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UNIFORM WITH BEOWULF 
 
 THE SONG OF ROLAND 
 
 Done into English in the Original Measure by 
 CHARLES SCOTT MONCRIEFF 
 
 With an Introduction by G. K. Chesterton and a Note on 
 Technique by George Saintsbury. 
 
 (Second Impression). 
 
 SOME CRITICAL OPINIONS. 
 
 Mr. Frederic Harrison, in The Fortnightly Review : " I take a 
 lively interest in the new translation of the grand mediaeval Epic 
 — Chanson de Roland, ... It is a bold and successful venture. 
 ... I advise all who care for mediaeval history and for ^primitive 
 epics to study the original side by side with Captain Scott Mon- 
 crieff's translation.'' 
 
 Mr. Edmund Gosse, C.B., in The Sunday Times : ** There 
 have in the past been made efforts to render the Song of Roland 
 into English, but they have not hitherto been very successful. . . . 
 Captain Scott Moncrieff has approached this rough epic in exactly 
 the right spirit ; having read his version carefully, and having 
 accustomed my ear to his treatment of the assonance, I feel that 
 his success is very considerable indeed.'' 
 
 Mr. G. K. Chesterton C At the Sign of the World's End ") in 
 The New Witness : ** The horn of Roland, unlike the horns of 
 elfland, really does roll from soul to soul, and grow for ever and 
 for ever. The enthusiasm of a rising and very critical critic like 
 Mr. Scott Moncrieff is a type of its renewal. There is something 
 of immortal moment about that image of the king and his court 
 riding home in triumph, and hearing from the dark pass behind 
 them the dreadful note of doom. Indeed, it is very like our present 
 position ; when our rulers are supposed to have triumphed and 
 made peace, and through the chorus of praise come wild un- 
 accountable voices from Poland and Italy, and the intolerable 
 irony of Ireland. However it be explained or applied, there re- 
 mains arrested for ever the pageant of that halted march." 
 
 Mr. James Douglas, in The Star and in The Nottingham 
 Journal : ** The war has bred many poets, and now it has bestowed 
 upon us a noble translation of a noble poem, a translation which 
 is itself a fresh grace and glory of our English tongue. . . Know- 
 ing nothing of the Song, as I read this translation I felt like Keats 
 
as he read Chapman's " Homer." It was like a door opening and 
 letting out great music. . . . Not being a great scholar like Pro- 
 fessor Saintsbury, I can bestow on this translation only the praise 
 of instinctive delight in a masterpiece of English — a thing com- 
 parable with FitzGerald s " Omar " or Urquhart's '' Rabelais." It 
 has the savour of genius in its marvellous resurrection of a lost time 
 and a forgotten faith. ... If a poetry be a means of escape from 
 the petty dust of one's environment, surely this thing is a libera- 
 tion and enlargement. Our day will pass, and men will see the 
 heroic element in it to which we are blind. I can imagine a scholar 
 a hundred years hence citing this translation as a proof that our 
 soldiers were heroical." 
 
 Professor Robert Nichols, in The Observer : ** So adequate is 
 Captain Scott Moncrieff 's translation that it can but take its place 
 with the classics in this sort — with Florio's '* Montaigne," Fitz- 
 gerald's " Omar," Watts- cum-Pusey's " St. Augustine," Urqu- 
 hart's " Rabelais," and Burton's '* Arabian Nights." The work 
 has that considerable accuracy with the maximum of the original 
 flavour which amounts to a recreation, and which alone makes a 
 translation worthy of the text translated. Such a recreation is in 
 all cases an uncommon feat ; in this case it amounts to a triumph." 
 
 B.S., in The Manchester Guardian : ** There are other trans- 
 lations of the *' Chanson de Roland," of course, but we doubt if 
 they have been widely read. The virtue of Captain Moncrieff 's 
 version is that it popularises for us one of those great works 
 literature which contain and summarise an epoch. No one who 
 once fairly begins to read his '' Song of Roland " will want to 
 put the book down till he has finished it. This is perhaps the most 
 remarkable aspect of a very remarkable achievement." 
 
 H.O., in The Athenceum : " Our author revels in the battle- 
 pieces, the vigour of which has surely never been surpassed ; he 
 can be tender at the right moment ; nor does he ever miss the 
 spirit of pure religious faith and the fervent note of patriotism 
 that inform the whole." 
 
 The Tablet : *' We feel that the translation will prove most 
 useful to those who may be teaching English literature or history 
 in our Catholic schools. . . . The Catholic atmosphere of the 
 poem, its Catholic setting, and its religious feeling can be grasped 
 only by one who still professes the same faith." 
 
 The Christian Science Monitor : " * The Song of Roland ' is 
 one of the greatest pagan epics, if not the greatest, in the world's 
 literature. It is full of every splendid nobleness to which humanity 
 is heir, except that particular nobleness which was taught and 
 practised by the Founder of Christianity 
 
 '' There can be little but praise for the way in which Captain 
 Scott Moncrieff has carried out the superlatively difficult task of 
 rendering the great epic into English. The combination of rugged 
 dignity and breathless speed which is characteristic of the original 
 has been reproduced with astonishing success." 
 
The Saturday Westminster Gazette : " We cannot commend 
 the experiment. . . . The book is the most literal translation 
 that we know. It is not poetry.*' 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette : ** The experiment, we think, is a real 
 success. It is only a true craftsman who can handle such a thing 
 and be judged not to have dimmed its brightness." 
 
 The Liverpool Post : '' The reviewer's first feeling was one of 
 vain regret — * How useful this might have been to me once ! ' 
 And one still feels . . . that the work will prove mainly useful 
 for educational purposes, or, if one prefers to put it so, as an 
 undergraduate's crib." 
 
 The Times Literary Supplement : ** * The Chanson de Roland ' 
 is ' abrupt and^barbarous ' ; if its effect as a poem is to be felt in 
 English the translation, while keeping faithfully to the meaning, 
 must reproduce the abruptness and barbarity of the French 
 laisses. That is what Mr. Moncrieff, unlike the other translators 
 of this poem, has done. . . . 
 
 " The enthusiasm, the flash of one poet catching almost in- 
 tuitively the emotion of another long dead, the thrill of reading 
 an intelligent transcript of a great poem — ^these are the valuable 
 things in this book." 
 
 The Morning Post : " We took up this volume with a certain 
 sense of disappointment. It seemed to us that Captain Scott 
 Moncrieff might have given us a more modern epic . . . not of 
 Roland, but of Tommy Atkins. But our ingratitude was short- 
 lived. ... 
 
 " This Song not only sings of triumph, but is in itself a wonder- 
 ful triumph for our mother tongue." 
 
 The Glasgow Herald: *' The blessing of Mr. Saintsbury . . . 
 should suffice the most scholarly. For ourselves, we can imagine 
 no finer gift for the right kind of boy. Every noble element of 
 romance leaps into life in the tale of the fight and the horn-blow- 
 ing, and no braver teaching will be found in mortal story than in 
 the last meeting of Roland and Oliver." 
 
 " Peter Bell," in Land and Water : ** To have translated this 
 work is to have performed a service to English readers ; and to 
 have translated it in the original measure with so much success 
 as here is to have achieved a notable feat of dexterity." 
 
 Country Life : '* Captain Scott Monciieff writes from the very 
 heart and centre of his theme. . . .* A version done divinely 
 well ' we may surely call this, in the words that Tennyson Applied 
 to FitzgeraldV Omar.' " 
 
 The Nation : '* Captain Moncrieff met the ' Chanson de 
 Roland ' by accident, but it was really a pre- determined con- 
 junction of affinities, a translators Roland for the original's 
 Oliver, so wonderfully do these twin literary spirits match each 
 other. That explains the translator's * word for word ' ; he had 
 no other alternative, but we can imagine what a hash of it an 
 equally gifted man of letters — ^who was not Captain Moncrieff 
 
— T^ould have made of it. As it is, we have the singular and indeed 
 unique pleasure of reading this grand old epic not so very differ- 
 ently as its contemporaries heard it sung to them by tht jongleurs. 
 
 " It is indeed good work, rough as an uncut diamond, but full 
 of pathos and fierce power/' 
 
 The Cambridge Magazine (largest circulation of any University 
 Weekly in Great Britain) : " Warriors have, as a rule, expressed 
 such a horror of war poems ! " 
 
 John O' London's Weekly : *' Fame is a queer thing." 
 
 The London Mercury- (in a re\-iew of four pages) : '' Epics need 
 so many particular and favourable circumstances for their pro- 
 duction that they are scarce and highly individual, and every 
 literature ought to have a sufficient rendering of each of them. 
 Mr. Scott Moncrieff . . . has produced a fine original English 
 poem, and one can safely assert that he has also reproduced the 
 spirit of the original, because the poem s characteristics which he 
 derives from the original, the social system implied, the psych- 
 ology and general treatment harmionise excellently with the 
 characteristics which are due to himself, namely, the spirit and 
 dress of the verse which he has employed. 
 
 " Mr. Moncrieff proposes, by using M. Leon Gautier's final 
 edition of the ' Song of Roland,' to increase the poem by some 
 four hundred lines. We regret this, though we admire his courage 
 and his loyalty to his original. 
 
 The Count Rollanz has never loved cowards. 
 Nor arrogant, nor men of evil heart, 
 Xor chevalier that was not good vassal. 
 Surely he would love Mr. Moncrieff.'' 
 
 The Outlook : "In his translation of ' The Song of Roland,' 
 Captain Scott Moncrieff has given us many good gifts above and 
 beyond the superb quality of the translation itself. One of these, 
 and we confess to finding it singularly touching, is the quiet 
 description of how the work cam.e to be done. . . . Another 
 good gift is G. K. Chesterton's introduction, which will always 
 remain one of the small perfect essays in the language. . . . Then 
 we have George Saintsbur}''s Note on Technique. 
 
 ** Captain Scott Moncrieff . . . can wTite on an individual 
 note if ever a T^xiter could ; but we owe an eternal debt of grati- 
 tude to him that he has been entirely concerned v^-ith the * Song 
 of Roland ' and not at all \\ith the song of Captain Scott Moncrieff." 
 
 " Mr. Belloc, lecturing on * The Song of Roland,' in Glasgow, 
 paid a high compliment to the recent translation by Captain Scott 
 Moncrieff, who, he said, followed the literary meaning and diction, 
 type ofassonance and metre of the original." {The Glasgow Herald, 
 iVlarch i, 1920). 
 
 Mr. Masefield, leauring on ** The Song of Roland "in London 
 said he did not think it was possible to translate '* The Song of 
 Roland." 
 
 The Scotsman, December 8, 1919 : " There is no more to say." 
 
Widsith 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 Finnsburgh ♦ Waldere ♦ Deor 
 
Widsith 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 Finnsburgh ^ Waldere . Deor 
 
 Done into common English 
 
 after the old manner 
 
 by 
 
 CHARLES SCOTT MONCRIEFF 
 
 With an Introduction by 
 
 VISCOUNT NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 E. P. DUTTON & CO. 
 
 MCMXXI 
 
f^^ 
 
 .^'^ 
 
 
 THE WESTrMINSTTER PRESS 
 
 HARROW ROAD 
 
 LONDON 
 
 em 
 
^ Contents 
 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Page 
 vii 
 
 Translator's Preface 
 
 ix 
 
 Dedication 
 
 xvii 
 
 Arguments of the Poems 
 Widsith 
 
 xix 
 I 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 7 
 
 Finnsburgh 
 Waldere 
 — Deor 
 Notes 
 
 105 
 107 
 109 
 III 
 
Introduction 
 
 IT is characteristic of the modesty of the English 
 people that our oldest epic, or, rather, the one 
 Old English epic that has survived, should 
 contain not a word about England. Indeed, the 
 greater part of its story takes place in the country 
 of the Danes, who had been England's most cruel 
 and destructive enemies for some two centuries 
 before the existing manuscript of Beowulf was 
 written. So, too, in a later age, when our drama 
 came to be written, pride of place was given to, 
 and has since been held by, the Tragedy of Hamlet, 
 Prince of Denmark. But the preservation of Beo- 
 wulf as an English epic is justified by the embodi^ 
 ment in its hero of many traits of character which 
 we are still proud to recognise among our fellow- 
 Countrymen. Higher criticism may reduce Grendel 
 and his mother to the symbolical dimensions of 
 epidemics, due to an over-populated settlement 
 on the marshy and misty shore of a tideless sea ; 
 but the courage of the young captain and his 
 small company, facing unknown perils in a foreign 
 country, and the renewed courage of the veteran > 
 after more than a generation of peaceful govern- 
 ment, arming himself to fight and die alone in the 
 defence of his people, are facts with which, hap- 
 pily, we are still familiar. 
 
 How many thousand Beowulfs have we not 
 sent out in the last seven years from these islands 
 to face subtleties of horror as incredible as Grendel, 
 fire as scathing as the Worm's, sea-monsters 
 against which no armament was proof ? Some 
 have come back in triumph ; others, like Hond- 
 scio and Aeschere, have fallen, mangled and 
 murdered, whose fame is preserved only in 
 memory for so long as their friends survive them. 
 
 vii 
 
Some, like Beowulf in his youth, had no good 
 said of them, were accounted of little worth by 
 the captains of warriors, who " shrewdly reckoned 
 that slack they were." Yet to them, as to Beowulf, 
 ** atonement came for all their troubles." 
 
 Perhaps it would be better to sing the troubles 
 and triumphs of even one of these, our contem- 
 poraries, than to revive a momentary interest in 
 an old and harshly worded poem from a forgotten 
 dialect. But I welcome this version of Beowulf 
 because I find in its hero what I lament in count- 
 less men who have fallen in the field, simple cour- 
 age, untiring endurance, stainless honour. 
 
 NORTHCLIFFE. 
 
 7iu 
 
Translator's Preface 
 
 IT is as difficult to find an excuse for adding 
 to what Mr. Wyatt, in his admirable Anglo- 
 Saxon Reader y^ describes as " a whole library 
 of books dealing with Beowulf ^^^ as it is rash for a 
 young adventurer to challenge so powerful a 
 competitor (to name no others) as William Morris. 
 But this translation follows logically after that 
 of the Chanson de Roland^ which I have already 
 published, and was inspired by the suggestion 
 that I should attempt to do for the English epic 
 what I had done for the French. f 
 
 So many slighting references have been made 
 to Beowulf and its admirers lately, in the press of 
 this country, that I am obliged to conclude that a 
 considerable interest, one way and the other, is 
 felt in the poem, even by some of the many critics 
 who have never read it. As I said in my former 
 volume, this *^ is not a work of scholarship, nor 
 yet of imagination " ; but I hope that it may 
 prove useful to a few of the hundreds of students 
 who have to acquire some knowledge of the original 
 in order to graduate in English Literature in our 
 various Universities, and that, at the same time, 
 it may interest others who are compelled and 
 content to remain in ignorance of the austere 
 beauties of the Old English language. 
 
 The history of the poem is fairly well known ; 
 it seems to have been composed, in the Anglian 
 dialect, about the year 700, nearly a century be- 
 fore, in Beorhtric's day, as the Chronicle tells 
 us, J *' came the first three ships, and the reeve 
 
 * Cambridge University Press, 191 9. 
 
 f For, as is well-known, 
 
 Ne sont que trois matieres a nul home attendant, 
 De France et de Bretaigne et de Rome la grant. 
 
 X Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, year 787. 
 
 ix ' 
 
rode thereto, and would drive them to that King^s 
 town because he knew not what they were ; and 
 one slew him. Those were the first ships of Danish 
 men that sought the land of the Angle-kin," About 
 the end of the tenth century, when the Danish 
 men were again harrying England, two nameless 
 scribes copied for us, in the dialect of Wessex, 
 the one manuscript of Beowulf which has sur- 
 vived. From that time it must have remained in 
 its monastic library, unread and increasingly 
 uninteUigible, until, after the Dissolution, it 
 passed into the collection of Sir Robert Bruce 
 Cotton, now absorbed in the library of the British 
 Museum. Here it was discovered in 1700 by 
 Humfrey Wanley, who describes it in his cata- 
 logue as ^' Tractatus nobilissimus poetice scrip- 
 tus,*' in which there seemed to be, for he could 
 not have translated it, *' descripta bella quae 
 Beowulfus, quidam Danus ex regio Scyldingorum 
 stirpe ortus, gessit contra Sueciae Regulos." In 
 173 1 a great part of the Cottonian hbrary was 
 destroyed by a fire at Ashburnham House in 
 Westminster, in which the Government had 
 recently placed it for safety. The volume, Vitellius 
 A 15, in which Beozoulf is bound, escaped with 
 serious injury. In 1786 Thorkelin of Copenhagen 
 transcribed the manuscript, for the second time, 
 perhaps, since his Danish ancestors came to 
 England exactly a thousand years earher ; by a 
 belated act of retaliation the materials for his 
 edition were destroyed by an English fleet, in the 
 bombardment of Copenhagen, and Beowulf did 
 not appear in print until 181 5. Finally, in 1882, 
 an autotype facsimile was prepared for the Early 
 English Text Society, with a literal transcription, 
 by Professor Zupitza, while a more accessible text 
 is that edited by Messrs. A. J. Wyatt and R. W. 
 Chambers, and pubHshed by the Cambridge 
 University Press in 19 14. 
 
 In the manuscript the poem is written 
 
continuously, as it were prose, but in forty-three 
 divisions, forty of which are headed with num- 
 bers. The opening Unes bear no number ; then 
 come twenty-eight divisions of about seventy 
 lines each, numbered I to XXVIII . The next 
 gap, after line 2038, and in the middle of a sent- 
 ence, has no number ; then come XXXI to 
 XXXVIII, one more unnumbered, and XL to 
 XLIII. These divisions do not at all correspond 
 to the natural breaks in the poem. 
 
 The story opens as though it were intended to 
 be in praise of another Beowulf, the son of Shield 
 of the Sheaf, and an ancestral King of the Danes 
 or Shieldings. To Shield is ascribed the mjrthical 
 origin, as a child sent forth alone in a boat from 
 an unknown haven, which later Chroniclers 
 gave to a certain Sheaf, who, by another story, 
 was born in the Ark, the son of Noah. But at the 
 hundredth line the tone of the poem changes ; 
 the Danish Beowulf has flourished and di^d. 
 Hrothgar,his grandson, having at length succeeded, 
 orders a hall to be built him, the mightiest 
 on earth, and calls its name Heorot, or Hart. 
 While he is feasting with his court, Grendel, a 
 monster from the fens and moors, descended 
 from the exiled offspring of Cain, invades Heorot, 
 and snatches from it thirty of Hrothgar's thegns ; 
 the court is scattered in terror, and for twelve 
 years the hall remains deserted. 
 
 It will be seen that the Danes, whose prowess 
 is so extravagantly lauded in the opening lines, 
 have already ceased to be the heroes of the story. 
 In Hne 194 we first hear of '' Higelac's thegn," 
 in Hne 262 he tells us that he is the son of Ecgtheow, 
 and in line 343 he names himself to the Danes as 
 Beowulf ; henceforward the story is of him. Beo- 
 wulf, like Roland and a hundred other heroes of 
 epic and romance, was the son of his sovereign's 
 sister ; and Beowulf's uncle, like Roland's, has 
 a place in history, for the Higelac who invaded 
 
 xi ' 
 
the Frisian land, who there *' swallowed the sword- 
 drink/' whose life lay in the Franks' keeping, can be 
 identified \\ath the Chocilaicus mentioned in the 
 Gesta Regum Francorum of Gregon^ of Tours, who 
 was killed by the Frankish Prince Theodebert,son 
 of Theodoricthe sonof Clo\'is,in the second decade 
 of the sixth centur}'. So also Hrothgar is the Roe, son 
 of Haldanus, who figures in Saxo Grammaticus as a 
 King of Denmark and the founder of Roskilde. 
 
 II 
 
 With Beowulf I have included two short poems 
 and two epic "fragments, ever\thing of the kind 
 which has survived in our language. Widsith may 
 sen,'e as an introduction to the rest, but a volume 
 stouter than this would be required for the proper 
 annotation of Widsith alone. The curious reader 
 may turn to the fascinating work of Mr. Cham- 
 bers,* and will find there a wealth of information 
 on the histor}' and m\tholog\' of the tribes and 
 heroes mentioned in the poem. Widsith, like 
 Dear, is found in the Exeter Book, a collection of 
 Old English poetr\' made about the same time as 
 the manuscript of Beozcidf, and presented to the 
 Cathedral of Exeter by its first Bishop, Leofric, 
 who removed his See there from Crediton in 
 1050. Its own date is less easily determined, as the 
 hero claims to have \asited historical Kings whose 
 reigns extended over more than two centuries, 
 while references to Syrians and Israelites, Assyr- 
 ians and Hebrews point to interpolation by a later, 
 probably monastic, scribe ; but the bulk of the 
 poem must have been composed not much earlier, 
 and probably not much later, than the year 600. 
 It might weir be called the Lay of the First Minstrel, 
 
 • Widsith, a Study in Old English Heroic Legend, by R. 
 W. Chambers, Cambridge University Press, 1912. 
 
 xii 
 
as it is our oldest record of that noble tradition 
 of which Scott celebrated the decline.^ 
 
 If Widsith is an extremely condensed " narrative 
 poem/' Deor is in every sense a lyric. Mr. Wyatt 
 compares it aptly to a ballade by Villon, Its con- 
 struction in stanzas is deliberate, and is marked 
 by the regular refrain. It is a plaintive, but philo- 
 sophical statement of a poet's misfortunes, who 
 is consoled by the reflection that greater than he 
 have suffered also. 
 
 The short fragments of Finnshurgh and Waldere 
 are long enough to shew what we have lost by the 
 destruction of an epic literature, of which Beowulf 
 alone survives. The forty-eight lines of Finns- 
 burgh were found on a leaf of parchment in the 
 library of Lambeth Palace, by Dr. George Hickes, 
 the Non-Juror Dean of Worcester, for whom 
 Humfrey Wanley made his catalogue. Later, this 
 leaf disappeared, when the volume whose wrapper 
 it had become was sent to a binder, and the sole 
 extant authority for the fragment is the text 
 printed by Hickes in 1705 in his Ltnguarum Veter- 
 um Septentrionalium Thesaurus. Apart from its 
 evident merit as a battle-song, the fragment is of 
 great interest as corroborating the longest of the 
 lays in Beowulf ^ the song of Finn and Hildeburh 
 sung by Hrothgar's bard on the mead-bench after 
 the discomfiture of Grendel.f 
 
 The two fragments called Waldere were dis- 
 covered in i860 by the Royal Librarian at Copen- 
 hagen, among the papers left by Thorkelin, the 
 first editor of Beowulf. They are part of an epic, 
 the story of which is preserved in the Latin WaU 
 tharius Manufortts of Ekkehard of St. Gall, and 
 has been well summarised by Mr. Wyatt in his 
 
 t " Within the memory of man, an old person used to 
 perambulate the streets of Edinburgh, singing, in a monotonous 
 cadence, the tale of Rosewal and Lilian/' 
 
 Scott, Sir Tristrem (1804). 
 
 * Beowulf, lines 1068 to 1159. 
 
 xiii B 
 
Anglo- Saxon Reader, from which I quote : '' Walter 
 of Aquitaine, Hildegimd of the Burgundians, 
 his betrothed, and Hagen of the Franks were 
 taken as hostages by Attila and nobly reared at his 
 court. But in course of time Hagen escaped. So, 
 later, did the lovers, taking with them much 
 treasure, When they reached the Vosges, they 
 were attacked by the Prankish King Gunther and 
 twelve warriors, including Hagen, Walter's frater 
 juratus eleven warriors were slain by Walter in 
 the rocky pass, which was worth an army to him ; 
 then Gunther and Hagen withdrew and hid them- 
 selves. Their ruse succeeded ; next day the lovers 
 continued their journey, and were overtaken in 
 the plain by their two foes. Walter's appeal to 
 friendship is in vain, for Hagen has now a sister's 
 son to avenge. After hours of fighting, one against 
 two, the hero is still unconquered ; he has lost 
 his right hand, Hagen an eye, and Gunther a leg, 
 and in this condition they make peace, and jest 
 while Hildegund serves them with wine." In Old 
 English Walter becomes Waldere, Hildegund 
 Hildegyth, Gunther Guthhere (the same who gave 
 a gladsome jewel to Widsith), and Hagen Hagena. 
 
