure, distinguished folk-leader.
’Twas the end of his earth-days; injury fatal3
By swing of the sword he received as a greeting,
Offspring of Higelac; Ongentheow’s bairn
Later departed to visit his homestead,
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When Heardred was dead; let Beowulf rule them,
Govern the Geatmen: good was that folk-king.
[1] ‘Hám’ (2326), the suggestion of B. is accepted by t.B. and other
scholars.
[2] For ‘láðan cynnes’ (2355), t.B. suggests ‘láðan cynne,’ apposition to
‘mægum.’ From syntactical and other considerations, this is a most excellent
emendation.
[3] Gr. read ‘on feorme’ (2386), rendering: He there at the banquet a fatal
wound received by blows of the sword.
XXXIV.
BEOWULF SEEKS THE DRAGON.—BEOWULF’S REMINISCENCES.
He planned requital for the folk-leader’s ruin
In days thereafter, to Eadgils the wretched
Becoming an enemy. Ohthere’s son then
Went with a war-troop o’er the wide-stretching currents
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With warriors and weapons: with woe-journeys cold he
After avenged him, the king’s life he took.
Beowulf has been
preserved through
many perils.
So he came off uninjured from all of his battles,
Perilous fights, offspring of Ecgtheow,
From his deeds of daring, till that day most momentous
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When he fate-driven fared to fight with the dragon.
With eleven comrades,
he seeks the
dragon.
With eleven companions the prince of the Geatmen
Went lowering with fury to look at the fire-drake:
Inquiring he’d found how the feud had arisen,
Hate to his heroes; the highly-famed gem-vessel
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Was brought to his keeping through the hand of th’ informer.
A guide leads the
way, but
That in the throng was thirteenth of heroes,
That caused the beginning of conflict so bitter,
Captive and wretched, must sad-mooded thenceward
very reluctantly.
Point out the place: he passed then unwillingly
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To the spot where he knew of the notable cavern,
The cave under earth, not far from the ocean,
The anger of eddies, which inward was full of
Jewels and wires: a warden uncanny,
Warrior weaponed, wardered the treasure,
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Old under earth; no easy possession
For any of earth-folk access to get to.
Then the battle-brave atheling sat on the naze-edge,
While the gold-friend of Geatmen gracious saluted
His fireside-companions: woe was his spirit,
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Death-boding, wav’ring; Weird very near him,
Who must seize the old hero, his soul-treasure look for,
Dragging aloof his life from his body:
Not flesh-hidden long was the folk-leader’s spirit.
Beowulf spake, Ecgtheow’s son:
Beowulf’s retrospect.
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“I survived in my youth-days many a conflict,
Hours of onset: that all I remember.
I was seven-winters old when the jewel-prince took me,
High-lord of heroes, at the hands of my father,
Hrethel the hero-king had me in keeping,
Hrethel took me
when I was seven.
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Gave me treasure and feasting, our kinship remembered;
Not ever was I any less dear to him
He treated me as
a son.
Knight in the boroughs, than the bairns of his household,
Herebald and Hæthcyn and Higelac mine.
To the eldest unjustly by acts of a kinsman
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Was murder-bed strewn, since him Hæthcyn from horn-bow
One of the brothers
accidentally kills
another.
His sheltering chieftain shot with an arrow,
Erred in his aim and injured his kinsman,
One brother the other, with blood-sprinkled spear:
No fee could compound
for such a
calamity.
’Twas a feeless fight, finished in malice,
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Sad to his spirit; the folk-prince however
Had to part from existence with vengeance untaken.
[A parallel case
is supposed.]
So to hoar-headed hero ’tis heavily crushing1
To live to see his son as he rideth
Young on the gallows: then measures he chanteth,
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A song of sorrow, when his son is hanging
For the raven’s delight, and aged and hoary
He is unable to offer any assistance.
Every morning his offspring’s departure
Is constant recalled: he cares not to wait for
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The birth of an heir in his borough-enclosures,
Since that one through death-pain the deeds hath experienced.
He heart-grieved beholds in the house of his son the
Wine-building wasted, the wind-lodging places
Reaved of their roaring; the riders are sleeping,
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The knights in the grave; there’s no sound of the harp-wood,
Joy in the yards, as of yore were familiar.
[1] ‘Gomelum ceorle’ (2445).—H. takes these words as referring to Hrethel;
but the translator here departs from his editor by understanding the poet to
refer to a hypothetical old man, introduced as an illustration of a father’s
sorrow.