 HI 
 
 With my versification, prosodists are at liberty 
 to find what fault they will. Old English poetry 
 was composed not for the Hbrarian but for the 
 harpist, and if these versions of mine can be 
 shouted aloud to the harp or its equivalent, so 
 much the better. Apart from that, I have attempted 
 to make the sort of lines that an Englishman of 
 the Heptarchy would recognise as metrical, 
 though he might feel obliged to improve them in 
 a hundred ways. The first difficulty in translating 
 Old English is presented by its curiously primi- 
 tive syntax ; if this be retained, the effect is tedious 
 
 xiv 
 
and unreadable ; if it be too much amended the 
 original form is destroyed. Another difficulty is 
 the loss from our speech of many excellent words 
 in which the old poets found synonyms for the 
 things they most commonly described, such as 
 war, battle, army, soldier, sword, and, above all, 
 the sea. A third comes from our having dropped 
 the inflections from our words, so that what in 
 the original was a trochee, with its proper rhyth- 
 mical force, becomes a dull and unwieldy mono- 
 syllable. Yet another is the apparent loss of alliter- 
 ative value in words whose initials have changed, 
 I have escaped this by sometimes alliterating g 
 with y where the latter (as in ye, youth, etc.) repre- 
 sents an Old English g, and by alliterating I, n, r 
 and w with h and with each other when the Old 
 English initial is aspirated, hi, hn, hr, or hw. A 
 more difficult thing is the alliteration of com- 
 pound and prefixed words, in which it has been 
 impossible to follow consistently the rules observed 
 in the surviving corpus — some thirty thousand 
 lines — of pre-Conquest verse. Scholars, I repeat, 
 are at liberty to condemn both my metre and my 
 alliteration, provided that they shew me how 
 both may be improved. The general reader must 
 be content with my assurance that what follows 
 is a fair imitation of Old English Poetry, the chief 
 rules of which are as follows : 
 
 The line consists of two metrically equivalent 
 halves, separated in this volume by an oblique 
 stroke (/). In each half there are normally two* 
 accented syllables, and at least one accented syllable 
 in the first half-line is alliterated with one in the 
 second. All four syllables may be alliterated, or 
 any three ; or there may be double alliterations — 
 
 * Lines with three accented syllables in each half are rare 
 in Beowulf. Examples are 1 162-8, 1705-7, and there is 
 elsewhere a tendency to associate a third word with the two 
 most strongly accented in each half-line. Typical examples of 
 the lengthened line will be found in Judith. 
 
 XV 
 
ab/ ahyOrab Iba. For alliteration, all initial vowels 
 are reckoned the same, as are all aspirated vowels and 
 consonants — ha, he, hi, hi, hn, ho, hr, hu, and hw.'^ 
 
 To illustrate this I print the opening lines of 
 Beowulf in their original form, substituting th for 
 the old compound letter, and printing the accented 
 initials in italics : 
 
 Hwaet ! we Gar-Z)ena / in ^ear-^agum 
 ^Aeod-cyninga / thrym. ge/runon, 
 hu tha ttethelmgas / ^Uen/remedon. 
 Oft Scyld Sctfing j ^^eathena ?Areatum, 
 monegum maegthum / weodo-setla ofteah. 
 £'gsode eovXy / syththan arrest z(;earth 
 /ea-sceaft /unden ; / he thaes /rofre geiad, 
 wto^ under 2:c;olcnum, / et;eorth-myndum /^ah, 
 oth thaet Aim a^ghwylc / thara jmb-^ittendra 
 ofer /^ron-rade / Ayran ^^olde, 
 ^omban ^yldan ; / thaet waes ^od ryning. 
 
 IV 
 
 I have to acknowledge the kindness and the 
 candour of several critics who have allowed them- 
 selves to be burdened with parts of this book in 
 manuscript ; Professor Blyth Webster, to whom 
 I owe any knowledge I may have acquired of Old 
 English ; Professor Ker, whose warning I ought 
 to have taken ; Mr. J. C. Squire, who allowed me 
 to reprint the Dedication from his London Mer- 
 cury ; Mr. J. E. Gurdon, who seemed to think 
 the poem worth reading ; Mr. Arthur Waugh, 
 who has thought it worth publishing ; and, above 
 all and beyond all, Lord Northcliffe. 
 
 London, Charles Scott Moncrieff. 
 
 March, 1921. 
 
 f Of the words in Beowulf beginning with aspirated con- 
 sonants the commonest are hladan to load, hlaew a law or 
 burial-mound, hlaford 2. lord, hleahtor laughter, hlud loud, 
 hnah niggard, hrefn raven, hreoh rough, hring ring, hrof roof, 
 hron whale, hrycg ridge, hwa hzcaei who what, hwaer where, 
 and such words as now begin zvh, except uihi a whit. 
 
 xvi 
 
Dedication 
 
 TO 
 
 RICHARD REYNOLDS BALL, 
 
 WHO, LIKE BEOWULF, 
 
 TRAVELLED FEARLESSLY IN 
 
 A FAR COUNTRY, RISKING 
 
 HIS LIFE TO HELP THE 
 
 VICTIMS OF WAR AND 
 
 OPPRESSION, 
 
 UNTIL HE DIED 
 
 IN POLAND 
 
 IN DECEMBER, I919. 
 
 AND TO TWO OTHERS, 
 
 HIS FRIENDS AND MINE, 
 
 WHO HAVE FOLLOWED 
 
 FROM MY WORLD TO HIS : 
 
 JOHN SCOTT MONCRIEFF 
 
 GLADYS DALYELL 
 
 What ! My loved companion, /in coldness liest thou, 
 Finished with life, / in a land afar ? 
 From friends divided, / to death forsaken, 
 Farest thou alone / on Fate's errand. 
 The way of the world when / by the Will of God 
 Goeth to Him again / the gift He hath given. 
 His loan of life. / No less I mourn thee 
 Than did I those / whom Death went thieving, 
 Willing youths / in the years of war. 
 Our friends and our fellows, / though fain was I 
 of them 
 
 xvii 
 
When keenly I bewailed / my battle-comrades, 
 Finding them murdered / upon many fields. 
 When a little knave I was / knew I thee first 
 Since before me thou / wast born among men, 
 An elder friend / to those following after. 
 For thou wast living / thirt}^ years long, 
 Summers and winters, / ere war us sundered, 
 Friend from friend, / and four years following 
 Busily kept me / among killing banes. 
 Then thou wast w^ith foreign races, / 
 
 Russ-men and Frenchmen, 
 Serbs and Poles, / in the passing seasons, 
 Six \^dnter-tides, / while the tale of war 
 Pressed to an end ; / peace came after, 
 Prosperity promised / to the peoples on earth. 
 Welfare after warfare. / Would they then readily 
 Wind away, / the warriors mostly, 
 A stragghng few / of the fierce strugglers 
 Who out of the battle / had borne them aHve. 
 But thou wast for returning / whither trouble waited , 
 Famine and fever / among friendless folk. 
 Nor was it any time then till / must taste thou also 
 The dreary cup / that Christ erst drank. 
 Sad in soul, / the Sinners' Shepherd, 
 The Holy Lord, / whose Heart ever loveth us, 
 The Son of God / in the Garden of Sorrows, 
 On the eve of Death. / Even so didst thou also. 
 By fever fated. / Freely ever}'\vhere wentest thou. 
 Shooting not at enemies, / armed with no shield 
 Against threats / of evil-thinkers. 
 But smiling at terrors, / true and simple, 
 Diedst thou as thou hadst Hved, / dutifully. 
 Nor have I heard of a man/ having more of happiness. 
 Stronger and kinder / to kinsmen and strangers, 
 A warden of the wretched. / Will they easily 
 Bear in mind, / who may hereafter be born. 
 The English friend / of their fathers of old, 
 
 XVI u 
 
Who helped them in need, / and held back nothing, 
 
 Gave his life / for the love of God. 
 
 They will say that of men / in mind and soul 
 
 He excelled others / among all peoples. 
 
 In mood the mildest, / in mercy and pity 
 
 Best beloved, / most beautiful to remember 
 
 In the days / of this our life. 
 
 JunCy 1920. C. K. S. M, 
 
 XIX 
 
Arguments of the Poems 
 
 Widsith 
 
 Widsith, a wandering poet of the Myrging tribe, speaks. 
 He tells of the lands he has seen and the Kings who ruled 
 in them, and especially of Eormanric, who gave him treas- 
 ure, and of Eadgils, his own King, who gave him his father s 
 heritage. Such is the fortune of the minstrel ; wherever he 
 may wander, north or south, he may find a benefactor, sing 
 his praise, and be rewarded. 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 The poet recalls the power and prowess of the Danes ; 
 Shield of the Sheaf, their first King, who as a child came to 
 their shores, alone, in a ship, and, after his death, was sent 
 from their shores, alone, across the unknown ocean ; his 
 successors, Beowulf, Halfdane and Hrothgar. Hrothgar 
 orders his people to build him a great hall, which he calls 
 Heorot, in which, for a short time, they dwell in happiness. 
 Suddenly Grendel, a fiend from hell, of the accursed race 
 of Cain, invades the hall and snatches in their sleep thirty 
 of Hrothgar s thegns. The next night, he returns, and so, 
 for twelve years, the hall is deserted and the people plagued 
 Then Beowulf, a thegn and nephew of Higelac, King of 
 the Geats, hears in his home of the troubles of the Danes 
 and with fourteen picked companions crosses the sea to 
 their country. They are challenged by the coast-guard, who 
 is convinced of their friendly purpose, and guides them to 
 Heorot, where Beowulf is recognised and welcomed by 
 Hrothgar. At Hrothgar 's bidding the Geats sit down to 
 feast with the Danes. 
 
 Unferth, son of Ecglaf, a favourite of Hrothgar, is jealous 
 of Beowulf, and taunts him with his failure in a swimming- 
 match with Breca the Bronding. Beowulf replies, telling 
 the true story, and charging Unferth with cowardice in not 
 having dared to face Grendel. Wealhtheow, Hrothgar s 
 Queen, takes the cup round the hall, and Hrothgar retires 
 to rest. 
 
 xxi 
 
X Beowulf and his men lie down in the hall, and all but he 
 
 XI sleep. Then, out of the mists on the moors, comes Grendel; 
 he breaks through the doors and tears to pieces Hondscio, 
 one of Beo'SMjlf s men, whom he devours. 
 
 But Beowulf has the strength of thirty men in his hand ; 
 
 XII unarmed, he wrestles with Grendel, and at length tears off 
 his right arm. Mortally wounded, Grendel slinks home to 
 his lair in the fens. 
 
 XIII In the morning, young and old assemble ; they see Grendels 
 arm hanging by the roof of the hall, and follow the track 
 of his blood to the foul pool in which he has dived and 
 died. They race their horses homewards, and on the way 
 a minstrel sings to them of Sigemund and his war with the 
 dragon, and of Heremod, an evil King, who was betrayed 
 into the hands of his enemies. Not so, he says, is Beowulf. 
 
 XIV Hrothgar and his Queen leave their bower and come to the 
 hall, where he gives thanks to God, seeing GrendeFs arm 
 exposed there. He hails Beowulf as his son, and promises 
 him ample rewards. Beowailf describes the fight. Ecglaf is 
 shamed into silence. 
 
 XV Heorot is adorned for a feast with golden hangings. Hroth- 
 gar bestows armour, treasure and horses upon Beowulf, 
 
 XVI and other gifts upon each of his companions. The bard 
 then sings the lay of Finn, a Frisian King, who had carried 
 off Hildeburh, the daughter of Hoc, and was attacked by 
 her brothers, Hnaef and Hengest. Hnaef and Finn's son 
 
 XVII are killed, and Finn makes a pact with Hengest, who re- 
 mains in his burgh through the winter. The bodies of the 
 slain are burned. Hengest plans revenge, but the Frisians 
 attack him, and he is killed. Later, two of his men, Guthlaf 
 and Oslaf, return to Finn's country, kill him and carry 
 Hildeburh back to her home. 
 
 Wealhtheow again goes through the hall with the flagon, 
 
 XVIII which she gives to Hrothgar. She also gives Beowulf a 
 necklace, the greatest in the world, which, in later years, 
 Higelac is to wear when he invades the Low Countries, and 
 falls in fight with the Franks. The feast ends, and the 
 company separate. 
 
 XIX But now another horror comes upon them. Grendel's 
 mother, a monster-wife, greedy to avenge her son, enters 
 upon the hall, seizes and carries off Aeschere, the close 
 
 XX companion and trusted counsellor of Hrothgar. Sending 
 for Beowulf, Hrothgar tells him the news, and describes 
 the enchanted mere in which the monsters lurk. If Beo- 
 wulf will venture there he shall have farther rewards. 
 
 XXI Beowulf accepts the challenge, and, with Hrothgar and his 
 men, sets out for the mere. He arms himself, and Unferth , 
 
 xxii 
 
now cured of his boasting, lends him his own sword, Hrunt- 
 
 XXII ing, which had never failed any man in battle. Beowulf 
 commends his followers to Hrothgar's care, and bequeaths 
 his own sword to Unferth ; he then dives into the mere, 
 and for a whole day sinks towards the bottom, attacked as 
 he falls, by all manner of monsters. At last Grendel's mother, 
 conscious of his approach, comes from her den, and seizing 
 Beowulf carries him down to a cave where no water comes. 
 There they fight by fire-light, but the sword will not wound 
 the creature, and Beowulf, flinging it down, catches her 
 by the shoulder and throws her to the floor. She pulls him 
 down after her, and draws her knife ; but God protects 
 him. 
 
 XXIII On the wall of the cave he sees an old sword, of giants '^ 
 forging. He draws it, and cuts off her head. Then he sees 
 Grendel on the ground, dead or dying, and cuts off his 
 head also, and with it and the old sword dives upwards 
 through the blood-stained water. But in the poisonous blood 
 the old sword melts like an icicle in spring, and only the 
 hilt of it remains. Hrothgar and his Danes have gone home, 
 and Beowulf's men are left sorrowing on the shore, watch- 
 ing the eddies of blood in the water, when their Captain 
 emerges. They disarm him, take up Grendel's head, and 
 return to Heorot, where the Danes are at table with their 
 King and Queen. 
 
 Beowulf tells Hrothgar of the battle, and gives him the hilt 
 of the old sword. Hrothgar exalts him above all men, and 
 again contrasts him with the wicked King Heremod. All 
 men are mortal, and earthly pride avails little, unless a man 
 chooses the Way of God. For the last time, the Geats feast 
 in Heorot, and then the weary Beowulf is led to rest. In 
 the morning he restores Hrunting to Ecglaf, and announces 
 that he must return to his own country, and to Higelac, his 
 King. He and Hrothgar kiss one another and part, and the 
 Geats go down to their ship and put out to sea. 
 
 Higelac was a proud King, his house high and beautiful, 
 his Queen, Hygd, very young, but wise ; unlike Thrytho, 
 the Queen of Offa, who caused the death of her husband's 
 courtiers, though some say that she, after her marriage, 
 grew wise also. 
 
 XXVIII The Geats land and make their way to Higelac 's hall, where 
 they are welcomed by him ; Hygd, his Queen, gives them 
 to drink, and Beowulf tells his adventures. He speaks of 
 Hrothgar 's daughter, Freawaru, whom he saw in Heorot ; 
 she is betrothed to Ingeld, son of Froda, a Heathobeard 
 Prince, which may make for peace now between Danes 
 
 POOC] and Heathobeards but may also lead to quarrels later. He 
 
 xxni 
 
then relates his fights with Grendel and in the mere. He 
 then brings in Hrothgar's gifts and offers them to his own 
 lord, who gives him in return the sword of his father Hrethel, 
 seven thousands of money, and a home. So Beowulf, who 
 had been despised in his youth, and accounted slack, lives 
 in prosperity with Higelac. 
 
 Years pass. Higelac is killed, and Heardred his son ; Beo- 
 wulf succeeds to the kingdom, and reigns for fifty years. 
 Then a dragon which for centuries has lived in a burial 
 mound, guarding a hoard of treasure, awakes and, finding 
 the treasure disturbed, flies out over Beowulf's country. 
 {Here the manuscript is much damaged by fire), A man un- 
 named, a slave fleeing from punishment, has taken refuge 
 in the mound, and has seen there all the treasures of some 
 ancient and forgotten race, which the last survivor, mourn- 
 ing his friends and despairing of his own life, had hidden 
 there, so that they might never again be enjoyed by man. 
 The dragon, who had found the place open, had lain there 
 for three hundred years, and slept. Then this man takes a 
 cup from -the hoard and offers it to his master. The dragon, 
 in fury, comes out flaming, and burns the homes of the 
 people and Beowulf s hall. Beowulf orders a shield of iron 
 to be made him, and vows that he will go out alone against 
 the monster. The earlier battles are recalled, by which he 
 won his kingdom. 
 
 Eleven men follow him to the mound ; he bids them fare- 
 well, and recounts the story of his own youth, of Hrethel 
 and his sons ; one of them, Haethcyn, had killed his elder 
 brother with an arrow. Powerless to do justice, Hrethel 
 pined and died. The Swedes then invaded the country, and 
 Haethcyn was killed. 
 
 Beowulf advances to the mouth of the mound, and chal- 
 lenges the dragon, which comes hurtling out in smokfr and 
 flame to meet him. Of his men, all seek safety in a wood 
 save one, Wiglaf, son of Weohstan, who draws his father's 
 sword, rebukes his companions, and wades through the 
 flames to Beowulf's side. Beowulf's sword breaks, and the 
 dragon rushes upon him a third time, and catches him by 
 the neck. Wiglaf wounds the dragon, whose fire begins to 
 slacken ; then Beowulf kills it, but himself faints with his 
 wounds. He bids Wiglaf fetch out the treasure from the 
 mound, that he may see it before he dies. Wiglaf enters the 
 mound, and finds there great treasures, which he rifles and 
 brings to Beowulf. Beowulf thanks God for them, and bids 
 Wiglaf have a barrow made for him upon the Whale's 
 
 xxiv 
 
Headland, looking over the sea. He gives him his own 
 armour and dies. 
 
 PJXXIX] The dragon lies dead beside him, Wiglaf w^atching over 
 both, when the ten companions come shamefully from the 
 
 XL wood. Wiglaf rebukes them bitterly, and sends the news of 
 
 Beowulf s death to the rest of his people. The messenger 
 warns them that the Frisians and Franks, who had killed 
 Higelac, would now invade them ; the Swedes also would 
 avenge the Battle in Ravenswood, where Higelac punished 
 them for the killing of Haethcyn. Beowulf's body must now 
 be burned, and the jewels with it. They go to the mound, 
 and seven of them, \vith Wiglaf, enter the enchanted treas- 
 ure-house. Wiglaf orders wood to be brought from near 
 and far for the burning. The dragon's body is flung over 
 the cliff. 
 
 XLI A great pile is built up for Beowulf, and decked with ar- 
 
 mour. His body is laid there, and burned. His wife (?) 
 laments him, and foretells coming disasters. Then, for ten 
 days, his men build a mound over the ashes, and bury with 
 him the treasures from the hoard. Round the mound ride 
 twelve champions, lamenting his death and proclaiming his 
 worth. 
 
 Finnsburgh 
 
 (A fragment of the story summarised in Beowulf, lines 
 1068-1159, beginning here with the last three words of a 
 question.) 
 
 Hengest and his men are surprised in their hall by the 
 Frisians. — " Surely the gables are not burning ? " asks 
 one, and Hengest (?) answers : ** This is not the light of 
 dawn, nor a fiery dragon, nor are the gables burning. But 
 they are coming against us, in clashing armour. Awake and 
 prepare to fight." They go to the doors, Sigeferth and Eaha 
 to one end. Ordlaf (? the Oslaf of Beowtdf 1148), Guthlaf 
 and Hengest to the other. Sigeferth challenges the attackers, 
 and they fight for five days, slaying many Frisians, but 
 without loss to themselves, avenging the memory of Hnaef . 
 One of them, wounded, makes his way to his King, vrith 
 news of the battle. (It appears from Beowulf , 1 142-4, that 
 Hengest was killed by an otherwise unknown Hunlafing). 
 
 XXV 
 
 r 
 
Waldere 
 
 Hildegyth encourages Waldere before the fight, reminding 
 him that his sword, the Mimming, Weland s masterpiece, 
 has never yet failed any man powerful enough to wield it. 
 Now is the hour of death or victory. Never in the past has 
 she seen him draw back from battle. He has offered tribute 
 to Guthhere, who has refused it. Therefore must Guthhere 
 pay the penalty in battle. . . . 
 
 II 
 
 (Guthhere praises Waldere 's) sword, the Mimming, which 
 Theodoric had owned, and had been minded to give, with 
 other treasures, to Weland's son Widia. 
 Waldere replies boasting that he has not been defeated by 
 Hagena, and that he now defies the assault of Guthhere, 
 trusting to God for protection 
 
 Deor 
 
 Deor, a minstrel, recounts the sorrows of Weland, who 
 was imprisoned and mutilated by King Nithhad. But he 
 escaped. Beadohild, Nithhad s daughter, had cause for 
 sorrow, for Weland had outraged her, and killed her brothers. 
 (By him she became the mother of Widia). But her sorrows 
 passed. The Geatish King {} Nithhad) was maddened by 
 love, which robbed him of sleep. But that passed. Theo- 
 doric was for thirty years an exile. But that passed. Eor- 
 manric, the cruel King, held many a man in captivity, who 
 longed for the fall of his kingdom. That also passed. 
 Those who sit in sorrow and misfortune must remember 
 that God often makes the wretched happy and brings down 
 the haughty. 
 
 The poet himself, Deor, bard of the Heodenings, was 
 cherished by his lord until Heorrenda robbed him of his 
 inheritance. Yet this trouble also may pass. 
 
 xxvi 
 
Widsith 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 Finnsburgh ♦ Waldere ♦ Deor 
 
Widsith 
 
 Widsith made utterance, / his word-hoard 
 
 unlocked, 
 He who most of men / among meinies on the earth 
 And folks had wandered ; / oft on the floor he took 
 Lovely treasure. / From the loins of the Myrgings* 
 Offspring he arose. / He with Ealhhild 
 Faithful Peace-Weaver, / on his first journey 
 The Hreth-King's / home did seek 
 From the East, out of Angel, / Eormanrice^s 
 The fierce and faithless. / Began he then in fulness 
 
 to speak : 
 
 ^* Of many men have I heard, / masters of peoples; 
 
 Must every king / by custom live. 
 
 One earl after another / his own home govern, 
 
 He who his throne -stool / to thrive wishes. 
 
 Of these was Hwala / awhile the best, 
 
 i\nd Alexander / of all the richest 
 
 Of man's kindred, / and he most thrived 
 
 Of them whose fame / afar I have heard. 
 
 Attila ruled the Huns, / Eormanric the Goths, 
 
 Becca the Bainings, / the Burgunds Gifica. 
 
 Caesar ruled the Greeks / and Gaelic the Finns, 
 
 Hagena the Holm-Rugians / and Heoden the 
 
 Glommas. 
 Witta ruled the Swaefs, / Wada the Haelsings, 
 Meaca the Myrgings, / Marchalf the Hundings. 
 Theodric ruled the Franks, / Thyle the Rondings, 
 Breca the Brondings, / Billing the Wernas. 
 Oswine ruled the Eowas / and the lutes Gefwulf , 
 Fin Folcwalding / the Frisian kindred. 
 Sigehere longest / the Sea-Danes ruled, 
 Hnaef the Hoccings, / Helm the Wulfings, 
 Wald the Woings, / Wod the Thyrings, 
 
Saeferth the Sycgs, / the Swedes Ongentheow, 
 
 Sceafthere the Ymbras, / Sheaf the Longbeards, 
 
 Hun the Hetwaras / and Holen the Wrosnas. 
 
 Hringweald was hight / the Herefaras' King. 
 
 OfFa ruled Angel, / Alewih the Danes ; 
 
 He was of those men / highest-minded of all ; 
 
 Yet never did he over Offa / in earlship excel ; 
 
 But Offa fashioned / first among men, 
 
 When a young knave was he, / of kingdoms the 
 
 greatest ; 
 40 No one of an age with him / earlship mightier 
 Wrought in the onslaught / with one sword : 
 The march he measured / with the Myrgings 
 By Fifeldor ; / thenceforth they held it. 
 Angle and Swaef / as Offa drew it. 
 Hrothwulf and Hrothgar / held the longest 
 Union together, / uncle and nephew, 
 After they had cast out / the kin of the Vikings 
 And Ingelde's / army had humbled, 
 Hewn down at Heorot / the Heathobeards' host. 
 50 So I fared through mjuny / foreign lands 
 Over the wide earth ; / of good and evil 
 There I made trial ; / from my tribe divided. 
 From my kinsmen far, / I followed men widely. 
 Wherefore I may sing / and say my story, 
 Mention before the multitude / in the mead-hall 
 How kingly-good men / kindness shewed me. 
 I was with Huns / and with Hreth-Goths 
 With Swedes and with Geats / and with 
 
 South-Danes. 
 With Vandals I was and with Vaerns / and with 
 
 Vikings. 
 60 With Gifthas I was and with Wends / and with 
 
 Gefflegs. 
 With Angles I was and with Swaefs / and with 
 
 Aenenas. 
 With Saxons I was and with Sycgs / and with 
 
 Swordsmen. 
 With Whales I was and with Deans / and with 
 
 Heatho-Reams. 
 
With Thyrings I was / and with Throwends 
 And I was with Burgunds, / there a bracelet I had ; 
 There Guthhere gave me / a gladsome jewel 
 For my song in payment ; / 'twas no sluggard 
 
 King. 
 With Franks I was and with Frisians / and with 
 
 Frumtings. 
 With Rugians I was and with Glommas / and 
 
 with Rome- Welsh. 
 Also I was in Italy / with Aelfwine ; 
 Who had of mankind, / in my hearing, 
 The lightest hand / for laudable works, 
 The heart least niggard / when rings were 
 
 dealing, 
 Brightest bracelets, / that bairn of Eadwine. 
 With Saracens I was / and with Syrians. 
 With Creeks I was and with Finns / and with 
 
 Caesar, 
 With him who the joy-burghs / by justice ruled, 
 Wealth and good-will / and the Welsh kingdom. 
 With Scots I was and with Picts / and with 
 
 Skating-Finns. 
 With Lidwicings I was and with Leons / and with 
 
 Longbeards, 
 With Heathens and with Haereths / and with 
 
 Hundings. 
 With Israelites I was / and with Assyrians, 
 With Ebrews and with Indians / and with 
 
 Egyptians. 
 With Medes I was and with Persians / and with 
 
 Myrgings 
 And Mofdings / and Counter-Myrgings 
 And with Amo things. / With East-Thyrings I was 
 And with Eols and with Iste / and Idumings. 
 And I was with Eormanric / all the time. 
 There the Gothic King / was good to me ; 
 A bracelet he gave me, / the burghers' lord, 
 Wherein were six hundred / of smelted gold 
 Coins reckoned, / counted in shillings ; 
 This I to Eadgils' / ownership gave, 
 
To my lord and helper, / when to my home I 
 
 came, 
 To my friend as a fee / for that he furnished land 
 
 to me, 
 My father's heritage, / the Head of the Myrgings. 
 And then also Ealhhild / another gave me, 
 Ducal-Queen of the doughty, / daughter of 
 
 Eadwine. 
 Her laud was prolonged / through lands many, 
 
 loo When I in song / was set to say 
 
 Where I under the sky / had seen the best 
 Gold-decked Queen / giving treasures. 
 When Shilling and I / with sheer voices 
 Before our royal Lord / upraised the song, 
 When loud to the harp / the hit made melody, 
 Then many men / whose minds were proud 
 In words did say, / who well had knowledge. 
 That they never a sweeter / song had heard. 
 Thence I roamed over all / the realm of the Goths, 
 
 no Sought I ever the best / of boon-companions ; 
 That was the indwellers / with Eormanric. 
 Hethca sought I and Beadeca/ and the Herelings, 
 Emerca sought I and Fridla / and East-Gota 
 Old and gallant, / Unwen's father. 
 Secca sought I and Becca, / Seafola and Theodric, 
 Heathoric and Sifeca, / Hlithe and Incgentheow. 
 Eadwine sought I and Elsa, / Aegelmund and 
 
 Hungar 
 And the proud company / of Counter-Myrgings. 
 Wulfhere sought I and Wyrmhere ; / full oft there 
 war abated not, 
 
 120 When the host of the Hreths / with hard swords 
 By the Wistula Wood / must watch and ward 
 Their ancient seat / from Attila's people. 
 Raedhere sought I and Rondhere, / Rumstan and 
 
 Gislhere, 
 Withergyld and Freotheric, / Wudga and Hama ; 
 Nor were they of comrades / the worst to me. 
 Though I must name them / nearest the end. 
 Full oft from that host / whining flew 
 
The howling spear / on a hostile people ; 
 Wanderers, they governed there / by wounden 
 
 gold 
 Husbands and wives, / Wudga and Hama, 
 So I have found it ever, / in all my faring 
 That he is loved the best / by the land-dwellers. 
 To whom God giveth / governance of men 
 To have and to hold / while here he liveth/^ 
 
 So wandering far / by fate are driven 
 
 Men^s lay-singers / over lands many. 
 
 Their thrifts say they, / thankful words speak they. 
 
 Ever, south or north, / with some one meet they 
 
 Apt in glees, / of gifts unsparing. 
 
 Who before the fighters wishes / his fame to exalt, 
 
 Earlship to achieve, / until all is scattered, 
 
 Light and life together ; / laud he gaineth, 
 
 Hath under the heavens / high fame and fast. 
 
BEOWULF 
 
 WHAT ! We of Spear-Danes / in spent days. 
 
 Of the Folk-Kings' / force have heard, 
 
 How the Athelings / excelled in fight* 
 
 Oft Shield of the Sheaf / from scathing hordes. 
 
 From many meinies / their mead-stools tore. 
 
 Affrighted them the Earl, / since erst he was 
 
 Found, unwealthy ; / then friendship he awaited, 
 
 Waxed under the welkin, / in worship throve. 
 
 Until that each one / of those out-dwelling 
 
 Over the whale-road, / must hearken to him, 
 
 Gold must give him. / That was a good King. 
 
 His offspring was / afterwards known, 
 
 Young in the yards, / whom God sent 
 
 The folk to befriend ; / the fierce dearth He knew 
 
 They had ere then endured, / lacking elders 
 
 A long while. / To him the Life-Lord, 
 
 Glory's Wielder, / world-honour gave* 
 
 Noble was Beowulf / (bloomed wide his name) 
 
 Shielde's son / in the Scede-lands. 
 
 So shall a young groom / work his own good. 
 
 By full fees given / to friends of his father. 
 
 That with him in his age / they may ever abide. 
 
 Willing comrades, / whenas war cometh, 
 
 To serve the people ; / by praised deeds shall 
 
 One man thrive / among all man-kind. 
 
 Turned aside then Shield / in the time shaped 
 
 for him, 
 Full-ripe, to fare / in Freaks keeping. 
 Him then out they bare / to the brink of ocean. 
 His sweet companions, / so himself had bidden. 
 While his words had weight, / welcome friend of 
 
 Shieldings ; 
 A beloved land-chief, / long had he reigned. 
 
There in the roads / ring-stemmed she stood, 
 Icy, out-faring, / an atheling's craft : 
 Laid they down then / the lovely Prince, 
 Bestower of bracelets, / in the breast of the ship, 
 Their man by the mast. / There was a mass of 
 
 wealth, 
 Fretted gold ferried / from far away. 
 Nor heard I of a keel / more comely-wise garnished 
 With brave w^eapons / and battle -weeds, 
 
 40 With bills and bymies ; / on his breast lay 
 Many treasures / that must with him 
 In the flood's keeping / fare afar. 
 Nothing less / of gifts they allowed him, 
 Of their possessions / than had those 
 Who at his first faring / forth had sent him 
 Alone over ocean, / an infant indeed. 
 Still more, they stood up for him / a golden 
 
 standard 
 High over head ; / they let the holm bear him. 
 Sent him to the Spear-Man ; / sad was their soul, 
 
 50 Mournful their mood. / For men knew not 
 How soothly to say, / men seely in council. 
 Of their hero under heaven / who that lading 
 received. 
 
I 
 
 Then in the burghs / was Beowulf Shielding, 
 
 Loved Lord of the People, / a long time 
 
 Famed mid the folk, / (his father had elsewhither 
 
 turned. 
 Being old, from the earth) / until to him after was 
 
 born 
 Haughty Halfdane ; / he held while he lived, 
 Grey-haired, war-greedy, / the glad Shieldings. 
 
 To him four bairns / forth in order 
 Awoke to the world, / the warriors' leader 
 Heorogar, and Hrothgar / and Halga the kind ; 
 Heard I that the other j was Owela's Queen, 
 The Battle-Scilfing's / bed-companion. 
 
 Then was granted to Hrothgar / good-speed with 
 
 the host. 
 Such worship in war / that his willing kinsmen 
 Hearkened to him gladly / until the youth waxed 
 
 great, 
 A mighty band ; / it was borne on his mind 
 That a Hall-house / he would have 
 Made him by men, / a mightier mead-place 
 Than men's oflFspring / remembered ever. 
 And there, inside, / he would deal out to all. 
 The young with the old, / as God had endowed 
 
 him. 
 Save the folk-share / and the fates of men. 
 Then widely I heard that / the work was ordered 
 Of many meinies / over this middle-garth. 
 To furnish the folk-stead. / In time it befell him, 
 Early among men, / that it all was ready. 
 Of hall-places mightiest ; / he made its name 
 
 Heorot, 
 He who his word / had widely wielded. 
 His boast he belied not, / bracelets he dealt them, 
 Treasure at table. / Towered that hall 
 High, its horns gaping ; / battle-heat it abode 
 
Of the loathly flame. / Nor was it long thereafter 
 That the sword-hatred / of daughter's husband 
 Against wife's father / should awaken. 
 
 Hardly then / that ghost of horror 
 Bore the delay, / he that in darkness abode, 
 While he each day / their happiness heard 
 Loud in the hall ; / there was sound of harping, 
 90 Shrill song of the shaper. / Said he that knew how 
 Men's origin / from of old to reckpn, 
 The Almighty, quoth he, / wrought the earth, 
 Our bright-seeming weald / in water embosomed ; 
 Battle-Happy, He set / the sun and the moon 
 For lights to lighten / the land-indwellers, 
 And adorned all / the ends of the earth 
 With leafy limbs ; / Hfe eke he shaped 
 For each of the kindreds / that quickened do move. 
 
 So then the people's men / dwelt in prosperity, 
 100 Blessed and happy, / until one began 
 
 Felony to fashion, / a fiend out of hell : 
 Was that grim guest / Grendel hight, 
 A mighty march-stepper, / who the moors held, 
 Fen and fastness ; / through the fif el-kin's realm 
 The wanchancy wight / long while had wandered, 
 Since him the Shaper / had proscribed. 
 On Caine's kin / He avenged that killing. 
 The Lord Eternal, / for that Abel he slew. 
 No joy found He in that feud, / but far exiled him, 
 1 10 The Maker for the murder, / from out man-kind. 
 Thence abominations / all arose, 
 Etins and elves, / orcneys also. 
 Likewise giants / that with God strove 
 For many days ; / that doom He dealt them. 
 
 ic 
 
II 
 
 He went then to have knowledge, / when night 
 
 was come, 
 Of the high house, / how in it the Ring-Danes 
 After beer-drinking / were bestowed. 
 He found then inside / the atheling-band 
 Asleep after supper ; / no sorrow they knew, 
 
 120 Nor miseries of men. / The monster of unhealing. 
 Grim and greedy, / was speedily yare. 
 Fierce and furious, / and took forth from their beds 
 Thirty thegns. / Thence a^in he departed, 
 Happy in his haul, / homewards to fare. 
 From amidst that destruction, / to visit his dwelling- 
 Then in the dawn, / with the day's first light, 
 Grendel's war-craft / was kenned of men ; 
 Then were, after his gorging, / groans upraised. 
 Much sound in the morning. / The mighty Lord, 
 
 130 Jewel of athelings, / sate all joyless, 
 
 Tholed his strong wrong, / thegn-sorrow endured, 
 
 Whenas they looked / on the loathly traces 
 
 Of the cursed spirit ; / that strife was too strong, 
 
 Loathly and lasting. / Nor was it longer in time 
 
 Than one night after, / again he accomplished 
 
 More of murders, / and minded not 
 
 Their feuds nor their force ; / too fast was he fixed 
 
 in them. 
 Then was easily found / he who elsewhere 
 More roomily / his rest would seek, 
 
 140 A bed mid the bowers, / for beaconed to them 
 was, 
 Soothly spoken, / by a simple token, ^ 
 The hate of that hall-thegn ; / he held himself 
 
 thenceforth 
 Farther and faster / who that fiend outwiled. 
 
 So ruled he them / and against the right fought 
 One against all, / till that idle it stood, 
 
 II 
 
The holiest of houses. / That was some while ; 
 
 Twelve winter-tides / the taunt he tholed, 
 
 The Friend of Shieldings,/ all forms of grief, 
 
 Swelling sorrows ; / since when it was 
 
 Openly known / to the offspring of men 
 
 In gloomy glees, / that Grendel fought 
 
 Awhile with Hrothgar, / waged hateful war, 
 
 Force and feud / in the following seasons. 
 
 Strife unceasing ; / nor in sympathy would 
 
 From any man / of the Danish meiny 
 
 Keep afar off that life-bane, / for a fee compound. 
 
 Nay, none of the wise there / need wish for any 
 
 Brighter boon / at the hands of the bane. 
 
 A wanton wretch / was worrying them, 
 
 A dark death-shadow, / the doughty and young. 
 
 Snared them and netted them, / nightly he 
 
 stalked 
 The misty moors ; / men know not 
 Whither hell's rune-spellers / hie in their 
 
 roamings. 
 
 So many crimes / man-kinde's foe, 
 That awful alone-goer / often planned, 
 Harsher humblings ; / Heorot he haunted. 
 That bright treasure-hall / in the blackness of 
 
 night. 
 Nor to greet the gift-stool / might he go. 
 Decked for the Creator, / nor have his desire ; 
 1 70 That was much shame / for the Friend of 
 Shieldings, 
 Breaking of mood. / Often sate many 
 Men rich in rune-lore, / their rede they pondered, 
 What it were best / for the bold-hearted 
 To frame against / their griesly fears. 
 
 At whiles they vowed / in the heathen-tents 
 Of idol-worship, / prayed with words 
 
 12 
 
That the Slayer of Spirits / succour would send 
 
 them 
 Against that plague of the people. / Such was their 
 
 practice, 
 The hope of the heathen ; / 'twas hell they 
 
 remembered 
 In the thoughts of their minds. / Their Maker 
 
 they knew not, 
 The Dempster of deeds, / nor wist of Divine God, 
 Nor indeed the Helm of Heaven / knew they to 
 
 honour. 
 The Wielder of Glory. / Woe worth him who shall 
 Through slaying spite / his soul shuffle 
 Into the clutches of fire, / and find no comfort. 
 Nor wend thence a whit ; / well worth him who 
 
 may 
 After his death-day / the Divine Lord seek, 
 And in the Arms of the Father / find refreshment. 
 
 Ill 
 
 So in that time-sorrow / the son of Halfdane 
 Was seethed without ceasing ; / nor might the 
 
 sage hero 
 Win a change from his woe ; / was that warfare 
 
 too stiff. 
 Loathly and lasting, / that on the folk landed ; 
 Need pressed them with grim hate, / of 
 
 night-banes the greatest. 
 Till heard from his home / Higelac's thegn. 
 So good mid the Geats, / of GrendeFs deeds ; 
 He was of man-kind's / meiny the strongest 
 In the days / of this our Hfe, 
 Well-born and waxing. / He bade him a 
 
 wave-glider 
 Good be got ready ; / quoth he, the great King 
 Over the swan-road / he would seek. 
 That mighty Lord, / since men he lacked. 
 
 13 
 
For that way-faring / his wise fellows 
 
 Blamed him but little, / though loved of them he 
 
 was ; 
 His high-mind they whetted, / watched holy 
 
 omens. 
 He had, good man, / from the Geatish people 
 Champions chosen, / of those that keenest 
 Might be found : / with fourteen else 
 The sound-wood he sought ; / a sailor shewed 
 
 them, 
 A lake-crafty man / the land-marks. 
 On time went ; / on the waves was their ship, 
 A boat under bergs. / The boys all ready 
 Stepped on the stem ; the stream was washing 
 The sound on the sand ; / those seamen bare 
 Into the breast of the bark / bright adornments. 
 Wondrous war-armour ; / well out they shoved 
 
 her, 
 (Wights willing to journey) / with wooden beams. 
 
 bounden. 
 Went then over the waves, / as the wind drave 
 
 her. 
 The foamy-necked floater, / to a fowl best likened, 
 Till about the same time / on the second day 
 Her winding stem / had waded so far 
 That the sailors / land could see. 
 Shore-cliffs shining, / mountains sheer. 
 Spreading sea-nesses ; / then was the sound 
 
 crossed 
 At the end of ocean. / Thereon up quickly 
 The folk of the Weders / walked on to the fields, 
 Secured their sea-wood : / their sarks rattled, 
 Weeds of war ; / and God they worshipped. 
 For that the way o'er the waves / so easy was. 
 Then saw from the wall / the Shieldings' 
 
 watchman, 
 (He who the holm-cliffs / had to hold,) 
 Them bear over the bulwarks / their bright 
 
 targets, 
 
 14 
 
Arms ready for action ; / amazement brake 
 
 On the thoughts of his mind, / what men were 
 
 these. 
 Hied him then to the haven, / on a horse riding, 
 The thegn of Hrothgar ; / in his hand he 
 
 brandished 
 Strongly his spear- wood, / and solemn words 
 
 spake : 
 *' What are ye / having armour, 
 A band in byrnies, / who thus a tall bark 
 Over the lake-street / leading, are come. 
 Hither over the holms ? / Awhile I on the wall 
 Have been set at the end, / the sea-guard have 
 
 held. 
 That in the land of Danes / no loathly foeman 
 With men in ships / scathe us might. 
 Not more openly hither / have attempted to come 
 Any shield-bearers ; / nor the secret word 
 Of our war-planners / wist ye readily. 
 The consent of our kindred. / Never saw I 
 
 comelier 
 Earl upon earth / than is one of you, 
 A man in his mail-coat ; / that is no hall-minion 
 Made worthy by weapons ; / unless his visage belie 
 
 him, 
 An air unmatched. / Now shall I your 
 
 Lineage learn, / ere leaving here ye 
 
 Lying spies / into the land of Danes 
 
 Fare forth farther. / Now ye far-dwellers, 
 Mere-joiirneyers, / hearken to my 
 Simple thought ; / swiftest is safest 
 To let me ken / whence your coming is," 
 
 15 
 
IV 
 
 To him the eldest / made his answer, 
 
 The wise man of the war-band / his word-hoard 
 
 unlocked : 
 26c ** We are a group / of the Geatish people 
 And Higelace's / hearth-companions. 
 My father was / famed among folks, 
 A noble ancestor, / Ecgtheow namely ; 
 He abode many winters / ere on his way he went 
 So old from the earth ; / have him easily in mind 
 Well-nigh all the wise, / this wide world over. 
 We with loving minds / the Lord of thee, 
 Halfdane's son, / are come to seek. 
 The Helper of the lowly ; / be thou good to us in 
 
 thy lore. 
 270 We have with that mighty one / a mickle errand, 
 With the Lord of Danes. / Nor shall aught of it 
 
 doubtful 
 Remain, as I ween. / Thou wist if it is 
 So, as we soothly / have heard it said. 
 That against the Shieldings / I know not what 
 
 scather 
 Deep-hidden, deed-hateful, / in darkest 
 
 night-time 
 Teaches by terror / troubles untold, 
 Havoc and humbling. / To Hrothgar I may 
 In the room of his heart / a rede impart. 
 How he, old and bold, / may that bane overpower, 
 280 If there should ever / end for him 
 
 This baleful business, / boons come after. 
 
 And the welling cares / wax cooler ; 
 
 Or if, ever after, / a time of anguish. 
 
 Throes of need he must thole, / while there it 
 
 lasteth, 
 Builded on high, / the best of houses." 
 The watchman spake, / where his horse he sate. 
 An officer unf earing : / '' Either way should 
 A sharp shield-warrior / know how to skim 
 Words from works, / one that well thinketh. 
 
 16 
 
This I find, / that this band is friendly 
 
 To the Lord of Shieldings. / Lead ye forth then 
 
 Your weeds and weapons ; / the way I shew you. 
 
 Likewise I call / the thegns my kinsmen 
 
 From any foe / your floating bark, 
 
 Your ship on the shingle / shining with tar, 
 
 To hold with honour / till hereafter she bear 
 
 Over the lake-streams / the man beloved, 
 
 That wood with winding-prow, / to Weder-mark. 
 
 To a man of good-will, / to such is given 
 
 The heat of battle / hale to bear." 
 
 Forth went they faring ; / the floater abode still, 
 
 Stood to her cable / the stout-breasted ship, 
 
 Fast at anchor. / The Boar's image shone 
 
 Above the cheek-guards / chequered with gold. 
 
 Bright, burned to hardness ; / the Boar kept watch. 
 
 Battle-minded they snorted, / the men burst 
 
 forward, 
 Trooped down together, / till they the timbered hall 
 Gold-decked and garnished / got in sight : 
 That was the foremost / in fame among folk 
 Of roofs under heaven / where the rich one abode; 
 The light of it lightened / many lands. 
 To them then the battle-hero / that house of bold 
 
 hearts 
 Shewed where it shone, / so that they should 
 Bear towards it straightway : / that bairn of war 
 Wheeling his steed / a word after spake : 
 '* 'Tis time I fare hence ; / may the Father 
 
 All-Wielding, 
 With Rod of Mercy / rule you all 
 Safe on your ways ! / I will to the sea 
 Against wrathful warriors / watch to hold." 
 
 The street was stone-paven, / steering a path 
 For the men together. / Each mail-coat shone, 
 Hard and hand-Hnked, / the ring-iron bright 
 Sang in their sarks, / as soon to the hall, 
 
 17 I 
 
In their griesly gear / going, they came. 
 They set, sea- weary, / broad-sided shields, 
 Hardened bosses / by that house's wall ; 
 They bent then to the benches ; / their bymies 
 
 rang. 
 War-mail of men : / in a mass there stood 
 Spears, seamen's armour, / assembled together, 
 
 330 Ash-wood grey-tipped ; / was that iron troop 
 Wealthy in weapons. / Then a warrior brave 
 Of those athletes / their origin asked. 
 '' Whence bring ye / these beaten shields, 
 These grey sarks / and shutten helms, 
 This heap of war-shafts .'^ / I am Hrothgar's 
 Usher, arm-bearer. / Ne'er saw I from elsewhere 
 So many men / in mood more bold. 
 I ween that from pride, / not as wretches in 
 
 exile. 
 But sound in heart / Hrothgar ye have sought/' 
 
 340 The great in daring / gave him answer. 
 
 Proud Prince of Weders / a word after spake, 
 Hard under his helm : / '* We are Higelac's 
 Boon-companions. / Beowulf is my name. 
 I wish to say / to the son of Halfdane, 
 To the mighty Prince, / this errand of mine, 
 To thy men's Elder, / if he will allow it us 
 That so good a man / we may greet." 
 Wulfgar spake : / (that was a Wendel chief ; 
 The way of his mind / to many was known, 
 
 350 His warring and wisdom) : / *^ That of the 
 Well-wisher of Danes, 
 Lord of Shieldings, / shall I ask ; 
 Of the Bestower of bracelets / as thou dost beg 
 
 me. 
 Of the mighty King / anent thy coming ; 
 And to thee, such answer / at once make known 
 As that good man / may think to give me." 
 He hied then in haste / where Hrothgar sate, 
 Old and hoary / amid his band of earls. 
 He stepped forth, strong-hearted, / till he stood 
 by the shoulders 
 
 18 
 
Of the Lord of the Danes. / He knew the law of 
 
 the doughty. 
 Wulfgar spake / to his willing Lord : 
 ^' Here are men faring, / far hence coming 
 O'er the girth of ocean, / Geatish folk ; 
 Their eldest one / the other athletes 
 Name Beowulf. / And they do beg 
 That they, my master, / may with thee 
 Wrestle in words. / Wherefore withhold not 
 Thy consent, / courteous Hrothgar. 
 In their war-gear / worthy seem they 
 Of earls' esteem. / Indeed that elder is doughty, 
 He who the battle-men / has brought hither.'' 
 
 VI 
 
 Hrothgar answered, / Helm of Shieldings : 
 
 '' I knew him / as a little knave ; 
 
 Ecgtheow was the name / of his old father, 
 
 To whom, to his home, gave / Hrethel the Geat 
 
 His only daughter ; / it is his offspring now 
 
 Hither hardily come, / a kind friend seeking. 
 
 They said then, too, / the sea-farers 
 
 Who the free gifts / to the Geats ferried, 
 
 Thither for thanks, / that he had thirty 
 
 Men's main-strength / in the mighty grip 
 
 Of his hand, great-hearted. / Him Holy God 
 
 For a signal help / hath sent to us 
 
 To the Wester-Danes, / as I could wish, 
 
 Against Grendel's grimness. / To this good-man 
 
 shall I 
 For his daring / treasures deal. 
 Be thou hastening, / bid them in 
 To my sight, this troop of friends / assembled 
 
 together ; 
 Say to them eke in words / that they are welcome 
 To the Danish people." / Then to the door of the 
 
 hall 
 Wulfgar went, j the word announced from within : 
 
 ^9 . 
 
*' Bids me say to you / my Battle-Sovran, 
 
 The East-Danes Elder, / that he your origin kens, 
 
 And ye are to him, / the sea-waves over, 
 
 Hardy of will, / welcome hither. 
 
 Now must ye go / in your martial gear, 
 
 Hidden under helmets, / Hrothgar to see ; 
 
 Let your war-shields / here await — 
 
 And your wooden corpse-shafts, / what comes of 
 
 this word. 
 Arose then the rich one, / many men round him, 
 400 A picked band of thegns ; / some there abiding 
 Watched over the war-gear, / as the hardy one 
 
 wished. 
 Sped they together / where the guide shewed them. 
 Under Heorot's roof. / Strong-hearted he went^ 
 Hardy under his helm, / till in the high-place he 
 
 stood. 
 Beowulf spake : / (on him the byrny shone, 
 A steel net sewed / by the skill of a smith) : 
 '' Hail to thee, Hrothgar ! / I am Higelac's 
 Cousin and kin-thegn ; / much glory I claim 
 That I gat in my youth. / To me was this 
 
 Grendel-matter 
 4 1 c On my own turf / openly told : 
 
 Say the sea-farers / that this hall standeth, 
 Holiest of houses, / to the whole of your men 
 Idle and useless, / soon as evening-light 
 In the house of heaven / is hidden away. 
 Then prevailed on me / mine own people, 
 The best-witted, / the men of wisdom, 
 Hrothgar, Sire, / that I should seek thee ; 
 For the main-strength / of me they knew ; 
 Themselves had seen me / when scatheless I came 
 42c Blood-foul from my foes, / when five I had 
 
 bound. 
 When I ended the etin-kind, / and in the ocean 
 
 slew 
 Nicors by night ; / narrow straits I endured, 
 Avenged the Weders' sorrows, / (woes had they 
 
 suffered !) 
 