Hrethrel had certainly never seen a son of his ride on the gallows to feed the crows.
The passage beginning ‘swá bið géomorlic’ seems to be an effort to reach a full simile, ‘as … so.’ ‘As it is mournful for an old man, etc. … so the defence of the Weders (2463) bore heart-sorrow, etc.’ The verses 2451 to 2463½ would be parenthetical, the poet’s feelings being so strong as to interrupt the simile. The punctuation of the fourth edition would be better—a comma after ‘galgan’ (2447). The translation may be indicated as follows: (Just) as it is sad for an old man to see his son ride young on the gallows when he himself is uttering mournful measures, a sorrowful song, while his son hangs for a comfort to the raven, and he, old and infirm, cannot render him any kelp—(he is constantly reminded, etc., 2451-2463)—so the defence of the Weders, etc.
XXXV.
REMINISCENCES (continued).—BEOWULF’S LAST BATTLE.
“He seeks then his chamber, singeth a woe-song
One for the other; all too extensive
Seemed homesteads and plains. So the helm of the Weders
Hrethel grieves
for Herebald.
Mindful of Herebald heart-sorrow carried,
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Stirred with emotion, nowise was able
To wreak his ruin on the ruthless destroyer:
He was unable to follow the warrior with hatred,
With deeds that were direful, though dear he not held him.
Then pressed by the pang this pain occasioned him,
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He gave up glee, God-light elected;
He left to his sons, as the man that is rich does,
His land and fortress, when from life he departed.
Strife between
Swedes and Geats.
Then was crime and hostility ’twixt Swedes and Geatmen,
O’er wide-stretching water warring was mutual,
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Burdensome hatred, when Hrethel had perished,
And Ongentheow’s offspring were active and valiant,
Wished not to hold to peace oversea, but
Round Hreosna-beorh often accomplished
Cruelest massacre. This my kinsman avengèd,
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The feud and fury, as ’tis found on inquiry,
Though one of them paid it with forfeit of life-joys,
Hæthcyn’s fall at
Ravenswood.
With price that was hard: the struggle became then
Fatal to Hæthcyn, lord of the Geatmen.
Then I heard that at morning one brother the other
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With edges of irons egged on to murder,
Where Ongentheow maketh onset on Eofor:
The helmet crashed, the hoary-haired Scylfing
Sword-smitten fell, his hand then remembered
Feud-hate sufficient, refused not the death-blow.
I requited him for
the jewels he gave
me.
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The gems that he gave me, with jewel-bright sword I
’Quited in contest, as occasion was offered:
Land he allowed me, life-joy at homestead,
Manor to live on. Little he needed
From Gepids or Danes or in Sweden to look for
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Trooper less true, with treasure to buy him;
’Mong foot-soldiers ever in front I would hie me,
Alone in the vanguard, and evermore gladly
Warfare shall wage, while this weapon endureth
That late and early often did serve me
Beowulf refers to
his having slain
Dæghrefn.
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When I proved before heroes the slayer of Dæghrefn,
Knight of the Hugmen: he by no means was suffered
To the king of the Frisians to carry the jewels,
The breast-decoration; but the banner-possessor
Bowed in the battle, brave-mooded atheling.
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No weapon was slayer, but war-grapple broke then
The surge of his spirit, his body destroying.
Now shall weapon’s edge make war for the treasure,
And hand and firm-sword.” Beowulf spake then,
Boast-words uttered—the latest occasion:
He boasts of his
youthful prowess,
and declares himself
still fearless.
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“I braved in my youth-days battles unnumbered;
Still am I willing the struggle to look for,
Fame-deeds perform, folk-warden prudent,
If the hateful despoiler forth from his cavern
Seeketh me out!” Each of the heroes,
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Helm-bearers sturdy, he thereupon greeted
His last salutations.
Belovèd co-liegemen—his last salutation:
“No brand would I bear, no blade for the dragon,
Wist I a way my word-boast to ’complish1
Else with the monster, as with Grendel I did it;
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But fire in the battle hot I expect there,
Furious flame-burning: so I fixed on my body
Target and war-mail. The ward of the barrow2
I’ll not flee from a foot-length, the foeman uncanny.
At the wall ’twill befall us as Fate decreeth,
Let Fate decide
between us.
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Each one’s Creator. I am eager in spirit,
With the wingèd war-hero to away with all boasting.