 20 
 
Ground down their grief- wishers. / And now with 
 
 Grendel I shall, 
 With that devil / decide, I only, 
 The thing with the giant. / This now of thee, 
 Prince of Bright-Danes, / will I beg, 
 Safe-Guard of Shieldings, / a single boon ; 
 Do not thou refuse me, / Refuge of Warriors, 
 Dear Friend of thy folk, / now so far I am come ; 
 That I may, I only, / with my band of earls, 
 This handful of hardy ones, / cleanse out Heorot. 
 Have I heard also, / how this horror 
 In his wan-heeding / of weapons recks not : 
 Hence I forswear / (so may Higelac 
 My master to me / be blithe of mood,) 
 A sword to bear, / or shield broad-sided, 
 Yellow-boss to the battle ; / but with bare hands 
 
 shall I 
 Fight with the fiend, / and the forfeit be life 
 Of foe against foe : / have faith he shall 
 In a doom divine / whom death shall take : 
 Ween I that he will, / if he be the winner, 
 In this hall of fighters / the folk of Geats 
 Eat, all unf earing, / as oft he did 
 To the might of the Hrethmen. / Not for me 
 
 needst thou 
 Heap earth on my head, / for he will have me 
 Drearily dripping, / if me death taketh ; 
 When he beareth my bloody corpse, / thinketh to 
 
 browse on it, 
 Eateth as alone he goeth, / all unmournful, 
 Staineth his moorland lair ; / nay, not for me 
 
 needest thou 
 For my body's treatment / take thought longer. 
 But send to Higelac, / if me the struggle slay, 
 This best of battle-shrouds / which my breast 
 
 guardeth. 
 Rarest of harness ; / it was Hrethel's leaving, 
 Welande's working. / Goeth aye Wyrd as she 
 
 will." 
 
 21 
 
VII 
 
 Hrothgar answered him, / Helm of Shieldings : 
 ** To fight in our defence thou, / my friend 
 
 Beowulf, 
 And from kindness / art come to us. 
 Fought thy father / in many feuds. 
 Happened he Heatholaf / to slay with his hand 
 Among the Wylfings ; / then the Weder-kin 
 For fear of harryings / might not harbour him. 
 Thereafter sought he / the South-Dane folk, 
 Over heaving seas / the Honour- Shieldings ; 
 Whenas first I ruled / the folk of the Danes, 
 And held in my youth / the gem-enriched 
 Hoard-burgh of heroes. / Then was Heorogar 
 
 dead, 
 Mine elder brother / all unliving, 
 Halfdane's boy ; / he was better than I. 
 Since then the feud / with a fee I finished ; 
 Sent I to the Wylfings / over the water's ridge 
 Ancient treasures ; / oaths he swore to me. 
 In my soul a sorrow / it is to say 
 To any guest / what Grendel hath 
 Of humblings for Heorot / in his hateful thoughts, 
 Of sudden fears fashioned ; / the host of my floor, 
 My war-band waneth ; / whom Wyrd hath swept 
 
 oflt 
 By greedy Grendel. / God easily can 
 That dealer in madness / divide from his deeds. 
 Full oft they boasted, / with beer drunken, 
 Over the ale-bowls, / did my athletes. 
 That in the beer-hall / they would abide 
 Grendel's onset / with grim swords. 
 Then was this mead-hall / in morning-tide. 
 Gore-drenched, dear house, / whenas day 
 
 lightened. 
 The benches all / with blood were steaming. 
 The hall with sword-drops ; / had I henchmen the 
 
 fewer 
 Dear and doughty, / by those whom death fordid. 
 
 22 
 
Sit thee now to thy supper / and unseal thy 
 
 thoughts 
 The tale of thy triumphs / as thy tongue may be 
 
 whetted.'' 
 Then for the Geat-men / gathered together 
 In the beer-hall / a bench was numbered ; 
 There to sit / stout-hearted went they, 
 Assured in their strength. / A thegn did service, 
 He that bare in his arms / the ale-bowl beautiful. 
 Poured the pure drink. / At whiles the poet sang 
 High through Heorot ; / there was joy among 
 
 heroes. 
 No small draft / of Danes and Weders. 
 
 vni 
 
 Unferth spake, / Ecglafe's boy, 
 
 Who sate at the feet / of the Friend of Shieldings, 
 
 Unbound the battle-rune / (Beowulf's voyage was 
 
 to him, 
 Proud-minded mere-farer, / much annoyance. 
 For he allowed not ever / that any other man 
 More of glory / on this middle-garth 
 Should hear, under heaven, / than he himself) : 
 ** Art thou that Beowulf / who with Breca strove 
 On the wide sea, / in swinmiing wagered. 
 When ye twain, so brave, / of the tide made trial, 
 And for a dolt's wager / in the deep water 
 Offered life up. / Nor any man. 
 Nor friend nor foe / forbid you might 
 That sorrowful sailing, / when on the sound ye 
 
 swam ; 
 Then was the water-stream / by your arm-strokes 
 
 woven, 
 Ye measured the mere-street / in mighty 
 
 handfuls. 
 Sped over the Spear-Man ; / splashed you the 
 
 ocean. 
 Waves of winter. / Ye twain in the water's realm 
 
 23 
 
Seven nights swinked ; / he in swimming outdid 
 
 thee, 
 He had more might. / Then in morning- tide 
 On to the Heatho-Raems' beach / the holm 
 upbare him ; 
 
 520 Thence he sought / his own sweet soil, 
 
 He, loved of his people, / the land of Brondings, 
 The fenced-burgh fair / where he had his folk, 
 His burgh and bracelets. / All his boast with thee 
 The son of Beanstan / in sooth fulfilled. 
 So ween I for thee / a worse outcome. 
 Though in war-onset thou / wert everywhere 
 
 winner, 
 A grimmer duel, / if for Grendel thou darest 
 All night long / and nigh to abide." 
 Beowulf answered, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 
 530 '* What ! Full many things, / my friend Unferth, 
 With beer drunken / of Breca hast spoken. 
 Hast said of his swimming. / In sooth I tell thee. 
 That I of mere-strength / more have owned, 
 Endurance of waves, / than any other man. 
 We two quoth, / being little knaves, 
 i!\nd we boasted / (we were both of us yet 
 In the spring of youth), / that we over the 
 
 Spear-Man 
 Would dare our lives : / and even so did we. 
 We held a sword naked, / when we swam on the 
 sound, 
 
 540 Hard in hand ; / against the whale-fishes 
 
 We thought to ward us. / No whit from me 
 Afar on the flood-waves / might he float, 
 Hastier on the holm ; / nor from him w^ould I. 
 Thus we two assembled / on the sea went 
 Five nights forth, / until the flood scattered us. 
 Weltering waves ; / and weather coldest. 
 Darkening night / and northern v/ind 
 Rushed on us, war-grim ; / rough were the waters. 
 Was the mere-fishes' / malice quickened ; 
 
 550 Then against beasts / my body-sark 
 Hard, hand-locken, / help aflForded ; 
 
 24 
 
A battle-rail broidered / on my breast lay, 
 With gold engirdled. / Me to the ground tugged 
 A foe, a fiend-scather, / fast he had me 
 Grimly gripping ; / 'twas granted however 
 That I the wretch / with my point should reach, 
 With my battle-bill ; / the blow bare off 
 A mighty mer-deer / by my hand. 
 
 IX 
 
 So round me often / the evil-doers 
 
 Were thickly thronging. / I thegned it them 
 
 With my dear sword, / as was their due ; 
 
 Never their fill / with joy found they, 
 
 Evil destroyers, / to eat of me, 
 
 Nor sate to their supper / the sea-ground near ; 
 
 But in the morning, / mangled with blade-wounds 
 
 On the banks of ocean / up they lay. 
 
 Soothed by the sword, / so that never since 
 
 In the high fords / the sea-farers 
 
 Might they let in their journeys. / Light from the 
 
 East came, 
 Bright beacon of God ; / the billows were smoothed 
 Till the sea-nesses / I could spy. 
 The windy walls. / Wyrd oft saveth 
 An earl unfated, / who excels in valour. 
 However, it so befell me / that I finished with the 
 
 sword 
 Nicors nine. / Nor by night have I heard 
 Under heaven's roof / or harder fighting, 
 Nor on ocean's race / of a man more wretched ; 
 However, I felt the foe, / and freely escaped. 
 Weary of wandering. / Then the sea washed me, 
 The flow of the flood / to the Finnish land, 
 The weltering waves. / Not one whit of thee 
 Such armed turmoils / have I heard tell, 
 Nor bouts with bills ; / Breca never yet 
 In the play of battle, / nor the pair of you both 
 So daringly / a deed performed 
 
 25 
 
With shining sword / (I say it not boasting) 
 Though thou tp thy brethren / a bane hast been, 
 To the sons of thy house ; / wherefore in hell thou 
 
 shalt 
 Thy forfeit fulfil, / though fine be thy wit. 
 590 I say to thee in sooth, / son of Ecglaf, 
 
 That Grendel never so much / that is gruesome 
 
 had wrought, 
 That cruel creature / upon thy King, 
 Nor humblings in Heorot, / if thy heart were 
 Or thy soul as stern / as thyself thou tellest ; 
 But he hath found / that for the feud he need not, 
 For the cruel sword-press / of your people. 
 Sit sorely troubled / by Triuraph-Shieldings : 
 He takes pledges at need, / none he spareth 
 Of the Danish warriors, / but he warreth at 
 
 pleasure, 
 600 Slayeth and swalloweth, / seeketh no vengeance 
 From the Spear-Danes. / But speedily will I, 
 How good and gallant / the Geats be now, 
 In a match inform him. / Go he after who may 
 To his mead high-minded , / when the morning's 
 
 light 
 Of an other day / over the offspring of men, 
 The sun swathed in brightness / from the South 
 
 shineth." 
 Then was he joyful, / the Jewel-Giver, 
 Grey-haired, war-haughty ; / In help he trusted, 
 The Head of the Bright-Danes ; / heard from 
 
 Beowulf 
 61 The Herd of the folk, / his fixed purpose. 
 
 There was laughter of heroes, / loud resounding ; 
 Words were winsome. / Went Wealhtheow forth. 
 The Queen of Hrothgar, / heedful of custom, 
 Gold-decked she greeted / the grooms in hall : 
 And that free-born wife / the flagon handed 
 First to the East-Danes' / Friend and Elder, 
 Bade him be bUthe / at that beer-tasting. 
 Him, loved of his landsmen ; / he lustily took 
 The feast and the flagon, / fortunate King. 
 
 26 
 
Then went around / that Woman of the Helmings, 
 
 To old and young, / gave each his share 
 
 Of the treasure-cup, / till the time was come 
 
 That she to Beowulf, / braceleted Queen, 
 
 Noble-minded, / the mead-bowl bare ; 
 
 Greeted she the Geats' Prince ; / God she thanked, 
 
 Wise in her words, / that her wish was 
 
 accomplished, 
 That she on any / earl might reckon 
 For comfort against the curse. / The cup he took, 
 A war-fierce warrior, / from Wealhtheow, 
 And then brake into speech, / for battle ready ; 
 Beowulf made utterance, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 ** I sware this oath / when I sailed on the ocean, 
 In a sea-boat sate / with my soldier-band. 
 That, once for all, / would I your people's 
 Wish have wrought, / or warring have fallen. 
 In the fiend's grip fast. / Fashion I shall 
 Earl-like efforts, / or the end of the days 
 Of me shall await / in this mead-hall/* 
 To the wife that word / well-liking seemed. 
 The gest of the Geat ; / gold-decked she went, 
 A free-born Folk-Queen, / by her Friend to sit. 
 Then was, after as erst-while, / inside the hall 
 The proud word spoken ; / the people rejoiced. 
 The conquerors clamoured, / till sudden it came 
 That Halfdane's son / would go to seek 
 His evening rest ; / he knew that the evil one 
 That high hall / did think to harry. 
 Soon as the sun's light / see they might not, 
 Or, now descending / night over all. 
 Shapes of the shadows / slinking came. 
 Wan under the welkin. / The warriors all arose ; 
 Greeted each one / then the other, 
 Hrothgar Beowulf, / and bade him hail, 
 Wield it in the wine-hall, / and this word quoth : 
 ** Never have I to any men / ere now entrusted, 
 Since shield on fist / I first might shew, 
 The noble-hall of Danes, / but now to thee. 
 Have thou and hold / this hoHest of houses, 
 
 ^7 
 
Of thy fame be mindful, / thy might make known, 
 660 Watch for the wrath. / Nor thy wish shalt thou 
 lack. 
 If all that effort / alive thou endurest." 
 
 X 
 
 Bewent him then Hrothgar / with his band of 
 
 heroes. 
 Help of the Shieldings, / out of hall ; 
 He would, the War-Chief, / Wealhtheow seek, 
 A Queen for his couch. / He had, the Kings' Glory, 
 Against Grendel, / (so grooms heard tell) 
 A sentinel set ; / who service did 
 About the Danes' Elder, / offered watch against 
 
 etins. 
 However the Geats' Prince / gladly trusted 
 670 In his moody might, / in his Maker's Mercy. 
 Then he did off /his iron byrny, 
 His helm from his head, / gave his hilted sword. 
 Choicest of irons, / to his armour-bearer, 
 And bade him hold / the battle-harness. 
 Spake then the brave one / some boasting words, 
 Beowulf the Geat, / ere to bed he went : 
 ** Not in the might of hosts / more meagre hold I 
 
 me, 
 In the game of war, / than Grendel's self ; 
 Therefore with the sword to sleep / will I not send 
 
 him, 
 680 Nor of life dis-use him, / though all that I may. 
 
 Knows he not the good ways / gainst me to strike, 
 
 My round-shield to hew, / though rough he be 
 
 In works of violence ; / but we two by night shall 
 
 Set aside the sword, / if seek he dare 
 
 War without weapons, / and then let Wise God, 
 
 The Holy Lord, / on either hand 
 
 The merit deem, / as meet He thinketh." 
 
 Laid him down then the Champion, / a 
 
 cheek-bolster took 
 
 28 
 
The face of the earl, / and all around many 
 
 A seely seaman / sank to rest. 
 
 Not one of them thought / that therefrom he 
 
 should 
 His own loved earth / ever after see, 
 The folk or the free-burgh / where he was fostered: 
 For they had found / that far too many before 
 In that wine-hall/ death had wasted 
 Of the Danish people. / But to them the Divine 
 
 One gave 
 Webs of war-speed, / to the Weder-people 
 Solace and succour, / that their foe they should 
 Through the craft of one / all avercome, 
 By the might of himself ; / in sooth it is known 
 That Mighty God / all mannes-kind 
 Through wide-time wieldeth. / Came in the wan 
 
 night 
 Stalking, the shadow-goer. / The shooters 
 
 slumbered, 
 They who the hall-house / should be holding, 
 All but one. / This by each was known 
 That them he must not, / If tliJr Maker willed it 
 
 not. 
 The ceaseless scather, / under the shadows snatch ; 
 But he, waking, / in the wrath's defiance, 
 Abode, boiling with rage, / the battle's outcome. 
 
 XI 
 
 Then came from the moor / under misty slopes 
 
 Grendel gliding, / God's ire he bare ; 
 
 Was minded, that murderer, / of mannes-kind 
 
 Some to ensnare / in that solemn hall. 
 
 Waded he undei^the welkin / till he the wine-house, 
 
 Gold-hall of grooms / might get well in sight. 
 
 With filigrees fretted ; / nor was it the first time 
 
 That he Hrothgar's / home had sought. 
 
 Nor ever in his days did he, / ere nor after. 
 
 Hardier hero / nor hall-thegns find. 
 
 29 ^ 
 
720 Came then to the house / that creature hieing. 
 
 From delights divided ; / the door soon opened, 
 Though with fired-bands fastened, / when his 
 
 fingers touched it ; 
 Burst he in then balefuUy-minded, / and boiling 
 
 he was, 
 The mouth of the room. / Rapidly after 
 On its fashioned floor / the fiend was treading, 
 On went he ireful, / in his eyes there shone, 
 To leaping-flame likest, / a light unlovely, 
 Saw he in the hall / heroes many, 
 A cousin-band sleeping / couched together, 
 
 73c A heap of friendly warriors. / Then his heart 
 laughed out ; 
 He was minded to divide, / ere the day came. 
 That ugly devil, / in each and all 
 The life from the limbs ; / then lust to him came 
 Of feasting his fill. / Nor was it fated again 
 That more he might / of mannes-kind 
 Stomach after that night. / A strong wrong beheld 
 Higelac's man, / how the mortal scather 
 With his fearsome grip / would be faring. 
 Nor that did the devil / think to delay, 
 
 740 But he seized swiftly / in his first swoop 
 A sleeping man, / unawares he slit him, 
 Bit his bones '-cover, / his blood-streams drank, 
 Swift mouthfuls swallowed ; / soon he had 
 The unliving man / all polished clean. 
 From his feet to his fingers. / Forth, nearer, stepped 
 
 he. 
 Took then with his hands / that highest-minded 
 Hero at rest ; / reached out against him 
 The fiend with his hand ; / he quickly held him 
 With thoughts of envy, / and sate on his arm. 
 
 750 Soon did he find, / that shepherd of felonies, 
 That he had not met, / in Middle-Garth, 
 In the ends of the earth, / from any other man 
 A hand-grip harder ; / he in his heart 
 Felt sore afraid ; / nor the sooner there-from 
 might he. 
 
 30 
 
In his mind was he fain / into the mirk to flee, 
 The tribe of devils to seek ; / nor was his treatment 
 
 there 
 Such as in earlier days / he had ever met. 
 Was minded then the gallant / mate of Higelac 
 Of his evening-speech. / Upright he stood, 
 And fast him held ; / his fingers were bursting : 
 Etin was outward ; / Earl farther stepped. 
 Meant he, so mighty, / whereso he might 
 To wind aside, / and on his way thence 
 Flee to the fen-lands ; / he knew that his fingers 
 
 were held 
 In a jealous grip. / 'Twas a joyless journey 
 That the harmful-scather / to Heorot made. 
 Dinned then the master-hall ; / and to the Danes 
 
 all seemed it. 
 To the chester-dwellers, / to each of the keenest, 
 To the earls, an ale-drought. / Ireful were both 
 Those cruel wardens. / The walls were crashing ; 
 It was a great wonder / that the wine-hall 
 Withstood the grim-fighters, / that to the ground 
 
 it fell not, 
 The fair field-dwelling ; / but so fast it was 
 Inside and outside / with iron bindings. 
 By sage thought smithied. / Then from the sills 
 
 fell 
 Mead-benches many / (my story tells) 
 With gold finished, / where the foes grappled ; 
 Nor weened ere then / the wisest Shieldings 
 That any among men / could manage it ever 
 Beautiful, bone-decked, / to break asunder. 
 Or find out to unlock it, / unless the flame's 
 
 embrace 
 Should swallow it in smoke. / A sound ascended 
 New enough ; / on the North-Danes fell 
 An awful terror / on each and all. 
 Who from the wall / to his weeping hearkened, 
 To God's enemy greeting / a griesly lay. 
 No song of triumph, / his sores bewailing, 
 
 31 
 
Hell's bondman. / For held him fast 
 He that of men was / in might the strongest 
 790 In the days / of this our life. 
 
 xn 
 
 Would not the earls '-buckler / for any thing 
 
 Let that quelling quester / quick escape him ; 
 
 Nor his time on the earth / to any tribe 
 
 Deemed he useful. / Drew then each 
 
 Of Beowulf's earls / his ancient heirloom, 
 
 And would his lordes / life defend, 
 
 The marvellous Prince, / if so they might. 
 
 For this they wist not, / when they waged against 
 
 him, 
 The hardy-minded / men of battle, 
 
 800 And on every half / they thought to hew him, 
 
 To search out his soul ; / that the ceaseless scather 
 
 Not one upon earth / of the choicest irons, 
 
 Of war-bills none / would there come near, 
 
 For winning weapons / he had bewitched. 
 
 And every sword-edge. / Must the end of his time 
 
 In the days / of this our life 
 
 Be sorrow-full, / and the foreign phantom 
 
 Into the fiends' realm / far must travel. 
 
 Then this he found, / who freely erstwhile 
 
 81c In mirthful mood / against man-kind 
 
 Had fashioned felonies, / he, foes with Cjod, 
 
 That his live body / might last no longer, 
 
 For him the haughty / mate of Higelac 
 
 Had by the arm ; / so each to the other 
 
 While he Hved was baneful. / Grief of body he 
 
 bore, 
 The wicked wretch ; / a wound in his shoulder, 
 A swelling sore shewed ; / the sinews sprang out. 
 The bones '-cover burst. / To Beowulf was 
 The glory given ; / must Grendel thence 
 
 820 Sick of hfe flee / imder fenland slopes, 
 
 Seek a joyless dwelling ; / judged he surely 
 
 32 
 
That his evil life / to an end was come, 
 The tale of his days. / For the Danes all was 
 After that fatal fight / fulfilment of wishes. 
 Had he then cleansed, / he that came from afar, 
 Wise-head and stout-heart, / the hall of Hrothgar, 
 From jeopardy saved it ; / he rejoiced in that night's 
 
 work. 
 In his excellent strength. / To the East-Danes had 
 The Geat-men's Prince / his proud boast 
 
 performed, 
 So that their miseries / all were mended. 
 The sorrow of enmity / they had erstwhile 
 
 endured. 
 When in throes of need / they had to thole 
 Taunts not a little. / 'Twas a token clear. 
 When that battle-hero / the hand laid down, 
 The arm and the oxter / (it was all there together, 
 Grendel's grip !) / under the groined roof. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Then were in the morning / (my story tells) 
 Around the mead-hall / many a bold man ; 
 Fared the folk-leaders / from far and near 
 Over wide ways, / a wonder to witness, 
 The foot-prints of their foe. / That his life was 
 
 finished 
 Seemed no matter for sorrow / to any of those 
 
 men 
 Who his un-triumphant / track regarded. 
 How, weary at heart / on his way from thence, 
 In fight overcome, / to the fen of the nicors, 
 Fordoomed and fleeing, /he had footed life's road. 
 There was his blood / to the brink up-welling, 
 Awful waves, eddying / all bemingled 
 With boiling gore, / with blade-drops surged ; 
 Death-fated he dyed them, / when divided from 
 
 joys 
 In his fenland lair / he laid down life, 
 
 33 E 
 
His heathenish soul ; / there hell him seized. 
 Came back there-after / the elder comrades 
 And youngsters many, / a jovial journey, 
 From the mere, so happy, / on horses mounted 
 Boys upon bays. / There was Beowulf's 
 Might proclaimed ; / many and oft quothey 
 That south nor north, / two seas between. 
 Over the endless earth, / never another 
 
 860 Under the bowl of heaven / was there better, 
 A round-shield warrior / more worthy to rule. 
 Nor did they in their Friend and Lord / the least 
 
 fault find. 
 In glad Hrothgar, / for that was a good King. 
 At whiles, great in battle, / they let gallop. 
 Matched in a race, / their fallow mares. 
 Where the field-ways / fairest were reckoned. 
 Kenned and chosen. / At whiles the King's thegn, 
 A man boast-laden, / of ballads mindful. 
 Who almost all / of the olden sayings 
 
 870 Could well remember, / fresh words would find, 
 With truth entwined. / He took up his tale 
 Of the coming of Beowulf, / cleverly weaving it, 
 And spake with good speed / his skilful stories, 
 Wrestled in words ; / well-nigh all he quoth 
 That of Sigemund he / had heard them say, 
 His mighty efforts, / unknown things many, 
 The wars of the Waelsing, / his wide journeys, 
 Whereof the sons of men / were scarcely aware, 
 Of feuds and of felonies, / save Fitela by his side, 
 
 880 When something of such matters / would he say, 
 An uncle to his nephew, / for so ever they were 
 In fighting times / faithful comrades : 
 They had almost all / of the etin-kindred 
 Sunk with their swords. / Unto Sigemund sprang 
 After the day of his death / a deal of glory. 
 Since, hardy in war, / the Worm he quelled. 
 That herd of the hoard ; / under a hoary stone, 
 An atheling's son, / alone he ventured 
 A fearless deed ; / nor was Fitela with him : 
 
 34 
 
However it was sent him / that his sword went 
 
 through 
 That wondrous Worm, / till in the wall it stood, 
 A doughty iron, / and the dragon swooned in death. 
 He had, that gallant, / so wholly gained. 
 That the jewel-hoard / he might enjoy 
 As himself listed ; / a sea-boat he loaded. 
 Bare into the breast of the ship / bright adornments, 
 Did Waelses son. / The Worm its heat melted. 
 He was of wanderers / well the most famous 
 In the houses of men, / a helper of warriors 
 By his daring deeds : / so in days of old throve he. 
 Whenas Heremodes / hardihood waned. 
 His power and his prowess, / amid the Eotens he 
 
 passed 
 Into bondage of his foes / forth betrayed, 
 Sent away swiftly. / Surging of sorrows 
 Lamed him too long. / Throughout life he was 
 A care to his own, / to his kinsmen all. 
 So that often bewailed / in olden times 
 The stout-hearted one's sailing / sage carls many 
 Who on him, as a bulwark / against bale, had 
 
 believed. 
 When, son of their Kings, / he should come to 
 
 manhood. 
 Take his father's rulership, / reign over the folk, 
 The hoard and the refuge, / a realm of heroes. 
 Homestead of Shieldings. / He was by all — 
 Higelac's mate — / of mannes-kind. 
 By his friends more favoured. / But in felony the 
 
 other was steeped. 
 
 At whiles in races / the yellow roads 
 
 The mares' feet measured. / Then was morning's 
 
 light 
 Thrust suddenly forth. / Fared soldiers many. 
 Haughty-hearted, / to that high hall, 
 To see a strange wonder ; / so himself too, the 
 
 King, 
 Out of the bride-bower,/ the bracelet-store's warden, 
 
 35 
 
Trod forth triumphant, / with a troop beyond 
 
 number, 
 He, kenned and chosen, / and his Queen beside 
 
 him 
 The mead-walk measured / with her maiden-band. 
 
 XIV 
 
 Hrothgar spake ; / he to the hall going 
 
 Stood on the steps of it, / saw the steep-pitched 
 
 roof 
 With gold made lovely, / and Grendel's hand : 
 ** For this ensign / to the Almighty thanks 
 At once be offered. / Many evils have I borne, 
 
 930 Gins set by Grendel ; / ever may God work 
 Wonder upon wonder, / Warden of Glory. 
 'Tis not any time / since I from none 
 Of my woes did ween / that in the w^ide world 
 
 ever 
 I should reach a remedy, / w^hen, reeking of blood, 
 This dearest of houses / sword-dreary stood ; 
 Woe scattered wide / my wise men all 
 Who weened not that they / in the wide world 
 
 ever 
 Might the folk's cloister / close to their foes. 
 To demons and devils. / Now a doughty one hath 
 
 940 By Grace Divine / a deed accomplished, 
 Where all of us / might not ever 
 Succeed, for our subtilty. / What ! Now may she 
 
 say. 
 Whosoever the woman be / who this warrior bore, 
 The latest of his line, / if she yet liveth. 
 That God of old / was gracious to her 
 At her child-bearing. / Now, Beowulf, thee, 
 Sagest of men, / as mine own son 
 Will I love throughout life ; / good-luck attend 
 
 thee 
 With thy new kindred ; / be thou never in need 
 
 36 
 
Of thy wish in the world, / while I am wielding 
 
 power. 
 Full oft and for less, / fees have I lavished, 
 From my hoard have honoured / men less hardy, 
 Feebler in fight. / Thy fame thou hast 
 Made so great by thy deeds / that thy glory liveth 
 For ever and all time. / May the Almighty with 
 
 thee 
 Deal ever kindly / as He did this day ! 'V 
 Beowulf answered, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 '* We this mighty work / with great good will 
 Fought and finished ; / fiercely dared we 
 The rage of the unknown ; / rather would I 
 That thou himself / mightest have seen, 
 The fiend in his war-gear, / wearily falling. 
 Hastily I, / as hard I clasped him. 
 On his death-bed / thought to bind him. 
 So that, gripped by my / muscles, he should 
 Lie, for life gasping ; / lest his body leap from me. 
 But him I might not, / for the Maker willed it not, 
 Keep from his going ; / I did not cling fast enough 
 To that fatal foe ; / too forceful he was. 
 The fiend on his feet. / However his fingers he 
 
 left, ' ^ 
 
 His life to save, / and to leave us a sign of him, 
 His arm and his oxter. / Nor yet did he any 
 Happiness purchase, / a helpless wight. 
 No longer he liveth / in loathly doings. 
 Burdened with sins ; / but sore pain hath him 
 In a grip of necessity / narrowly prisoned, 
 In baleful bonds ; / there shall he abide, 
 A monster foul with malice, / the mighty doom 
 Which the Shining Maker / as sentence shall mete 
 
 him." 
 Then a silent man / was the son of Ecglaf 
 In boasting words / of his battle- works. 
 Since that the athelings / by that earl's strength 
 Over the high roof / a hand could see, 
 A fiendes fingers / before them all. 
 Was the stem of each nail / to steel best likened, 
 
 37 
 
Heathenish hand-spurs, / the battle-hardy one's 
 
 Talon unholy ; / then each of them told 
 
 That there was naught so hard / that hold him 
 
 might, 
 Nor old-tried iron / which from that ogre 
 990 The bloody battle-fist / might break away. 
 
 XV 
 
 Then it was hastily / ordered that Heorot 
 
 withinwards 
 Be made fair by men's fingers ; / not a few were 
 
 there 
 Of wights and of women / who that wine-house, 
 The guest-hall garnished. / Gold-broidered shone 
 Webs on the walls, / wonder-sights many 
 For every soul / that on such things stareth. 
 Was that bright building / broken sorely 
 Though inwards all / with iron-bands fastened, 
 Its hinges sundered ; / the roof only still 
 
 1000 Was whole and sound, / when the wanton one 
 Foul with felonies / in flight bewent. 
 Of life unhopeful. / Not easy is it 
 To escape away, / make the effort who will, 
 But each soul-bearer / shall be borne. 
 By necessity bound, / of the bairns of men, 
 Of the peoples on ground, / to the place prepared 
 Where his dear body, / in its bed-lair fast. 
 Sleeps after life's supper. / Then was season and 
 
 reason 
 That to the hall should go / Halfdane's son ; 
 
 10 10 The King himself / would partake of the supper. 
 Nor have I heard that a muster / of men so many 
 About their booty-giver / bare themselves better. 
 Bent they then to the benches, / abundant in wealth, 
 With joy they feasted ; / and fairly tasted 
 Many a cup-ful / the kinsmen of all there. 
 Hardy of heart / in that hall so high, 
 Hrothgar and Hrothulf . / Heorot within was 
 
 38 
 
Filled with friends ; / no fashion of treason 
 The Shielding-People / shaped that while. 
 Gave then to Beowulf / the bairn of Halfdane 
 An ensign of gold / to grace his triumph, 
 Broidered shaft-standard, / bymy and helmet ; 
 A mighty treasure-sword / many saw there 
 Borne before that brave. / Beowulf took 
 The flagon on the floor, / nor of that fee-gift 
 Among the shooters / shamed need he be ; 
 Nor have I heard that more friendliwise / four 
 
 treasures 
 Any gold-girdled / groups of men 
 At the ale-benches each / upon other bestowed. 
 About the roof of that helmet / his head's safety, 
 With wires ywounden, / a wreath guarded 
 
 without. 
 That the file-sharp blades, / boldly aimed, might 
 
 not. 
 Shower- tempered, scathe him, / when the 
 
 shield-warrior 
 Should be going / against his foes. 
 Bade then the Earls '-Buckler / eight horses 
 With fashioned facings / upon the floor be led 
 In under the barriers ; / on one of them stood 
 A saddle, tricked out, / with treasures shining ; 
 That was the captain-seat / of the High King, 
 When in the play of swords / the son of Halfdane 
 Was fain to flourish ; / never failed in the 
 
 forefront 
 His famous skill / when the slain were falling. 
 And then to Beowulf / of both these riches 
 The Prince of Ing's Friends / possession gave, 
 Animals and weapons ; / bade him well to use 
 
 them. 
 So manliwise / the Mighty Lord, 
 Hoard- Warden of heroes, /battle-horrors 
 
 rewarded 
 With mares and with metal, / so that never man 
 
 may blame him. 
 Who wishes to say / the sooth as is right. 
 
 39 
 
XVI 
 
 10 50 Then also on each / the Lord of Earls, 
 
 Of those who with Beowulf / the brimming-sea 
 
 travelled, 
 At that mead-bench / bestowed treasures. 
 Ancient heirlooms ; / and for that one he bade 
 That gold be given, / whom Grendel lately 
 With malice had quelled, / as more of them he 
 
 would, 
 Had not Wise God / their wyrd withstood. 
 And the might of their man. / The Maker ruled 
 
 over all 
 The nations of men, / as now even He doth ; 
 Wherefore is understanding / everywhere best, 
 1060 Forethought of mind. / Much shall he find 
 Of lovely and loathly, / he who long here 
 In these war-days / the world brooketh. 
 There was singing and sounding / assembled 
 
 together 
 Before Halfdane's / battle-headsman, 
 The laughter- wood was touched, / the lay oft told, 
 When of hall-pleasure / Hrothgar's bard 
 Along the mead-benches / made announcement. 
 
 '' By Finnes offspring, / when fear gat hold of them, 
 The hero of Half-Danes, / Hnaef of the Shieldings 
 
 1070 In Frisian fight / to fall was fated. 
 
 No wise did Hildeburh / need to honour 
 The troth of the Eotens ; / unsinning, she was 
 Lorn of her loved ones / at that linden-play. 
 Of her boys and her brothers ; / they bowed to 
 
 their fate. 
 Wounded with spears ; / that was a sorrowful 
 
 woman. 
 Nor without due reason / did Hocces daughter 
 The Maker's Doom mourn / when morning came, 
 When under the sunshine / she might see 
 Her men lie murdered / where most she had held 
 
 1080 Of joys in the world. / War took off all 
 
 40 
 
Of Finnes thegns, / except a few only, 
 
 So that he might not / in the meeting-place 
 
 Fight one whit / in war with Hengest, 
 
 Nor his sorry few / by fighting save 
 
 From the Prince's thegn. / But they offered in 
 
 payment 
 That another place for him / they would have all 
 
 ready, 
 A hall and a high-seat ; / that half of the lordship 
 They might own and share / with the sons of the 
 
 Eotens ; 
 And that at fee-givings / Folcwalda's son 
 Every day / the Danes should endow, 
 Hengest 's host / with rings should honour, 
 With even so much / of massed treasures, 
 Of fashioned gold, / as he the Frisian kin 
 In the beer-hall / would embolden. 
 Then they trysted / on the two sides. 
 A fast peace-compact ; / Finn to Hengest 
 In strength, unstriving, / with oaths did swear 
 That he the woeful few, / by his wise men's decree, 
 Would nourish with honour, / so that no man 
 
 there 
 By words or by works / should wreck the treaty, 
 Nor by evil cunning / ever undo it. 
 Though they their sovran's / slayer should follow 
 Master-less, / as needs they must ; 
 But if any of the Frisians, / fool-hardy in speech 
 Of that murderous hatred / mindful were. 
 Then the sword's edge / should avenge it. 
 The pact was plighted, / and precious gold 
 Borne up from the hoard. / The Army-Shieldings' 
 Best man-of-battle / on his bier lay ready ; 
 On that pyre was / plainly seen 
 A blood-stained sark, / a Swine all-golden. 
 Iron-hard Boar, / and athelings many 
 Struck down by their wounds ; / some in the strife 
 
 had fallen. 
 Bade she then, Hildeburh, / that on Hnaefes pyre 
 Her own self's sons / to the flames be sent, 
 
 41 
 
Their bodies for burning / on the bier to don ; 
 Her hand on his shoulder / sorrowed that lady, 
 With lays lamented. / The lord arose ; 
 Curled up to the clouds / of corpse-fires the 
 
 greatest, 
 
 1 1 20 Roared before the mound ; / their heads melted, 
 
 Wound-gates burst open ; / then blood sprang out 
 
 From bodies foe-bitten. / The flame all swallowed, 
 
 Most gluttonous ghost, / those whom the war had 
 
 gotten, 
 Of both the folks ; / their bloom was scattered. 
 
 XVII 
 
 Departed those valiants / to visit their dwellings, 
 Forlorn of their friends, / Friesland to see, 
 Their homes and high burgh. / Hengest all through 
 That death-stained winter / dwelt with Finn 
 In strength unstriving ; / his homestead he 
 remembered, 
 
 1130 Although he might never / over the mere drive 
 
 His ringed-stem ; / with storms the holm weltered, 
 Warred with the wind. / Winter locked the waves 
 Ice-ybounden, / till that there came another 
 Year in the garths, / even as yet doth 
 (What, surely, aye / observes the season) 
 Glory-bright weather. / Then was winter scattered. 
 Fair was the field's bosom, / forth went the exile. 
 The guest from the garths ; / he of grief's avenging 
 Sooner thought / than of sea-faring, 
 
 1 1 40 If he a bitter meeting / might bring about, 
 That the men of the Eotens / therein be 
 
 remembered. 
 So he did not refuse / the world's ruling 
 When Hunlafing / the Hght of battle. 
 The best of blades / in his bosom thrust ; 
 Whose edges were / to the Eotens known. 
 So to fearless-hearted / Finn befell 
 Sword-death savage / to himself at home, 
 
 42 
 
When the grim grappling / Guthlaf and Oslaf 
 
 After sea-sailing / in sorrow lamented, 
 
 Charged him with a share of their woes ; / nor 
 
 might he the wavering life 
 Hold in his breast. / Then the hall was bestrewn 
 With bodies of foemen ; / Finn likewise was slain, 
 A King mid his courtiers / and the Queen taken. 
 The shooters of the Shieldings / to their ships 
 
 carried 
 All the inward furnishings / of that earthly King, 
 Which in Finnes home / they might be finding, 
 Sun-jewels, subtle-gems. / Then on the sea-way 
 His courtly dame / to the Danes they carried, 
 Led her to her people.'^ 
 
 The lay was sung. 
 The gleeman's gest. / Joy after arose. 
 Bright grew the bench-sound ; / Bearers gave out 
 Wine from wondrous vessels. / Then came 
 
 Wealhtheow forth 
 Going beneath a golden crown, / even where the 
 
 goodly twain 
 Sate, the uncle and the nephew ; / still were they 
 
 each at peace together, 
 Each of them was true to the other. / So there 
 
 Unferth, too, the spokesman, 
 Sate by the feet of the Shieldings' Father ; / all of 
 
 them in his feeling trusted, 
 That he had a cruel courage, / though he was not 
 
 to his kinsmen 
 Loyal, with the sword-edge playing. / Spake then 
 
 the Lady of the Shieldings : 
 " Take thou this flagon, / free-lord of mine, 
 Heaper of treasure, / happy be thou. 
 Gold-friend of men, / and to the Geats speak 
 In mild words, / as a man should do. 
 Be glad with the Geats, / of gifts be mindful ; 
 Near and far, / thou now peace findest. 
 Men have said to me / that thou for thy son wouldst 
 Have this hero. / Heorot is cleansed. 
 Bright hall of jewels ; / enjoy while thou mayest 
 
 43 
 
Comforts many, / and to thy kindred leave 
 Folk and kingdom / when forth thou must, 
 
 i 1 80 To meet thy Maker. / I know mine own 
 
 Gracious Hrothulf, / that our youth he will 
 Hold in honour, / if thou sooner than he, 
 Lover of Shieldings, / leavest the world : 
 Ween I that he good things / will yield again 
 To our own offspring, / if all he remembers 
 That we two for his wish / and his worship of old 
 When he was a child / in his honour planned/' 
 Turned she then by the bench / where her boys 
 
 were, 
 Hrethric and Hrothmund, / and the heroes' bairns, 
 
 1 190 The youths together ; / there the good one sate, 
 
 Beowulf of the Geats, / by those brethren twain. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To him was the flagon borne, / and friendly 
 
 bidding 
 Given in words, / and wounden gold 
 Gladly offered, / arm-girdles twain. 
 Rings and a garment, / the greatest of necklets 
 Whereof I on this earth / was ever told. 
 Nor under the sky have I / heard of any seemlier 
 Treasure hoard of heroes, / since Hama bore off 
 To that bright burgh / the Brosings' collar, 
 1200 The crown and the casket ; / from the cunning he 
 
 fled 
 Of Eormanric, / chose the Eternal Rule. 
 That ring had also / Higelac the Geat, 
 Grandson of Swerting, / on his last sailing. 
 When he under his banner / the booty guarded. 
 Fenced the spoils of the slain ; / him fate sped 
 
 hence. 
 When in wanton pride / woes he suffered, 
 A feud with the Frisians. / He that finery wore, 
 Costly stones, / on the cup of the waters. 
 Richest of princes ; / under his shield he perished. 
 
 44 
 
Lay then in the Franks' keeping / the life of that 
 
 King, 
 His body's clothing / and the collar therewith ; 
 Evil prowlers / his corpse plundered 
 By the fortune of war ; / the folk of the Geats 
 Held that field of slaughter. 
 
 The hall filled with sound. 
 Wealhtheow began then, / before the warriors 
 
 spake : 
 ** This bended-work use, / Beowulf, beloved 
 Youth, with good luck, / and this garment wear> 
 The people's treasures, / and prosper well. 
 Shew thyself in thy strength, / and to these 
 
 striplings give 
 Kindly rede ; / thy reward I will remember. 
 So hast thou fared, / that far and near 
 All their lives long / shall men esteem thee, 
 Even so far abroad / as the sea is bowed about 
 Windy earth-walls. / Be while thou Hvest 
 A wealthy atheling ; / I wish thee much 
 Store of treasures. / Be to these sons of mine 
 Helpful in thy deeds. / Uphold them in happiness,. 
 Here is every earl / by the others trusted, 
 Mild of mood, / to the Master loyal, 
 The thegns are kindly, / the commons all in 
 
 readiness. 
 Drinking, the nobles / do as I bid them.'' 
 Went she then to her seat. / There was of suppers 
 
 the choicest. 
 Drank wine those wights ; / Wyrd they knew not, 
 The forecast grim / that was falling upon 
 Many an earl. / Soon as evening came. 
 And Hrothgar bewent him / to his own home 
 A rich man to his rest, / guarded that roof 
 Earls unnumbered, / as often of old they had done. 
 The bench-tree they bared ; / it was over-borne 
 With beds and with bolsters. / Of the beer-sharers 
 
 one 
 Fey and fated / to his floor-rest bent. 
 Set they by their heads / their shields of war, 
 
 45 
 
Board-wood bright ; / on the bench there was 
 Over each atheling / easily seen 
 A battle-steep helmet, / a ringed byrny, 
 A mighty spear- wood. / Their manner it was 
 That they ever were / for war all ready 
 Or at home or in the host, / or howso it might be 
 Even at such times / as to their sovran lord 
 1250 The need might come ; / that was a kindly race. 
 
 XIX 
 
 They sank then to sleep. / One sorely paid for 
 His evening-rest, / as full oft it befell them 
 What time the golden hall / Grendel haunted, 
 And wrought unrightly / until his end came, 
 Slaughter after his sins. / Then seemingly was it 
 Known widely of men / that a wreaker of 
 
 vengeance still 
 Lived after that loathly one, / long time enough 
 After the griefs and murders ; / Grenders mother, 
 A woman, a monster-wife, / her woes remembered, 
 1260 She who in dread waters / her dwelling must keep, 
 In coldest streams ; / since Cain became 
 With his blade the bane / of his only brother. 
 The seed of his father ; / then forth into exile went 
 
 he. 
 Marked with that murder, / from men's joys 
 
 fleeing ; 
 In the wastes he wandered. / Awoke from him 
 
 many 
 Ghosts fore-ordained, / and Grendel one of them, 
 That hateful sword -wolf / who in Heorot found 
 A watching man / his warfare abiding. 
 There was the griesly one / groping after him ; 
 1270 Howbeit he remembered / his mighty strength. 
 The gift firm-set / which God had sent him ; 
 And himself to the Father's / favour entrusted, 
 For comfort and kindness ; / whereby he 
 
 overcame the fiend, 
 
 46 
 
Felled the hell-ghost, / who gat him forlorn, 
 From delights divided, / his death-place to seek, 
 Man-kindes foe. / And so now his mother, 
 A glutton gloom-minded / was for going 
 A sorrowful voyage / her son's death to avenge ; 
 Came she then to Heorot, / where the Ring-Danes 
 1280 Through the hall were sleeping. / Then, there, 
 
 swiftly, was 
 A change for the earls, / when in on them charged 
 Grendel's mother. / Was her grimness less 
 By even so much / as a maiden's strength is, 
 A wife's war-grimness / than a weaponed man's. 
 When the hilted blade, / by a hammer beaten. 
 When the sword blood-stained / the Swine on the 
 
 helmet 
 Of the enemy sheareth, / doughtily edged. 
 Then was in hall / the hard-edge drawn. 
 The sword over the seats, / and shield-rings many 
 1290 Held fast in hand ; / of helmet he recked not, 
 Nor of spreading byrny, / whom that horror 
 
 seized. 
 She was in haste, / would hie away thence 
 For safety, as soon / as she was seen ; 
 At once, of the athelings / one she had 
 Fast in her fangs ; / then fenwards she went. 
 He was Hrothgar's / dearest henchman. 
 By the custom of comrades, / two coasts between, 
 A rich shield-warrior, / whom she brake in his 
 
 rest, 
 A baron well-famed. / Nor was Beowulf there, 
 1300 For another inn / was erewhile allotted. 
 
 After treasure-giving, / to the mighty Geat. 
 Arose shouting in Heorot ; / she in its blood took 
 A hand they kenned ; / their care was renewed, 
 Grew in the dwellings. / That deal was not good 
 Which they on both sides / had to barter, 
 The lives of friends. / Then was the learned King, 
 Hoary warrior, / harshly minded, 
 When his elder thegn / all unliving, 
 
 47 
 
His dearest soldier, / dead he saw. 
 1 3 10 Swiftly to the bower / was Beowulf summoned, 
 The man of triumph ; / with the twilight of dawn 
 Went mid his carles / the excellent champion, 
 Himself with his comrades / where the sage King 
 Wondered whether the Almighty / ever would 
 After that chapter of woe / work him any change. 
 Went then over the floor / the man famed in armies 
 With his handful following, / (the hall-wood 
 
 dinned) 
 That he the wise one / in words might greet. 
 The Lord of Ing's Friends, / might ask if so it 
 
 was, 
 1320 After this call in need, / that the night had been 
 
 quiet. 
 
 XX 
 
 Hrothgar spake, / the Helm of Shieldings : 
 
 ** Ask not thou of our safety ; / sorrow is renewed 
 
 In the Danish people. / Dead is i^schere, 
 
 Yrmenlafe's / elder brother. 
 
 My rune-binder / and my rede-bearer, 
 
 Who stood by my shoulder / when we in the shock 
 
 Fended our heads / in the footmen's onset, 
 
 When crests were shattered. / So should an earl 
 
 be 
 Ever good ; / so i^schere was. 
 1330 In Heorot was / the hand that slew him 
 
 A wandering death-guest's, / nor wot I whither 
 That terror, carrion-proud, / turned again 
 
 homewards. 
 In the fame of her feast. / She the feud has avenged 
 Wherein thou, yesternight / Grendel quelledst. 
 By thy hardihood / harshly clasping him. 
 For that he too long / my loyal people 
 Beset and brought low. / He bowed in the battle 
 At the cost of his Hfe ; / and now another is come, 
 
 48 
 
A mighty murdress, / her man would avenge, 
 
 And farther hath / the feud carried, 
 
 Wherefore may it be thought / by many a thegn, 
 
 Who for his treasure-giver / in his soul greeteth, 
 
 A heart-sorrow hard ; / now the hand low lieth 
 
 That to each among you / yielded his desire. 
 
 I the land-dwellers, / my loyal people, 
 
 The sage men in hall, / I have heard them say 
 
 That they have seen / such a twain 
 
 Of mighty march-steppers / holding the moors, 
 
 Ghosts of Elsewhere ; / one of them was, 
 
 As with most certainty / they might perceive, 
 
 In a woman's hkeness ; / the other, to 
 
 wretchedness doomed, 
 In a man's image / the exile-ways trod. 
 Save that he was mightier / than any man other, 
 Who in days of yore / Grendel was named 
 By the field-dwellers ; / of his father they know 
 
 not 
 Whether any for him / was ever begotten 
 Among ghosts of darkness. / In a doubtful land 
 Dwell they, wolf-slopes, / windy nesses, 
 Fearsome fen-paths, / where the force from the 
 
 mountains 
 Under misty nesses / netherwards floweth, 
 A flood under the fields. / 'Tis not far from hence 
 As miles are marked / that the mere standeth. 
 Above which hang / rimy bowers, 
 A wood fast-rooted / the water o'ershadows. 
 There will, every night, / a wonder be seen. 
 Fire in the flood. / There is none found so wise 
 Of the sons of men,/ who has sounded those depths. 
 Though the heath-stepper, / by hounds sore 
 
 swinked. 
 The hart strong of horn / the holt-wood seek, 
 Put to flight from afar ; / life freely he selleth, 
 His soul on the shore, / sooner than therein will 
 
 he 
 Hide his head. / 'Tis no happy spot, that ; 
 Thence an eddying wave / ascendeth upwards, 
 
 49 F 
 
Wan to the welkin, / when the wind stirreth 
 Loathly weather, / till the hft darkeneth, 
 The heavens weep. / Now wisdom belongs 
 Again to thee only. / That airt yet thou knowest 
 
 not, 
 The marshes of fear / where thou mayest find 
 That soul full of sins. / Seek if thou darest. 
 1380 I will thee for the fight / with a fee reward, 
 With olden treasures, / as erst I did, 
 With wounden gold, / if away thou comest.*' 
 
 XXI 
 
 Beowulf answered, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 
 '' Sorrow not, old sage ; / better serves it that each 
 
 ^ man 
 
 His friend's murder avenge, / than much mourning. 
 Every one of us / the end must await 
 Of life in the world, / let him win who may 
 Fame before death ; / that is for a fighting man 
 Whose life is over / thereafter best. 
 
 1390 Arise, Realm-Warden, / let us run forth, 
 Grendel's kinswoman / go we tracking. 
 I swear to thee this / that she shall not escape me 
 In folds of the earth / nor in mountain forests, 
 Nor on ocean-ground, / go where she will. 
 This day therefore / do thou have patience 
 In each of thy woes, / as I wish of thee. 
 Upleaped then the greybeard, / God he thanked, 
 The Mighty Lord, / for what the man had spoken. 
 Then for Hrothgar / a horse was bridled, 
 
 1400 A charger with woven mane ; / the wise old Prince 
 Went forth in state ; / stepped out the war-band 
 Of shield-bearers. / The track was shewing. 
 Along the wood-paths / widely seen. 
 Footprints over the ground ; / she had gone for- 
 ward 
 Over the murky moor, / their mate-thegn had 
 borne, 
 
 so 
 
Of soul bereft, / the best of them 
 
 Who with Hrothgar / the home had guarded. 
 