Bide on the barrow with burnies protected,
Wait ye here till
the battle is over.
Earls in armor, which of us two may better
Bear his disaster, when the battle is over.
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’Tis no matter of yours, and man cannot do it,
But me and me only, to measure his strength with
The monster of malice, might-deeds to ’complish.
I with prowess shall gain the gold, or the battle,
Direful death-woe will drag off your ruler!”
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The mighty champion rose by his shield then,
Brave under helmet, in battle-mail went he
’Neath steep-rising stone-cliffs, the strength he relied on
Of one man alone: no work for a coward.
Then he saw by the wall who a great many battles
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Had lived through, most worthy, when foot-troops collided,
The place of strife
is described.
Stone-arches standing, stout-hearted champion,
Saw a brook from the barrow bubbling out thenceward:
The flood of the fountain was fuming with war-flame:
Not nigh to the hoard, for season the briefest
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Could he brave, without burning, the abyss that was yawning,
The drake was so fiery. The prince of the Weders
Caused then that words came from his bosom,
So fierce was his fury; the firm-hearted shouted:
His battle-clear voice came in resounding
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’Neath the gray-colored stone. Stirred was his hatred,
Beowulf calls out
under the stone
arches.
The hoard-ward distinguished the speech of a man;
Time was no longer to look out for friendship.
The breath of the monster issued forth first,
Vapory war-sweat, out of the stone-cave:
The terrible encounter.
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The earth re-echoed. The earl ’neath the barrow
Lifted his shield, lord of the Geatmen,
Tow’rd the terrible stranger: the ring-twisted creature’s
Heart was then ready to seek for a struggle.
Beowulf brandishes
his sword,
The excellent battle-king first brandished his weapon,
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The ancient heirloom, of edges unblunted,3
To the death-planners twain was terror from other.
and stands against
his shield.
The lord of the troopers intrepidly stood then
’Gainst his high-rising shield, when the dragon coiled him
The dragon coils
himself.
Quickly together: in corslet he bided.
105
He went then in blazes, bended and striding,
Hasting him forward. His life and body
The targe well protected, for time-period shorter
Than wish demanded for the well-renowned leader,
Where he then for the first day was forced to be victor,
110
Famous in battle, as Fate had not willed it.
The lord of the Geatmen uplifted his hand then,
Smiting the fire-drake with sword that was precious,
That bright on the bone the blade-edge did weaken,
Bit more feebly than his folk-leader needed,
115
Burdened with bale-griefs. Then the barrow-protector,
The dragon rages
When the sword-blow had fallen, was fierce in his spirit,
Flinging his fires, flamings of battle
Gleamed then afar: the gold-friend of Weders
Beowulf’s sword
fails him.
Boasted no conquests, his battle-sword failed him
120
Naked in conflict, as by no means it ought to,
Long-trusty weapon. ’Twas no slight undertaking
That Ecgtheow’s famous offspring would leave
The drake-cavern’s bottom; he must live in some region
Other than this, by the will of the dragon,
125
As each one of earthmen existence must forfeit.
’Twas early thereafter the excellent warriors
The combat is
renewed.
Met with each other. Anew and afresh
The hoard-ward took heart (gasps heaved then his bosom):
The great hero is
reduced to extremities.
Sorrow he suffered encircled with fire
130
Who the people erst governed. His companions by no means
Were banded about him, bairns of the princes,
His comrades flee!
With valorous spirit, but they sped to the forest,
Seeking for safety. The soul-deeps of one were
Blood is thicker
than water.
Ruffled by care: kin-love can never
135
Aught in him waver who well doth consider.
[1] The clause 2520(2)-2522(1), rendered by ‘Wist I … monster,’ Gr.,
followed by S., translates substantially as follows: If I knew how else I might
combat the boastful defiance of the monster.—The translation turns upon
‘wiðgrípan,’ a word not understood.
[2] B. emends and translates: I will not flee the space of a foot from the guard
of the barrow, but there shall be to us a fight at the wall, as fate decrees, each
one’s Creator.
[3] The translation of this passage is based on ‘unsláw’ (2565), accepted by
H.-So., in lieu of the long-standing ‘ungléaw.’ The former is taken as an
adj. limiting ‘sweord’; the latter as an adj. c. ‘gúð-cyning’: The good war-king,
rash with edges, brandished his sword, his old relic. The latter gives a
more rhetorical Anglo-Saxon (poetical) sentence.