 The son of the athelings / then went over 
 
 Steep stone-cliffs, / strait passages, 
 
 Single tracks, / a road untrodden, 
 
 Beetling nesses, / nicor-houses many ; 
 
 He went first, / with him a few 
 
 Prudent men, / the plain to espy, 
 
 Until in a trice / the mountain trees 
 
 He found o'erhanging / a hoary stone, 
 
 That joyless wood ; / the water stood under, 
 
 Drumling, blood-dreary. / To the Danes all was, 
 
 To the friends of Shieldings, / sorrow of soul 
 
 For many a thegn / that he had to thole. 
 
 Trouble for each of the earls / whenas i^schere's 
 
 Head they met / on that holm-cliff. 
 
 The flood surged with blood / (the folk saw that) 
 
 With heart-drops hot. / The horn now sang. 
 
 Sounding to battle. / The soldiers all sate ; 
 
 They saw then in the water / of the worm-kind 
 
 manv, 
 Strange sea-dragons / swimming the sound, 
 Also, on the ness-slopes, / nicors lying, 
 (Who in the first daylight / often follow 
 A sorrowful course / on the sail-road). 
 Worms and wild-deer ; / away they hurried, 
 Bitter and belching, / the blast they had heard, 
 The war-horn yelling. / One the Yeats' Prince 
 With his leaping bow / bereft of life, 
 Of his strife with the waves, / so that stood in his 
 
 guts 
 The harsh war-arrow ; / he on the holm was 
 Slower in swimming, / for death then seized him. 
 Swiftly w^as he on the billow^s / by their boar-sprits 
 Sharply hooked, / hard bested. 
 Cruelly pressed / and pulled on the cliff, 
 A wondrous wave-breaster ; / the warriors looked 
 On their griesly guest. / Girded him Beowulf 
 In the weeds of an earl, / nor recked at all of life ; 
 He would in his war-byrny, / braided by hand, 
 
 SI 
 
Broad and broidered with skill, / brave the deep 
 
 sound ; 
 Well could it shelter / the sheath of his bones 
 That the battle-grip / might not his breast, 
 Nor the angry clutch / his spirit injure ; 
 But the white helmet / his head warded, 
 Which on the mere's floor / was to mingle, 
 i45<^ To seek the sound's tumult — / with treasure 
 
 made worthy. 
 With fine chains compassed, / as in former days 
 The weapon-smith wrought it, / with wonders 
 
 adorned it, 
 Beset it with Swine-figures, / so that since then no 
 Brand nor battle-blade / managed to bite it. 
 Nor was that the meanest / of main-supports 
 Wherewith Hrothgar's spokesman / helped him 
 
 in his need ; 
 That hafted blade / Hrunting was named ; 
 'Twas one of the foremost / of ancient treasures ; 
 Its edge was of iron, / etched with poison-twigs, 
 1460 Hardened in the blood of hosts ; / never in battle 
 
 had it failed 
 Any man / whose arm had clasped it. 
 Who the way of terror / dared to tread. 
 The field of foemen ; / 'twas not the first time 
 That an excellent work / it was to accomplish. 
 Indeed he recalled not, / Ecglaf's kinsman 
 Strong in might, / what he had spoken before, 
 With wine drunken, / when that weapon he lent 
 To a better swordsman ; / himself, he durst not 
 Under the rush of the waves / risk his life, 
 1470 Act with lordship ; / lost he thereby glorj'-, 
 
 .An excellent fame ; / 'tv^^as not so with the other 
 When he for the assault / had armed himself. 
 
 XXII 
 
 Beowulf spake, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 
 '' Bethink thee now, mighty / man of Halfdane, 
 
 5^ 
 
Duke most wise, / now that for the deed am I ready, 
 Gold-friend of thy lads, / of what lately we said 
 That if I should, / sharing thy need, 
 Of life be stripped, / thou wouldst stand to me 
 
 ever, 
 When forth I have fared, / in a father's place. 
 1480 Do thou be kind / to my kinsmen-thegns, 
 
 My boon-companions, / if me the battle take ; 
 Do thou also the treasures / that in tribute thou 
 
 gavest me, 
 Hrothgar dearest, / to Higelac send. 
 May he learn then from that gold, / the Lord of 
 
 the Geats, 
 May Hrethel's son see, / when on that hoard he 
 
 stareth. 
 That I had found / a fine and good 
 Jewel-giver, / and had joy while I might. 
 And do thou let Unferth / the old heirloom, 
 The well-wrought wave-sword, / — ^ widely 
 
 known man 
 1490 Have that hard edge. / For me, I with Hrunting 
 Glory will gain, / or death shall get me." 
 After those words / the Weder-Geats* Prince 
 Sped boldly on , / nor any answer 
 Would he abide ; / the brimming flood whelmed 
 That man of battle. / 'Twas the breadth of a day 
 Ere he might get / to the ground beneath. 
 Soon found she out /who the flood's extent 
 Had held, a sword-glutton, / an hundred seasons, 
 Grim and greedy, / that some groom there 
 1 500 That home of else-things / over head was scouting. 
 She groped then towards him ; / the warrior gripped 
 In an awful clutch ; / not at all might she scathe 
 His hale body ; / the rings without guarded him, 
 So that through his coat of mail / she might not 
 
 come at him, 
 Through the locken limb-sark / with loathly 
 
 fingers. 
 Bare then the mer-wolf, / when to the bottom she 
 
 came, 
 
 S3 
 
The ringed Prince / to her own place, 
 So that he might not, / for all his proud mind. 
 Wield his weapons ; / for such wondrous things 
 1 510 Swinked him in the sound, / sea-deer many 
 With worrying tusks / his war-sark tare. 
 Chased him the creatures. / Then the earl knew 
 That he was in some or other / enemy's hall, 
 Where no water / a whit might scathe him. 
 Nor, for the hall's roof, / might get hold upon 
 
 him 
 The fierce grip of the flood ; / fire-light he saw, 
 A blinding gleam / that brightly shone. 
 The good one grew ware then / of the 
 
 ground-lying wolf, 
 A mighty mer-wife ; / a main-stroke he gave her 
 1520 With his sword of battle, / nor its swing did his 
 
 hand withhold, 
 Till the ring-set sword / rang out on her head 
 A greedy war-lay. / Then her guest found 
 That his battle-gleamer / would not bite. 
 Nor fetch to her heart, / but the edge of it failed 
 The lord in his need. / It had lasted many 
 Hard-fought meetings, / helms oft had shorn. 
 Fated-men's war-coats ; / this was the first time 
 For the goodly weapon / that its glory waned. 
 Still was he purposeful, / of his prowess lost 
 
 nothing ; 
 1530 Of his honour mindful / was Higelac's mate. 
 
 Threw down then the banded sword / with jewels 
 
 blended 
 That angry warrior, / so that on the earth it lay, 
 Stiff and steel-edged. / In his strength he trusted, 
 Hand-muscles of might. / So a man should do 
 Then when in war / he thinketh to win 
 Lasting praise / nor of his life recketh. 
 Caught then by the shoulder / (for the fight he 
 
 cared not) 
 The War-Geats' Master / Grendel's mother ; 
 Flung he then, battle-hardy, / so furious was he, 
 1540 The foe of his Hfe, / till she lay on the floor. 
 
 54 
 
She quickly again / requited his handiwork 
 With her grim grip, / and against him reached. 
 Stooped over then wearily / the strongest of 
 
 warriors, 
 The foot-men's champion, / until that he fell. 
 Sate she then on the hall-guest / and her saxe she 
 
 drew. 
 Broad and brown-edged ; / her bairn she 'Id 
 
 avenge, 
 Her only offspring. / Over his arm there lay 
 A woven breast-net ; / that warded his life. 
 Withstood the entry / of point and of edge. 
 1550 Then had sped / the son of Ecgtheow. 
 
 Beneath the wide ground, / the Geatish champion, 
 If his battle-byrny / had not brought him help, 
 A hard war-net ; / did not Holy God 
 Rule the winning of wars. / The Wisest Lord, 
 The Justice of Heaven / judged it aright 
 Easily ; / so up he stood. 
 
 xxni 
 
 He saw then among the armour / a sword rich in 
 
 victories. 
 An old Eotenish blade, / doughty of edge, 
 To warriors worshipful ; / 'twas the choicest of 
 
 weapons, 
 1560 But it was mightier / than any man other 
 Into the play of battle / might have borne. 
 Good and glorious, / giants' work. 
 He seized then the belted hilt ; / that Wolf of the 
 
 Shieldings, 
 Rough and war-rude, / the ringed blade drew ; 
 Hopeless of living, / with heat he struck 
 So that hard it gripped / her on the neck. 
 Her bone-rings brake ; / the bill went through all 
 Her fated flesh-cover ; / on the floor she crashed. 
 The sword was sweating ; / the soldier rejoiced 
 
 in his work. 
 
 55 
 
1570 A flash was kindled, / light filled it within, 
 Even so as from the sky / brightly shineth 
 The Candle of Heaven. / He looked through the 
 
 house. 
 Turned then to the wall ; / the weapon heaved he, 
 Hard, by the hilt, / Higelac's thegn, 
 Angry, one-minded. / That edge was not 
 
 worthless 
 To the man of war, / for at once he would 
 Settle with Grendel / the many assaults 
 That he had wrought / on the Wester-Danes, 
 Far more often / than one time only, 
 1580 When he Hrothgar's / hearth-companions 
 Slew in their slumber, / swallowed sleeping 
 Fifteen men / of the folk of Danes, 
 And others also / carried out, 
 A loathly loot. / For that loss repaid him 
 The raging champion, / inas resting he saw 
 Grendel lie, / of war grown weary. 
 All unliving, / as erstwhile had left him 
 The battle in Heorot. / His body sprang aside 
 When he after death / endured that stroke 
 1590 The hardy sword-swing ; / then he carved off his 
 
 head. 
 Soon they saw, / the subtle churls, 
 They who with Hrothgar / on the holm were 
 
 gazing, 
 That the eddying waves / all were mingled, 
 The water blood-foul. /White of hair 
 The elders about the good one / said together 
 That they expected not ever / of that atheling 
 That he, swelled with conquest, / would come to 
 
 seek 
 Their mighty Prince, / for to many it seemed 
 That the wolf of the brine / had broken him up. 
 1 600 Then came nones of the day ; / from the ness 
 
 departed 
 The haughty Shieldings. / Went homewards from 
 
 thence 
 The Gold-Friend of men. / The guests were sitting 
 
 56 
 
Sick in mind, / and staring on the mere ; 
 
 They feared, and they felt not / that their friend 
 
 and lord 
 Himself they might see. / Then that sword began 
 From the sweat of death / in icicle drops, 
 The war-bill, to wane ; / that was something 
 
 wondrous 
 That it all melted, / to ice most likened 
 When the bond of frost / the Father unlooseth, 
 1 6 1 o Unwindeth the whirlpool-ropes , / He that wieldeth 
 Times and climes. / That is a true Creator ! 
 Nor took he in those places, / the Weder-Geats 
 
 Prince, 
 More of rich treasures, / though many he saw there, 
 But that head / and the hilt therewith 
 Medalled and jewelled./ The sword was now melted, 
 Burned up the patterned blade ; / the blood was 
 
 so hot. 
 So deadly the strange spirit / that had swooned 
 
 there in death. 
 Soon was he swimming, / he who was saved from 
 
 the struggle, 
 The onslaught of his enemies ; / up he dived 
 
 through the water. 
 1620 The eddying waves / all were cleansed, 
 
 The spreading tracts / where the stranger-spirit 
 Finished his lifetime / and this fleeting state. 
 Came then to the shore / that Helm of Sailors, 
 Strong of heart, swimming, / in his sea-spoil 
 
 rejoicing. 
 In the mighty burden / that he brought up with him. 
 Going then towards him, / God they thanked. 
 The gallant band of thegns / were glad of their 
 
 Prince, 
 That they might see him / safe and sound. 
 Then from that bold one / bymy and helmet 
 1630 Were hastily loosened. / The lake grew smooth. 
 Water under the welkin, / weltering with blood. 
 Fared they forth thence / the foot-paths over. 
 Fain of mind / the field-way measured, 
 
 57 
 
Streets well-known, / those kingly-bold men ; 
 From that holm-cliff / the head they bare, 
 No easy thing / for any among them, 
 The fiercest-minded ; / four of them must 
 Swinking carry / on a killing-shaft 
 Grendel's head / to the golden hall, 
 
 1640 Until there quickly / came to that hall 
 Fierce, whetted to fight, / four and ten 
 Geats a-going ; / their Guardian with them, 
 Proud-minded among his troop, / the mead-plains 
 
 trod. 
 Then came and entered / that elder among thegns, 
 A deed-keen man, / and duly cherished, 
 A hero, battle-hardy, / Hrothgar to greet. 
 Then into the house / by the hair was borne 
 Grendel's head, / where the host were drinking, 
 Awful before the earls / and that lady also ; 
 
 165c On a wondrous prospect / the warriors peered. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 Beowulf made utterance, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 ** What ! we to thee this sea-booty, / son of 
 
 Halfdane, 
 Lord of Shieldings, / lustily bring 
 In token of triumph, / whereto here thou lookest. 
 I all unsoftly / escaped alive. 
 In war under water / work I dared 
 That was not easy ; / almost was 
 My warring finished, / had not God me warded. 
 Nor might I in the heat of it / with Hrunt-ing 
 1660 Work any whit, / though that weapon be worthy ; 
 But to me granted / the Guardian of men 
 That on the wall I saw / seemly hanging 
 An old sword and good / (oftenmost has He guided 
 When friends are wanting), / so that weapon I drew. 
 Slew I in that onslaught, / as the chance offered, 
 The keepers of the house. / Then that killing blade 
 
 S8 
 
Burned away, braided mail, / as the blood 
 
 out-sprang. 
 Hottest of battle-sweat. / I the hilt thereof 
 Fetched away from my foes, / avenged their felonies, 
 1670 The death-qualms of Danes, / as it was due. 
 
 I to thee therefore vow it, / that thou in Heorot 
 
 mayest 
 Sorrowless slumber / with thy soldier-band, 
 And each of the thegns / of thy people. 
 The doughty and young ; / and that dread them 
 
 thou needest not. 
 Prince of Shieldings, / from those parts, 
 A death-bane to earls, / as of old thou didst. '^ 
 Then the golden hilt / to the grey warrior, 
 The hoary host-leader, / into his hand was given, 
 Giants' ancient work ; / it to the ownership passed, 
 1680 After the devils were lost, / of the Danish Lord, 
 Wonder-smiths' work ; / and when gave up this 
 
 world 
 That grim-hearted groom, / God's adversary. 
 Murder-guilty, / and his mother eke, 
 To his keeping it went— / of the Kings of the 
 
 world 
 To the seemliest, / two seas between. 
 Of those who on Sceden-ig / scattered wealth. 
 Hrothgar answered^ — / the hilt he scanned. 
 An ancient heirloom / whereon was the origin 
 
 written 
 Of the former warring / when the flood destroyed, 
 1690 Gushing ocean, / the Giants' kin ; 
 
 Fearlessly fared they ; / that folk was foreign 
 To the Lord Eternal ; / to them that ending 
 
 payment 
 By the welling waters / our Wielder sent. 
 So too on the sword-guard / of shining gold 
 By runic staves / aright was marked 
 Was set and said / for whom the sword, 
 Choicest of irons, / had of old been worked 
 With wreathed hilt and worm-pattern. / Then 
 
 spake the wise 
 
 59 
 
Son of Halfdane ; / were silent all : 
 1700 " That, lo ! may he say / who soothly and right 
 Frames for his folk, / all far things remembers, 
 An old hearth -warden, / that this earl was 
 Born of the best. / Thy bloom is upraised 
 Beyond the wide ways, / my welcome Beowulf, 
 Thine over every people. / AH of it in patience 
 
 thou holdest. 
 Thy might with wisdom of mind. / I shall grant 
 
 thee my 
 Pact, as at first we promised ; / Thou shalt 
 
 protection furnish 
 All through time / to thine own tribe, 
 A helper of heroes. / Nor was Heremod such 
 1 710 To Ecgwela's heirs, / to the Honour- Shieldings ; 
 Nor waxed he for their welfare, / but for wanton 
 
 slaughter 
 And for death-qualms / of the Danish people ; 
 He brake, with boiling mind, /his board-companions, 
 Who had stood by his shoulder, / until alone he 
 
 stepped, 
 A famous Prince, / men's pleasures from. 
 Though him Mighty God / in the joys of mastery, 
 In strength, exalted / over all men else. 
 Helped and held him, / yet in his heart there grew 
 A blood-rough breast-hoard ; / no bracelets gave he 
 1 720 To the Danes, as was due ; / undelighting abode he, 
 So that he from that turmoil / trouble suffered, 
 A lasting folk-sorrow. / Do thou learn by that ; 
 Get thee manly goodness ; / I this gossip for thee 
 Have worded, old in winters. / A wonder it is to 
 
 say 
 How Mighty God / o'er mannes-kind 
 By His Wide Spirit / wisdom spreadeth, 
 Earth and earlship ; / all things He wieldeth. 
 At whiles He in love / letteth turn 
 His Mind-Thoughts to a man / of mighty kindred, 
 1730 Giveth to his ownership / earthly joys, 
 
 A hedged-burgh of men / for him to hold, 
 Doth so for his wielding / a deal of the world, 
 
 60 
 
A spreading kingdom, / that himself man cannot 
 In his unwisdom / think of the end. 
 Dwelleth he in wealth ; / no whit him darkeneth 
 Illness nor oldness, / nor anguish of enemies 
 Staineth his soul, / nor strife anywhere, 
 Weapon-hate, sheweth, / but all of the world 
 Works for his will. / Nothing worse he knoweth, 
 
 XXV 
 
 1740 Until within him / an overweening part 
 
 Waxes and swells, / when the warden slumbers, 
 The souFs shepherd ; / is that sleep too fast, 
 Netted in sorrows, / the Slayer is very near, 
 Who from his arrow-bow / angrily shooteth. 
 Then is he, in his strength, / struck, under his 
 
 helmet 
 By the cruel shaft ; / to shield him he knows not 
 From the crooked wonder-biddings / of the cursed 
 
 ghost ; 
 Thinketh he too little / what long he hath held ; 
 His bold mind is greedy, / never for a boast giveth 
 
 he 
 1 750 Fashioned rings, / and then he the fate fore-shapen 
 Forgetteth and forgoeth, / for that God erstwhile 
 
 gave him. 
 Glory's Wielder, / a share of worship. 
 At the end of the tale, / after, it happeneth 
 That the flesh of his body / fleeting faileth, 
 Falleth fated ; / followeth him another. 
 Who not tearfully / the treasure divideth, 
 That earPs ancient- wealth, / nor the awe of him 
 
 heedeth. 
 Bestir thee against that balefulness, / lovely 
 
 Beowulf, 
 Best of men, / and the more blessed way choose 
 
 thee, 
 1760 Honour eternal ; / incline not to haughtiness, 
 Manly champion. / Now is thy might in bloom 
 
 61 
 
A while only ; / soon after it may be 
 
 That thee sickness or sword / of thy sovranty 
 
 sunder, 
 Or fire's fingers, / or flood's welling, 
 Or force of blade, / or flight of spear. 
 Or bitter age ; / or the eyes' brightness 
 Forsake and o'ershadow thee ; / swiftly it shall be 
 That thee, duke of men, / death overpowereth. 
 So I the Ring-Danes / an hundred seasons 
 
 1770 Have wielded under the welkin, / and from wars 
 have locked them. 
 From many meinies / over this middle-garth 
 With ash-wood and edged-sword, / so that I not 
 
 any 
 Enemy counted / under heaven's arch. 
 What ! to me in my chamber / came a change, 
 Gloom after gladness, / since Grendel was, 
 An old adversary, / invading me ; 
 I by his questing / constantly bore 
 Mind-care mickle. / To the Maker be thanks, 
 Eternal Lord, / that I in Hfe have abode 
 
 1780 Until I on his head, / hacked by the sword. 
 
 After the old struggle / with my eyes may stare. 
 
 Go now to thy seat, / the supper-joy share. 
 
 Worshipful in war ; / for us shall a wealth 
 
 Of treasure be measured, / when morning comes." 
 
 Geat was glad-minded, / soon did he go 
 
 To take his seat, / as the trusty one bade him. 
 
 Then was, after as erst, / for the valiant in action, 
 
 For the floor-sitters / fairly furnished 
 
 A new feast. / Night's helmet lowered 
 
 1790 Dark over the kinsmen. / The company all arose ; 
 Would that blanched head / his bed discover, 
 The aged Shielding. / Before all things the Geat, 
 Rough shield-warrior, / for rest was longing ; 
 Weary of his swimming, / swiftly the hall-thegn 
 Guided him forth, / who was come from far ; 
 He that worshipfully / watched over all 
 The needs of a thegn, / such things as in those 
 days 
 
 62 
 
Sea-wanderers / might be wanting. 
 
 Rested him then, roomy-hearted ; / the roof 
 
 towered, 
 Gaping and gold-decked ; / the guest within slept, 
 Until the black raven / of heaven's blessings 
 Boded, blithe-hearted ; / then came brightly 
 
 scattering 
 The sun over the hills, j The soldiers hastened ; 
 Were the athelings / again to their people 
 Fain to be faring : / far thence would he, 
 The bold-hearted stranger, / seek out his bark. 
 Bade then the hardy one / to gird on Hrunting 
 Ecglafs son, / his sword bade him take. 
 Lovely iron ; / for the loan he thanked him. 
 Quoth he, that battle-friend / a fine one he 
 
 reckoned. 
 Strong in war ; / in no words blamed he 
 The edge of that blade, / 'Twas a brave-minded 
 
 man. 
 And when ready to travel, / trapped in their 
 
 armour. 
 Were the warriors, / went, worshipped of Danes, 
 The atheling to the upmost place, / where the 
 
 other was ; 
 The hero battle-haughty / Hrothgar greeted. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Beowulf made utterance, / Ecgtheow's boy : 
 
 ** Now we sea-wanderers / wish to say, 
 
 Come from far, / that forth we will go 
 
 Higelac to find ; / here were we fitly 
 
 Housed, as we wished ; / well hast thou done by 
 
 us. 
 If then I on this earth / may one whit 
 More attain / of thy mind's love, 
 Duke of men, / than I yet have done, 
 For striving in war / I am willing straightway. 
 If I should learn, / over the lane of ocean, 
 
 63 
 
That on thee thy neighbours / throng with terrors, 
 
 As, hating thee, / awhile they did, 
 
 I to thee a thousand / thegns shall bring, 
 
 183c Heroes to help thee. / Of Higelac I wot, 
 
 Of the Yeatish lord, / though young he be, 
 The Folk's Shepherd, / that he will so frame for me 
 Words and works, / that well may I worship thee, 
 And to thy support / my spear-shaft bear. 
 My might for thy comfort, / when men thou 
 
 era vest. 
 If then Hrethric himself / in the House of the Geats 
 Muster, a King's son, / he may there many 
 Friendships find ; / far-countries are 
 Seemliest sought / by whomso himself is doughty." 
 
 1 840 Hrothgar made utterance / to him in answer : 
 *' The words thou sayest / our Wisest Lord 
 Hath sent to thy soul ; / nor have I heard sageher 
 Any man reason / so early in life ; 
 Thou art strong in might / and old in mind, 
 A wise word-speaker. / Ween I it likely. 
 If it be spelt / that the spear take. 
 Or sword-grim battle, / the son of Hrethel, 
 Illness or iron / end thine Elder, 
 Shepherd of the laity, / and thou thy life havest, 
 
 1 850 That the Sea-Geats / will have no seemlier 
 King than thee / to call to them. 
 Hoard-warden of heroes, / if hold thou wilt 
 The rule over the meiny. / Me thy mind and heart 
 Liketh longer and better, / lovely Beowulf. 
 Thou hast found out a way / that to the folks shall be , 
 To the Yeatish people, / and the Yard-Danes, 
 Peace in common ; / and strife shall perish, 
 The bitter enmity / that erst they bore ; 
 There shall, while I wield / this wide kingdom, 
 
 i860 Be mingling of treasures ; / many shall others 
 Greet with gifts / across the gannet's bath ; 
 Shall a ringed-ship / over the sea bring 
 Loot and love-tokens. / The laity, I wot. 
 To friend and to foe / are fast established. 
 In all things blameless / in the ancient ways." 
 
 64 
 
Then again the Earls' Guardian / gave him, 
 
 within there, 
 Halfdane's Prince, / prizes twelve, 
 Bade him with that treasure / his dear tribe 
 Seek in safety, / soon again come. 
 Kissed then / the King well-born, 
 Baron of Shieldings, / that best of thegns, 
 And clasped his neck ; / coursed his tears, 
 The hoary-beard. / Both things he looked for, 
 Ancient and old, / but one thing rather, 
 That, some time, each / might see the other, 
 Proud minds in a meeting. / Was that man so dear 
 
 to him 
 That his breast's swelling / he might not bear. 
 But far within his bosom, / fast in bonds of thought, 
 For the dear man / a deep-hid longing 
 Burned in his blood. / And Beowulf thence, 
 A gold-proud warrior, / the grassy mould trod 
 In his booty exulting ; / the sea-goer abode 
 Her lord and owner, / which at anchor rode. 
 Then was in their going / the gift of Hrothgar 
 Often appraised. / That was a King 
 In all things blameless, / until age bereft him 
 Of joy in his might, / which oft many hath scathed. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 Came then to the flood / the crowd of haughty 
 Bachelor-men ; / ring-nets bore they, 
 Locken limb-sarks. / The land-warden espied 
 Earls a-going, / as erst he had ; 
 Nor did he with harmful words / from the 
 
 headland's height 
 Greet the guests, / but galloped towards them ; 
 Quoth he that welcome / the Weder-People's 
 Shining-clad soldiers / to their ships might fare. 
 There on the sand was / the sea-worthy craft 
 Laden with hero -weeds, / the ringed prow 
 With mares and with money ; / the mast towered 
 
 '65 G 
 
Over Hrothgar's / hoard of treasure. 
 
 1900 He on the boat-warden / a gold y-bounden 
 Sword bestowed, / so that sithence he was 
 On the mead-benches / by that boon held worthier, 
 A dear heirloom. / On deck he departed 
 To drive deep water. / Danes' land he left. 
 Then was to the mast / one of the mer-sheets, 
 A sail rope-fastened ; / the sea-wood roared ; 
 Nor that wave-floater / did the wind over the 
 
 waters 
 Hinder from sailing ; / the sea-goer started, 
 Floated, foamy-necked, / forth over the waves, 
 
 1 910 The banded stem / over brimming streams, 
 Till they Geatish cHffs / might get in sight. 
 Kenned nesses ; / the keel pushed up 
 Driven by the breeze, / on the beach she stood. 
 Rapidly by the holm / was the hythe-warden ready, 
 He who ever and long / for the lovely men. 
 Fain by the flood, /afar had gazed ; 
 He bound to the sand / the broad-bosomed ship 
 With anchor-bonds fast, / lest the force of the 
 
 waves 
 That winsome wood / might wrench away. 
 
 1 920 Bade he then upwards bear / the athehngs' treasure, 
 Fretted and fashioned gold ; / nor had they far 
 
 thence 
 To go seeking / the giver of jewels, 
 Higelac Hrethling, / where at home he dwelt, 
 Himself with his subjects / the sea-wall near. 
 The building was beautiful, / its baron a proud 
 
 King, 
 High were the halls ; / Hygd was very young. 
 Wise, well-thriven, / though winters few 
 Locked in the burgh / had she abode, 
 Haereth's daughter ; / was she not humble however, 
 
 1930 Nor too niggard of gifts / to the Geatish people. 
 Of massy treasure. 
 
 Moodiness Thrytho shewed. 
 Valiant folk-queen, / fearsome violence ; 
 Was none who durst, / doughty, to venture 
 
 66 
 
Of her own household, / her husband save, 
 Her upon by day / with his eyes to stare ; 
 But on ropes of death / for a doom might he reckon 
 Hand-i-woven ; / hastily then was 
 After his seizure / the sword allotted him. 
 That sharply, sheerly, / should life shut, 
 1940 Make clear his killing. / Not so is the queenly 
 custom 
 For a woman to work, / though wonder-fair she be, 
 That she, a Peace- Weaver, / the life pursue, 
 In lying malice, / of a man beloved. 
 Howbeit, that did he hinder, / Hemming's kinsman. 
 
 Ale-drinkers / otherwise said. 
 That she of folk-damage / fashioned less, 
 Of feud and hatred, / since first she was 
 Given, gold-decked, / to the gallant youth. 
 Dear of ancestry, / when she Offa's floor 
 
 1950 Over the fallow flood / by her father's counsel 
 Sailing sought : / there she, si thence, well 
 On the royal seat, / renowned for goodness, 
 The life allotted her / lived and enjoyed, 
 Held high love / for the Heroes' Prince, 
 Who of all mankind, / in my story, 
 Was seemliest, / two seas between. 
 Of every-kind. / Wherefore Offa was. 
 In spending and striving / a spear-keen man, 
 Widely worshipped ; / in wisdom held he 
 
 i960 His own homestead. / From him Eomaer sprang 
 For the help of heroes, / Hemming's kinsman, 
 Grandson of Garmund, / great in battle. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 Bewent him then the hardy one / with his handful 
 Himself over the sand / the sea-field treading. 
 Wide water-marks ; / the world-candle shone. 
 The sun, south-rising ; / they shaped their way. 
 With force they went / where the Fence of Earls, 
 The bane of Ongentheow, / his burgh within, 
 
 67 
 
Their young and good / War-King (they guessed) 
 
 1970 Rings was dealing. / Higelac was 
 
 Of Beowulf's travelling / quickly told, 
 
 That within those walls / the warriors' champion, 
 
 His linden-comrade / alive was come, 
 
 Hale from the battle-play / to the house going. 
 
 Rapidly was made ready, /as the rich one bade, 
 
 For the footing guests / the floor within. 
 
 Sate then by his side / he who was saved from the 
 
 strife, 
 Kinsman by kinsman, / when the King of men 
 Speaking aloud / his liegeman greeted 
 
 1980 In mighty words. / With mead-draughts moved 
 Over that hall-floor / Haereth's daughter ; 
 She loved the laity, / Kquor-bowls bare 
 To the hands of the heroes. / Higelac began 
 His housemate / in the high hall 
 To question kindly ; / knowledge he craved, 
 What the Water-Geats' / wanderings were. 
 ** What came to you on your crossing, / kinsman 
 
 Beowulf, 
 When thou, in a moment, / wert minded afar 
 Strife to seek, / over salt water, 
 
 1 990 Hand-play in Heorot ? / And hast thou Hrothgar's 
 Wide-famed woe / one whit made better. 
 That mighty Prince. / I with painful mind 
 In sorrow-waves seethed, / that sailing mistrusted 
 Of a man beloved. / Long time I prayed thee 
 Never to meet / that murder-guest 
 But to leave the South-Danes' / selves to settle 
 Their grievance with Grendel. / To God I say 
 
 thanks 
 That I may see thee / safe and sound.'' 
 Beowulf answered, Ecgtheow's boy : 
 
 2000 *' It is no secret, / Sovran Higelac, 
 
 Among many men, / our mighty meeting. 
 What a bout of gripping / to Grendel and me 
 Came on that field / where he with countless 
 Sorrows had troubled / the Triumph-Shieldings, 
 Everlasting anguish : / All of it I avenged, 
 
 68 
 
So cannot boast / any cousin of Grendel 
 
 In all the earth, / of that morning-uproar. 
 
 Not he that longest liveth / of the loathly clan, 
 
 Fenced in his fens. /There first I came 
 
 To that Ring-Hall, / Hrothgar greeting ; 
 
 Straightway for me the mighty / man of Halfdane, 
 
 Whenas the mind / of me he knew, 
 
 By the son of himself / a seat appointed. 
 
 The laity laughed ; / nor in all my life saw I 
 
 Under heaven's vault, / among sitters in hall, 
 
 More joy in their mead. / At times the mighty 
 
 Queen, 
 Peace-maker among peoples, / paced the floor, 
 Boldened the young boys ; / often a bended ring she 
 Bestowed on a stalwart / ere she stepped to her 
 
 stool. 
 At times before the doughty / the daughter of 
 
 Hrothgar 
 To the earls at each end / the ale-cup bare, 
 * Freawaru ' then I, / by the floor-sitters. 
 Heard her named, / as the nail-studded treasure she 
 Bent to the brave. / Betrothed is she. 
 Young, gold-embroidered, / to the glad son of Froda. 
 A fair thing has it seemed / to the Friend of 
 
 Shieldings, 
 Shepherd of his Realm, / and a good rede he 
 
 counteth it. 
 That he by this woman / a wealth of feuds 
 And slaughter may settle. / Not seldom but often, 
 When a Lord is fallen, / a Httle while only 
 Is the death-spear banished, / though the bride be 
 
 doughty. 
 This, then, may displease / the Prince of 
 
 Heathobeards 
 And every thegn / among that people 
 When he with that femrae / upon the floor goeth, 
 That on a well-born Dane / his warriors wait ; 
 One on whom gleameth / their grandsires' leavings 
 Hard and ring-mailed, / the Heathobeards' treasure; 
 While they those weapons / might be wielding, 
 
 69 
 
[XXX] 
 
 Till they led astray / to the linden-play 
 2040 Their loved comrades, / and their own lives. 
 
 Then says over his beer, / as the booty he sees, 
 
 An old ash-warrior / who it all remembers, 
 
 The spear-murder of men, / (and his mind is 
 
 grim)— 
 He beginneth gloomily / the young champion's 
 Courage to spy out, / by the thoughts of his spirit, 
 War-anger to kindle, / and this word quoth : 
 * Dost thou, my son, / the sword distinguish, 
 Which thy father / to the fight bare. 
 Trapped in his helmet, / the hindmost time, 
 2050 His dear iron, / when the Danes slew him ; 
 
 And won the slaughter-field, / when Withergyld 
 
 lay there, 
 And the fighters were fallen, / the fierce Shieldings ? 
 Now, here, those slayers* / son, or such-hke, 
 Exulting in his finery / over the floor goeth. 
 Of the treason boasteth, / and the treasure beareth 
 Which rightly had passed / into thy possession/ 
 Moveth he him so and remindeth him, / many a 
 
 time. 
 With savage words, / till the season cometh 
 And the femme's thegn / for his father's deeds, 
 2060 When the blade has bitten him / in blood sleepeth, 
 Endeth his days ; / and the other from thence 
 Loseth himself alive, / for that land is well-known 
 
 to him. 
 Then bin broken / on both sides 
 The oaths earls swore, / when in Ingeld 
 Welle th up deadly loathing, / and his love of his 
 
 wife 
 Under waves of care / waxeth cooler. 
 So I on the Heathobeards' / honesty count not, 
 On their share in the Peace / with the simple 
 
 Danes, 
 Or fastness in friendship. 
 
 Henceforth shall I speak 
 
 70 
 
20 70 Again about Grendel, / till thou get full 
 knowledge, 
 Offerer of treasures, / how it turned at the end, 
 That hand-fight of heroes. / After heaven's gem 
 Glided below the ground, / that guest angrily 
 
 came, 
 An awful evening-rage, / us to visit. 
 Where safe and sound / we sate in the hall. 
 There upon Hondscio / a host descended. 
 His life forfeit by fate ; / the first he fell. 
 A girded champion ; / to him Grendel was. 
 To our mighty man / a mouth of murder, 
 
 2080 Of that swain beloved / the limbs he swallowed. 
 None the earlier out again, / idle-handed. 
 That bloody- toothed bane, / of butchery mindful, 
 From the gold-hall / would be going ; 
 But, bold in his might, / of me made trial, 
 Grappled me greedy-handed. / His glove was 
 
 hanging 
 Wide and wondrous, / with woven-bands fastened ; 
 It was by cunning / all contrived 
 With devils' craft / and dragons' pelts. 
 He there, inside it, / me unsinning, 
 
 2090 That dire deed-worker, / would have done away, 
 One among many ; / that might not be 
 When I in ire / upright arose. 
 Too long is it to reckon / how I to that land-scather 
 For each of his evils / offered hand-payment ; 
 There I, my Prince, / made thy people 
 Worshipful by my work. / Away he escaped, 
 A little while / life's joys he brooked ; 
 But his right arm / the road pointed. 
 His hand in Heorot ; / and he, hapless, thence, 
 
 2100 Mournfully minded, / to the mere's floor fell. 
 Me for that fight / the Friend of Shieldings 
 With fashioned gold / in full rewarded, 
 With many treasures, / when morning came, 
 And we to the banquet / had bent us down. 
 Then was song and glee. / The greybeard Shielding 
 Asking us many things, / old tales remembered ; 
 
 71 
 
At times a hero / the happy harp, 
 
 The joy-wood swept, / while a song he uttered, 
 
 True and tragic ; / at times a strange tale 
 
 21 lo Read us aright / the roomy-hearted King ; 
 Awhile after began, / by age bounden, 
 A grizzled warrior / his youth to bewail, 
 His battle-strength ; / his breast in him swelled 
 As he, old in winters, / all that remembered. 
 So we inside there / all the day long 
 Tasted of pleasure, / until night returned 
 Again to the earth. / Thereafter was rapidly 
 Girt for vengeance / Grendel's mother ; 
 Set her forth sorrowful ; / her son death had 
 taken, 
 
 2120 The Weders' war-hate. / A wife unlovely, 
 Her bairn she avenged ; / a brave man she 
 
 vanquished 
 Unafraid ; / there from Aeschere, 
 A learned elder, / Hfe went out. 
 Neither might they, / when morning came, 
 Him, death-weary, / the Danish people 
 Burn with brands, / nor on the bale-fire lay 
 Their loved kinsman ; / his corpse she bare off 
 In fiendish fingers / under the mountain-flood • 
 That was for Hrothgar / harshest of the sorrows 
 
 2130 Which on that Folk-Lord / long time had fallen. 
 Then that lord of me, / by thine own Hfe, 
 Wistfully besought / that in the swirling waters 
 I should act with earlship, / offer life up, 
 Merit glory ; / meed he promised me, 
 I then of those wells / — -it is widely known — 
 The grim and griesly / guardian found. 
 There for us two awhile was / a hand-encounter ; 
 The pool heaved with blood, / and I the head 
 
 carved off. 
 In that ^row;z^-mansion, / of Grendel's mother, 
 
 2140 With a huge sword ; / not softly thence 
 
 Did I fetch me alive ; / I was not fated as yet ; 
 But the Guardian of Earls / afterwards gave me 
 A heap of treasures, / Halfdane's son. 
 
 72 
 
XXXI 
 
 So the people's King / by custom lived ; 
 
 In no way my fee / foregone had I, 
 
 Tribute for might, / but treasures he gave me, 
 
 Halfdane's son, / as myself I chose, 
 
 Which I, bravest of Kings, / will bring to thee, 
 
 Will gladly offer. / Ever from thee do all 
 
 Favours fall ; / but few have I 
 
 Of high kinsmen / save, Higelac, thee/* 
 
 Bade he then bear in / the Boar, the head-crest, 
 
 The battle-steep helmet, / hoary byrny. 
 
 War-sword splendid ; / then spake a word : 
 
 ** To me this harness / Hrothgar offered, 
 
 Sagest of Princes, / and in certain words bade 
 
 That I first should thee / of his friendship tell ; 
 
 Quoth he, that held them / Heorogar the King, 
 
 Lord of Shieldings, / a long while ; 
 
 Nor yet to his own son / would he assign, 
 
 To lusty Heoroweard, / loyal though he were to 
 
 him. 
 That breast-armour. / Use it all well.*' 
 Heard I that this finery / four horses. 
 All alike, / did follow after, 
 Apple-yellow ; / he yielded him the honour 
 Of horses and treasures. / So should a tribesman do, 
 Never envy-nets / for others weave. 
 Nor by dark-hid craft /with death encompass 
 His hand-companions. / To Higelac was, 
 Hardy in fight, / his nephew most faithful, 
 And each was mindful / of the other's good. 
 Heard I, that he the necklace / on Hygd bestowed, 
 That work of wander / which Wealhtheow had 
 
 given him, 
 A prince's daughter; / and three palfreys therewith 
 Slim, bright-saddled ; / since then she went. 
 After his bounty, / with breast adorned. 
 So was emboldened / Ecgtheow's boy, 
 A groom war-famed, / by his good deeds ; 
 He dwelt as he deemed, / never, drunken, slew 
 
 73 
 
2 1 80 His hearth-fellows ; / nor was he harsh in spirit, 
 But among man-kind / with most of craft 
 The gift firm-set / which God had sent him 
 Held, battle-hardy. / Humbled was he long, 
 For the sons of the Geats / no good of him said. 
 Nor, on the mead-bench, / of mickle worth 
 The captains of warriors / would account him ; 
 Shrewdly they reckoned / that slack he was, 
 An athefing ungallant. / Atonement came 
 To the man triumphant / for all his troubles* 
 
 2190 Then the Fence of Earls / bade fetch him in. 
 The King battle-haughty, / Hrethel's heirloom 
 Gay with gold ; / among the Geats was not then 
 A wealthier treasure / in the way of swords ; 
 This he in Beowulf's / bosom laid. 
 And spent upon him / seven thousands, 
 A bower and a throne. / To both of them was 
 In that country / land bequeathed. 
 Home and ownership ; / to the other one, rather. 
 The broad realm ; / wherefore the better man was 
 he there. 
 
 2200 After that it happened, / in other days. 
 
 In the fury of hosts, / when Higelac was fallen, 
 And on Heardred / the hewing swords 
 Through the board of his shield / balefully 
 
 shattered. 
 When sought him out / mid his soldier-people 
 Bold wolves of battle, / Warrior-Scylfings, 
 Who forcefully harried / Hereric's nephew ; — 
 Then to Beowulf / the broad realm 
 Came under his hand. / He held it aright 
 Fifty winters / (then was he a white-haired King, 
 
 2210 An old land-warden), / until one began 
 
 In darkness of night, / a dragon, to lord it ; 
 Which in a high law / lay over a hoard, 
 A steep stone-barrow ; / and steps thereunder. 
 Unknown to the world. / Within there went 
 
 74 
 
Some enemy, / v)ho in envy seized 
 The heathenish hoard ; / his hand took forth 
 A jewelled bowl^ j nor did he bring it again, 
 But he ensnared / the sleeping warden 
 By thievish craft ; / so the King founds 
 2230 The brave one of the folk, / that he was belching 
 with fury. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Never of a purpose / the power of the Worm's 
 
 hoard 
 Sought he^ for his own sake, / who sorely scathed 
 
 himself ; 
 But in straitest need, / the slave of some one 
 Of the sons of heroes, / hate-swinges fled, 
 Finding no home^ / and therein fell, 
 A soul sin-busied. / Soon it hetided 
 Th3t there ^ over the guest, / griesly terror came ; 
 Whether in his wretchedness, /........ 
 
 ....../.......... 
 
 2230 / While on him tht fear pressed 
 
 The jewel-cup he saw. j Of such were there many 
 
 In that earth-house, / of ancient riches, 
 
 Such as in olden days / any one of men, 
 
 (The whole heritage / of an honoured kindred) 
 
 Heedful in thought, / there had hidden. 
 
 Dearest treasures. / All of them death had taken 
 
 In earlier times, / and the only one now 
 
 Of the people's lords, / he who longest abode 
 
 there. 
 Waxed friend-sorry, / wished to linger, 
 
 2240 That he a little spell / the long-kept riches 
 Might enjoy. / The mound all in readiness 
 Stood on the earth / near the streams of ocean. 
 New-wrought on the ness, / narrow-closed and 
 
 fast ; 
 Bare he then inside / of those earls' bounties, 
 
 75 
 
That lord of rings, / a heavy load, 
 
 Of fashioned gold, / and few words quoth : 
 
 ** Hold thou now, earth, / now heroes may not, 
 
 What Earls have owned. / What ! of old out of thee 
 
 Gallants got them ; / grim death has taken, 
 
 2250 Massacre fierce, / the men, each and all 
 
 Of my people, / who have passed from this life ; 
 They had seen the hall's bliss. / None have I who 
 
 beareth sword. 
 Or polisheth / the plated bowl, 
 The drinking-cup dear ; / the doughty are 
 
 elsewhere scattered. 
 From the hard helmet / harnessed with gold 
 Its plates shall slip ; / the polishers slumber 
 Who the battle-masks / were wont to burnish ; 
 And so the army-coat / that in conflict endured, 
 When boards were broken, / the bite of iron, 
 
 2260 Moulders with its master ; / nor may the mailed 
 byrny 
 With the war-chief / widely journey, 
 Atfhand by the heroes. / In the harp is no joy, 
 No game of the glee-beam ; / no good hawk 
 O'er the house swingeth, / nor any swift horse 
 In the stone-court stampeth. / For stem death 
 All of the folk-Hfe / forth has exiled." 
 Thus, sad of mood, / his sorrows he mourned. 
 One, after them all ; / unblithe he wept. 
 Daily and nightly, / until death's tide 
 
 2270 Felt at his heart. 
 
 The hoard of joy he found, 
 That old striker in twilight, / standing open, 
 He who, burning, / the barrows seeketh, 
 A naked fear-dragon, / nightly flieth 
 Driven by fire ; / him the field-dwellers 
 Sorely dread, j Still he seeketh 
 A hoard in the ground / where he heathen gold 
 Watcheth, old in winters : / nor is he a whit the 
 
 wealthier. 
 So the people's threatener, / three hundred winters 
 Held in the earth / such a hoard-house, 
 
 76 
 
22 8o Of endless strength, / until angered him one 
 Man in his mind ; / to his master bare 
 The plated bowl, / for a peace-pact begged 
 The lord of him. / Then was the hoard looted, 
 Borne off its bracelets ; / as a boon 'twas granted 
 To the friendless man. / His master saw 
 The former work of the folk, / for the first time. 
 When the Worm awoke, / was war renewed ; 
 He snuffed then over the stones, / stark-hearted 
 
 he found 
 Footprints of a foe, / who too far had stepped, 
 
 2290 Crafty in darkness, / the dragon's head near. 
 So may one unfated / easily escape 
 Woe and exile, / who the Wielder's 
 Friendship holdeth. / The hoard-warden sought 
 Greedily over the ground, / that groom he would find 
 Who to him in his slumber / sorrow had brought ; 
 Hot and harsh-minded / the hill he oft hunted 
 All round about ; / nor was any man there 
 Upon that waste, / Yet for war he was joyful, 
 For battle-work ; / at whiles to the barrow he 
 turned, 
 
 2300 The jewel-cup sought ; / but soon he found 
 
 That some one of men / had searched out the gold, 
 
 That high treasure. / The hoard-warden abode 
 
 111 at ease, / until evening came ; 
 
 Was belching then / the barrow's keeper, 
 
 Would the foul foe / with flame repurchase 
 
 His drinking-cup dear. / Then was day forth 
 
 driven. 
 As the Worm could wish ; / Nor within his walls 
 
 for long 
 Would he abide, / but with bale-fire went. 
 Forth on his flame. / At the first it affrighted 
 
 2310 The country folk, /even as quickly it was 
 
 And bloodily ended / by their Bounty-Giver. 
 
 xxxni 
 
 Then the enemy began / to spit forth embers. 
 To bum the bright houses ; / a blazing light shone 
 
 77 
 
Awful to all men ; / nor aught there alive 
 
 That loathly lift-flier / would he leave. 
 
 Was the Worm's warfare / widely seen, 
 
 The narrow-foe's fury / near and far, 
 
 How a warring punisher / the Geatish people 
 
 Was hating and humbling. / To the hoard again 
 
 he shot, 
 2320 To his dark domain, / ere dawn of day • 
 He had the folk of the land / with fire 
 
 encompassed. 
 With burning and branding ; / in his barrow he 
 
 trusted. 
 In his war and his wall ; / that weening bewrayed 
 
 him. 
 Then was the tale of terror / told to Beowulf 
 Swiftly and in sooth, / how himself his home 
 Best of buildings / in burning waves melted. 
 The gift-stool of the Geats. / That to the gallant 
 
 one was 
 Hurtful at heart, / heaviest of mind-sorrows ; 
 Weened the wise one / that the Wielder he, 
 2330 Against the ancient Law, / the Lord Eternal 
 Had bitterly angered ; / his breast welled in 
 
 him 
 With darkest cares, / as his custom was not. 
 Had the fire-dragon / the people's fastness 
 Which on earth they owned, / by the ocean's edge, 
 With coals consumed ; / wherefore the King of 
 
 Battle, 
 The Weders' Prince / planned a vengeance. 
 Bade he then work him / (the Warriors' Buckler) 
 All of iron / (the Lord of Earls) 
 A wondrous war-shield ; / wist he well 
 2340 That hewn-wood to him / no help might furnish. 
 Fuel against flame. / Must he of his fleeting days, 
 An atheling ever-good, / the end await. 
 Of Hfe in the world, / and the Worm to boot. 
 Though he the hoarded wealth / had held for 
 
 long. 
 Too proud was then / the Prince of Rings 
 
 78 
 
That he the wide-flier / with warriors should 
 
 seek, 
 With a strong host ; / nor for himself the struggle 
 
 dreaded, 
 Nor the Worm's warring / a whit esteemed, 
 His might and menace;/ for that many times, of 
 
 old, 
 Venturing in strait places / by strife he had 
 
 vanquished. 
 In heat of battle, / since he Hrothgar's 
 Hall had cleansed, / a happy conqueror, 
 And in fight had outgripped / GrendeFs folk, 
 That loathly kindred. 
 
 Nor the least was that 
 Of hand-encounters, / where Higelac they killed, 
 When the Geats' ruler / in the race of battle, 
 Friend of his folk / in Frisian land. 
 Son of Hrethel, / the sword-drink swallowed, 
 Beaten down by the blade ; / therefrom Beowulf 
 
 came 
 By his own craft, / used his sea-cunning ; 
 He had on his arm, / he only, thirty 
 Weapons of war, / when to the water he went. 
 Never did the Hetv/are / need to exult 
 In their fighting on foot, / who forward against 
 
 him 
 Linden-shields bare ; / little of them came back 
 From that battle-wolf, / to behold their homes. 
 Overswam then the sea's width / the son of 
 
 Ecgtheow, 
 In poverty, alone, / again to his people. 
 There Hygd offered him / hoard and kingdom, 
 Bracelets and throne ; / in the boy she trusted not. 
 That he against strange folk / the stool of his 
 
 fathers 
 Would know how to hold, / and Higelac killed. 
 None the sooner the mourners / might obtain 
 From that atheling, / on any terms. 
 That he would Heardred's / lord become. 
 Or that kingdom / choose to hold ; 
 
 79 
 
However he kept him with the folk / in friendly 
 
 counsel, 
 Graciously, with honour, / until the lad older grew. 
 The Weder-Geats ruled. / Him wretched exiles 
 
 2380 Sought over the sea, / the sons of Ohthere ; 
 
 Had they held out against / the Helm of Scylfings, 
 
 The seemliest / of the sea-kings 
 
 Who in Swio-rice / riches scattered, 
 
 A mighty lord. / His measure that marked ; 
 
 He there, destitute, / his death-wound won 
 
 By swingeing sword, / the son of Higelac. 
 
 And thereafter bewent him / Ongentheow's bairn 
 
 His home to behold, / when Heardred lay dead, 
 
 He let Beowulf keep / the kingly seat, 
 
 2390 Govern the Geats. / That was a good king. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 He was minded to have payment / for that Prince's 
 
 murder 
 In after days ; / To Eadgils he was 
 A friend in his sorrows, / with his folk he 
 
 supported, 
 Over the wide sea, / the son of Ohthere, 
 With warriors and weapons. / He wreaked 
 
 vengeance thereafter 
 Coldly marching, / that King of life bereft. 
 So from every enemy / escape he did, 
 From savage onslaughts, / the son of Ecgtheow, 
 From deeds of daring, / until that same day 
 2400 When he with that Worm / wager must. 
 
 Went then, one of twelve, / with anger swelling. 
 The Duke of Geats / the dragon to seek : 
 He had then found out / whence the feud arose. 
 The curse on the captains ; / into his keeping was 
 
 come 
 The famous treasure-cup / from the finder's hand. 
 He was in that troop / the thirteenth man. 
 Who of that battle / beginning had made ; 
 
 80 
 
A slave in sorrow / must he show forthwith 
 Where the way was. / Unwilling went he 
 To where was one / earth-house he wist, 
 Hollowed under ground / the holm-waves near, 
 The warring floods, / that was filled within 
 With wrought- work and wire -work. / A warden 
 
 unkindly, 
 A greedy war- wolf / the gold-treasures held, 
 An old one under the earth ; / 'twas no easy bargain 
 For any man / to enter in. 
 
 Sate then on the headland / the hardy War-King, 
 While hail he bade / his hearth-companions. 
 The Gold-Friend of Geats. / Full of gloom was his 
 
 mind, 
 Wavering, death-wiUing ; / the Wyrd was very 
 
 near 
 Which that greybeard / was to greet. 
 To seek his soul's hoard, /to scatter asunder 
 Life from limbs ; / not for long then was 
 That atheling's being / bound in his flesh. 
 Beowulf made utterance, / Ecgtheow's son : 
 '^ Often in youth have I borne me / out from the 
 
 battle-race. 
 In hours of onset ; / all of that I remember. 
 I had seven winters / when the Wielder of Treasures , 
 Friend and Lord of the Folk, / from my father 
 
 took me ; 
 Held me and had me / Hrethel the King, 
 Gave me fee and feast, / of our friendship was 
 
 mindful ; 
 Nor was I in his life to him / a whit less likely 
 A brave in his burgh / than any of his boys, 
 Herebeald or Haethcyn, / or Higelac mine own. 
 Was for the eldest / unbefittingly 
 By a kinsman's deed / his death-bed strewn,,..^ 
 When him Haethcyn / and his horned bow, 
 His friend and lord / by an arrow felled, 
 Missed the mark / and his mate shot dead. 
 One brother the other, / with bloody shaft. 
 'Twas a feud beyond fee, / a felonish sinning, 
 
 8i G 
 
Mind-wearying and heart ; / must howsoever 
 That lord unavenged / from life depart. 
 So mournful is it / for an aged man 
 To bide alive / while his bairn rideth 
 Young on the gallows ; / then a glee may he sing, 
 A sorry song, / when his son hangeth, 
 A raven's comfort, / and to help him he cannot, 
 In oldest age, / aught devise. 
 2450 Always is he reminded, / every morning. 
 
 Of his offspring gone elsewhere ; / nor of another 
 
 careth he 
 To abide the birth, / his burgh within, 
 For a further heir / when the former hath 
 By death's constraint / of his deeds made proof. 
 Sore at heart he seeth / in his son's bower 
 The wine-hall a waste, / for winds to rest in it. 
 Of revels bereft ; / the riders are sleeping, 
 The heroes in shadow ; / nor is sound there of 
 
 harping, 
 Nor gaming in the yards / as of yore there were. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 2460 Wendeth he then to his chamber, / a chant of 
 
 sorrow waileth, 
 One man for another ; / seem to him all too roomy 
 The fields and the folk-stead. / So the Fence of 
 
 Weders 
 For Herebeald / with sorrow of heart 
 Melted away ; / no whit he might 
 Upon the murderer / mend the feud ; 
 None the sooner that soldier / might he shame 
 By deeds of hatred, / though dear to him he was 
 
 not. 
 Then for that sorrow, / the sore that had wounded 
 
 him, 
 Man's cheer he gave up. / God's light chose ; 
 2470 To his children he willed, / as doth a wealthy 
 
 man, 
 
 Sz 
 
Land and lordship, / when this life he left. 
 Then was sin and strife / among Swedes and Gteats, 
 Over the wide water, / wrath in common, 
 Hard troop-hatred, / after Hrethel was dead. 
 And to them Ongentheow's / offspring were 
 Proud and warlike ; / peace they would not 
 Hold, across the water, / but against Hreosna 
 
 Hill 
 Evil inroads / often planned. 
 Which mates and kin / of mine avenged, 
 Feuds and felonies, / (so the fame of it went) 
 Though one of them / with his own life paid, 
 A hard bargain ; / for Haethcyn was, 
 For the Geats' Warden, / war-death fated. 
 Then at break of day / one man his brother 
 By the sword's edge, / on his slayer avenged, 
 When Ongentheow / with Eofor met ; 
 His battle-helm glided asunder, / the grey-haired 
 
 Scylfing 
 Fell, murder-p3\t ; / a hand remembered 
 Feuds enough, / nor failed at the death-stroke. 
 
 Him then, for the gold j which he had given me 
 
 I repaid in war, / as it was awarded to me, 
 
 With lightning sword ; / land he gave me, 
 
 Ownership of earth. / Was not any need 
 
 That he of the Yifthas, / or of the Yard-Danes, 
 
 Or in Swio-rice, / should be seeking 
 
 A weaker war-wolf, / or pay him his worth ; 
 
 Ever for him with the foot-men / before would I 
 
 go, 
 Alone in the van, / and so always shall I 
 Seek to fight, / while this sword endureth, 
 Which early and late / hath often served me, 
 Since I in my doughtiness / was Dayraven's 
 Hand-slayer, / the Hugas* champion's. 
 Never could he the finery / to the Frisian King, 
 The breast-adornments / bring again ; 
 But in strife was struck down / the standard's 
 
 keeper, 
 
 83 
 
An atheling brave ; / nor was the blade his ending, 
 But the battle-grip / his heart's beating, 
 His bone-house brake. / Now shall the bill's edge, 
 Hand and hard-sword, / for the hoard contest." 
 2510 Beowulf made utterance, / boasting words spake, 
 For the last time : / ** I launched me on many 
 Wars in my youth ; / yet again will I, 
 An old folk-shepherd, / seek the fight, 
 Do mighty deeds, / if me the monster 
 From his earth-house / come out to meet.** 
 Greeted he then / the grooms each one, 
 Haughty helm-bearers, / a hindmost time. 
 His sweet companions : / '* A sword would I not 
 
 bear. 
 Nor weapon against the Worm, / if I wist how 
 2520 With that enemy / else I might 
 
 Come to grips, boast-yelling, / as of yore with 
 
 Grendel I did ; 
 But here on a hate-fire / hot I reckon. 
 And breathing of venom ; / wherefore I bear on 
 
 me 
 Board and byrny. / Nor will I from the barrow's 
 
 warden 
 Flee away / one foot's measure. 
 But to us shall it be at the wall / as Wyrd shall 
 
 appoint for us, 
 The measure of every man. / I am in mind 
 
 emboldened. 
 So that I forgo boasting / before that battle-flier. 
 Await ye on the barrow, / byrnies wearing, 
 2530 Men in armour, / which may the better 
 After the duel / endure his wounds. 
 Of us twain. / Nor is it your trial. 
 Nor any man's, / save mine only. 
 That he with the monster / measure his strength, 
 Match his earlship. / I by my might shall 
 Gain the gold, / or the battle gather. 
 Cruel life-bane, / the lord of you." 
 Stood up then with his shield / the stalwart 
 
 champion, 
 
 84 
 
Hardy under his helm, / his harness bare 
 
 2540 Under the stone-cliffs, / in the strength he trusted 
 Of a single man ; / such is not the manner of 
 
 cowards. 
 Saw he then in the wall, / (he who in a wealth 
 Of battles had vanquished, / blest with valour, 
 Roaring fights, / in the rush of foot-men) 
 A stone-arch standing, / a stream out thence 
 Breaking from the barrow ; / were that burn's 
 
 eddies 
 Hot with hate-fire ; / nor near the hoard might he 
 Unburned / for any time 
 Its depths endure, / for the dragon's flame. 
 
 2550 Let then from his breast, / so he boiled with anger, 
 The Weder-Geats' Prince / pass out a word ; 
 Stark-hearted he stormed ; / under the hoary 
 
 stone, 
 Echoing battle-bright, / brake his voice ; 
 Hatred was kindled, / the hoard-warden knew 
 The speech of man, / nor was there space any more 
 To bid for peace. / Burst forth first 
 The breath of the ogre / out of the stone, 
 Hot sweat of battle. / Shook the ground. 
 The brave under the barrow / his round-board 
 swung 
 
 2560 Against the griesly guest, / the Geatish lord ; 
 Then the ring-twister's / heart was fain 
 A duel to seek. / His sword now had drawn 
 The excellent War-King, / bequeathed from of old, 
 Unslow of edge ; / to each of them was. 
 Murder-minded, / menace from the other. 
 Stiff -minded stood / behind his steep shield 
 The King of Friends, / as coiled the Worm 
 Swiftly together ; / in his trappings he waited. 
 Came then the burning one, / bowed and creeping, 
 
 ^570 Speeding to his doom. / The shield well defended 
 Life and limb, / a lesser while 
 For the mighty lord, / than he might look for 
 So he at that point, / in the prime of the day, 
 Was to win / (as Wyrd had not written for him) 
 
 85, 
 
The honour of the fight. / His hand upraised 
 The Geatish lord, / the griesly-hued one struck 
 With Ing's heirloom, / but its edge fell back, 
 Brown from the bone, / bit less keenly 
 Than its Nation-King / had need of it, 
 2580 Busily beset. / Then was the barrow's warden, 
 After that fierce stroke, / stirred to fury, 
 And spewed slaying fire ; / sprang forth afar 
 Its battle -gleams. / Boasted not of triumph 
 The Gold-Friend of Geats ; / his good sword had 
 
 failed. 
 Naked in the fight, / as never should 
 Excellent iron. / Nor was that an easy journey 
 When the champion, / the child of Ecgtheow, 
 Had to forsake / the fields of earth. 
 Must, undesiring, / make his dwelling 
 2590 Elsewhere, / as must every man 
 
 Leave his loan of days. / Nor was it long then ere 
 
 Either champion / charged againr 
 
 Boldened him the barrow-warden, / his breast 
 
 swelled with breath, 
 Now anew ; / he was narrowly beset, 
 Fenced in fire, / who the folk had ruled. 
 No wise for him in their host /his hand-companions, 
 Athelings' stock, / stood around 
 In their battle-worth, / but to the wood they 
 
 bound them. 
 To save their lives. / In one alone swelled 
 a 600 His soul with care ; / kinship never may 
 
 Any thing unbind, / in one who well thinketh. 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 Wiglaf was he named, / Weohstan's son, 
 A loved linden-warrior, / a lord of Scylfings, 
 Sib to Aelfhere ; / he saw his master 
 Under the shutten helmet / suffering heat ; 
 He minded him then of the honour / which he of 
 old had given him, 
 
 86 
 
The wealthy township / of the Waegmundings, 
 And folk-rights all, / as his father had owned 
 
 them ; 
 Nor might he hold back then, / his hand the shield 
 
 seized, 
 2610 Yellow linden, / his yore-sword he drew. 
 
 That was, for all men, / Eanmund's heirloom, 
 Ohthere's son's, / whom in the slaughter, 
 A friendless wanderer, / Weohstan finished 
 With the blade's edge, / and from his fellows bare off 
 The brown-hued helm, / the ringed bymy. 
 The old sword, Eotenish, / which Onela had given 
 
 him ; 
 His brother-clansman's / battle clothing. 
 Fit for service. / Nor about the feud spake he 
 Though he his brother's / bairn had murdered. 
 2620 He wore those treasures / many winters. 
 
 Blade and bymy, / until his own boy might 
 
 Earlship achieve, / as erst his father ; 
 
 He gave him then among the Geats / his gear of 
 
 battle 
 All, unnumbered, / when out from life he went, 
 Old, forth-faring. / This w^as the first time 
 For the young champion / that he the charge of 
 
 battle 
 With his sovran lord / had to suflfer ; 
 Nor melted his courage, /nor was his kinsman's 
 
 heirloom 
 Weak at warfare ; / that the Worm found out 
 2630 When they together / once had gone. 
 Wiglaf uttered / words fit and many. 
 Said to his comrades / (full of care was his soul) 
 '' Of that time I am mindful, / when the mead we 
 
 tasted. 
 When we made a vow / to the master of us 
 In the beer-hall, / who these bracelets gave us, 
 That we for our weapons / would repay him, 
 If to him this kind / of peril came, 
 For helmets and hard swords. / Nay, he us from 
 
 the host did choose 
 
 87 
 
For this journey, / of his own judgement, 
 2640 Reminded us of glory, / and to me these treasures 
 
 gave. 
 Because he accounted us / cunning spearmen, 
 Lusty helm-bearers ; / though our lord for us 
 This work of valour / wished alone 
 To shape and finish, / the Folk's Shepherd, 
 For that he most among men / of mastery hath 
 
 wrought. 
 Of desperate deeds. / Now is the day come 
 That our lord and master / the main-strength 
 
 needeth 
 Of gallant warriors. / Let us go to. 
 And help our hero, / while this heat endureth, 
 2650 Flame-terror grim. / God wot of me, 
 
 That to me it is much liefer / that my live body 
 
 With my gold-giver's / the flame should grasp. 
 
 Nor meseems it becoming / that we bear our shields 
 
 Back to our folk, / save first we may 
 
 Fell this foe, / defend the life 
 
 Of the Weders' Prince. / Well do I know 
 
 That his ancient worth is not such / that he only 
 
 should 
 Of the Geatish soldiery / suffer sorrow, 
 Sink in the strife ; / for us twain shall be sword 
 
 and helm, 
 2660 Byrny and covered-shield, / for both in common," 
 Waded he then through that blood-reek, / his 
 
 war-head bore 
 His friend to comfort, / and few words quoth : 
 *' Dearest Beowulf, / do all things well. 
 Even as thou in thy youth-time / of yore didst say 
 That thou wouldst not let, / from thyself living 
 Glory dwindle ; / now must thou, great in thy 
 
 deeds, 
 AtheHng one-minded, / with all thy might 
 Save thy life ; / and I support thee.'' 
 After those words / the Worm irefuUy came 
 2670 An evil guest of enmity, / another time, 
 
 With fire-waves flashing, / his foes to seek, 
 
 88 
 
Those loathed men. / In lapping-fire was burned 
 Board with boss ; / his byrny might not 
 To the young spearman / yield any succour ; 
 But the young man / under his master's shield 
 Went eagerly on, / when his own was 
 Wasted by fire. / Then again the War-King 
 Was mindful of his fame, / by main-strength he 
 
 smote 
 With his hostile blade, / so that on the head it beat, 
 2680 Forced by his fury ; / in flinders Nailing 
 Swooned in the battle, / Beowulf's sword, 
 Hoary and grey. / 'Twas not granted to him 
 That any edge / of iron might 
 Help in the struggle ; / was that hand too strong, 
 Which every sword, / as I have heard say, 
 Overbore with its stroke, / when to the strife he bare 
 A wondrous-hard weapon ; / nor was he a whit the 
 
 better. 
 Then the tribe's scather /a third time. 
 The fearsome fire-dragon / his feud remembered, 
 2690 Rushed on that gallant one, / when room he gave 
 
 him. 
 Hot, battle-grim, / all his neck he grasped 
 In bitter tooth-bones ; / he bloodied was 
 With his soul's gore ; / that sweat in streams 
 
 gushed. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 Then I heard that in the need / of the Nation's 
 
 King 
 That earl unceasing / excellence shewed, 
 Craft and keenness, / as his kind was ; 
 Nor heeded he that head / (but the hand was 
 
 burned 
 Of that masterful man, / when his mate he helped). 
 For he that dread guest / downwards a little struck, 
 2700 A soldier in armour, / so that the sword dived in. 
 Brightly fashioned, / and the fire began 
 
 89 . 
 
/ 
 
 To slacken straightway. / Then himself the King 
 
 again 
 Conquered his wits, / the killing-knife drew, 
 Bitter and battle-sharp, / which on his byrny he 
 
 wore ; 
 The Weders' Helm wrote into / the Worm's 
 
 middle. 
 Their foe they felled, / their valour finished him, 
 And both of those twain / had broken him up, 
 Kinsmen-athelings ; / so should every man be, 
 A thegn in peril. / For the Prince that was 
 2710 The utmost triumph-day / of his own deeds, 
 
 Of his work in the world. / Then the wound began, 
 Which upon him the earth-dragon / earlier had 
 
 wrought. 
 To sweal and to swell ; / soon he found out 
 That through his breast / a baleful hurt was welling, 
 Poison from within. / Went then the atheling 
 Until he by the wall / in wisdom of mind 
 Sate on a seat ; / he saw the giants' work, 
 How that stone-arches / on staples fast 
 The everlasting earth-hall / inwardly held. 
 2720 Him then with his hands, / horrid with blood. 
 
 His famous Prince, / that thegn faithful beyond 
 
 measure, 
 His friend and lord / did lave in water. 
 Spent with battle, / and unspanned his helm. 
 Beowulf made utterance ; / of his bane he spake, 
 Of his wound death-piteous ; / wist he readily 
 That he his day-span / had spent at length 
 Of earthly joy ; / then was all scattered 
 The tale of his days, / death very nigh : — 
 *' Now I to a son of mine / would seek to give 
 273c My weeds of war, / were it so awarded me 
 That any heir should / after me come, 
 Begotten of my body. / This burgh have I held 
 Through fifty winters ; / nor M-as there a 
 
 Folk-King 
 Who me with his war-friends / to welcome dared, 
 To harass me with terrors. / At home I attended 
 
 90 
 
What time should bring me, / treated well mine 
 
 own, 
 Nor sought armed quarrels, / nor swore me many 
 Oaths unrightly. / From all of this I may 
 When sick with death-wounds / succour draw ; 
 Blame me for that cannot / the King of Men 
 For the murder of kinsmen, / when cast forth is my 
 Life from my limbs. / Let thee now hasten 
 The hoard to behold, / under the hoary stone, 
 Beloved Wiglaf, / now that the Worm lieth, 
 Sleepeth sore-wounded, / of his silver bereft. 
 Be off now in haste, / that I the ancient wealth. 
 The gold-hoard may glimpse, / may gaze my fill 
 On the shining jewels, / that so more softly I may 
 For that mass of treasure / take leave of my 
 Life and lordship ^ / which I long did hold. ' 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 Then swiftly (as I heard) / the son of Weohstan 
 When this word was spoken / his wounded lord, 
 War-sickened, obeyed, / went in his ringed bymy, 
 His braided battle-sark, / under the barrow's roof, 
 Saw he then in his triumph, / as by the seat he 
 
 went, 
 A masterful tribe-thegn, /treasures many, 
 Glistening gold / on the ground gathered, 
 Wonders on the walls, / and the Worm's den, 
 The old twilight-flier's ; / flagons stood there, 
 Far-dead men's vessels, / with none to furbish 
 
 them, 
 Husked of their platings. / There were helms in 
 
 plenty. 
 Old and rusty, / arm-rings many 
 Twisted and tied. / Treasure easily may, 
 Gold in the ground, / get from the grasp 
 Of any man in the world, / hide it who will. 
 So too, set there he saw / a sign all golden 
 
 91 . 
 
High over the hoard, / of hand-wonders the greatest, 
 Locked by skill of limb ; / wherefrom a light so 
 shone 
 2770 That he the ground there / might get in sight, 
 
 Throughout the wealth on it. / Nor of the Worm 
 
 was there 
 Any sign, / for him an edge had slain. 
 Then I heard that in the hill / the hoard was rifled, 
 The old work of ogres, / by one man only ; 
 That his breast he loaded / with bowls and dishes 
 As seemed good to himself ; / the sign also he took, 
 Brightest of beacons. / The blade now had scathed 
 
 him 
 Iron-edged, / of an old lord ,^ 
 Him who had held / in his hand those treasures 
 2780 A long while. / Lightning-terror he waged 
 Hot for his hoard, / with hatred welling 
 In the midst of the night, / until by murther he 
 perished. 
 
 Fleet was the messenger, / fain to return, 
 Driven on by his treasures ; / doubt was tearing 
 
 him 
 Whether, full-hearted, / he would find alive 
 On yonder plain / the Prince of Weders, 
 Power-less, / where he had left him anon. 
 Then he with that gold / the glorious Prince, 
 The Lord of him / at his Hfe's end, 
 2790 Bleeding, found ; / then again began he 
 
 To sprinkle him with water, / until an opening 
 
 word 
 Brake from his breast-hoard ; / Beowulf spake, 
 Grey-haired, in grief / on the gold he gazed : 
 *' I for these riches / to the Ruler of All my thanks 
 (To the Worshipful King) / in words will say 
 (To the Lord Eternal), / whereon I here do look, 
 For that I might / for mine own people 
 Ere my kiUing-time / conquer such things. 
 Now I for the precious hoard / have paid with my 
 2800 Old life laid down, / look thou still 
 
 92 
 
To the laity *s need ; / here may I no longer be. 
 
 Bid the battle-famed ones / build me a barrow 
 
 Bright with the bale-fire / on the brink of the cliff ; 
 
 It shall for a memory / to my people 
 
 Be walled up high / on the whale's headland, 
 
 So that sea-farers / in future say 
 
 ' Beowulf's Barrow ! ' / who their brave ships 
 
 Over the mists of the flood / from afar shall drive.'' 
 
 Did off from his neck / that noble Prince 
 
 A golden ring ; / to his thegn he gave it, 
 
 To the young spear-warrior, / his gold-wrought 
 
 helm. 
 Armlet and byrny, / bade him well to use them. 
 '' Thou art left at the end / of our kindred, 
 Of the Waegmundings ; / all of them Wyrd hath 
 
 swept off. 
 Friends of mine / to the fate fore-doomed, 
 Excellent earls ; / and I must after them." 
 That was the old warrior's / utmost word 
 Of the thoughts of his breast, / ere the bale-fire 
 
 he sought, 
 Hot battle-waves ; / from his bosom went 
 His soul to seek / the salvation of the faithful. 
 
 [XXXIX] 
 
 Thereafter it was / for the young warrior 
 III to bear, / that on the earth he saw 
 That most beloved, / at his life's end, 
 Cruelly suffering. / His killer Hkewise lay, 
 The loathsome earth-dragon / of life bereft, 
 Struck down in ruin. / The ring-hoard for longer 
 That winding Worm / might never wield. 
 For him the iron / edges had taken. 
 Hard, battle-scarred, / hammers' bequests. 
 So that the wide-flier / by wounds made still 
 Heltered upon the ground, / his hoard-place near ; 
 Nevermore in the welkin / would he wheel for 
 sport 
 
 93 
 
At prime of day, / in the pride of his treasures 
 
 Shewing his shape, / for he had sunk to earth 
 
 By that hero-leader's / handiwork. 
 
 Nay, throughout all lands/little has a man prospered, 
 
 Endowed with might, / (in my hearing) 
 
 Though in every deed / daring he were. 
 
 When he against a poison-reeker's / breath went 
 
 rushing, 
 2840 Or a store of rings / with his hands did stir, 
 If waking he / its warden found 
 Biding in the barrow, / By Beowulf was 
 His part in the princely treasure / paid for with 
 
 death ; 
 Each of them had / to the end been brought 
 Of this fleeting Hfe. 
 
 'Twas not long thereafter 
 That the battle -laggards / left the holt. 
 Feeble troth-liars, / ten together. 
 Who before had not dared / their darts to fling 
 In their noble master's / mickle need ; 
 2850 But shamefully now / their shields they bare. 
 
 Their garments of war, / where the greyhead lay ; 
 They looked upon Wiglaf. / He in weariness sate, 
 That fighting foot-man, / his friend's shoulder 
 
 near. 
 Wakening him with water ; / no whit did it speed 
 
 him. 
 Nor might he in this world, / much though he 
 
 wished it. 
 In that lord of spears / the life preserve, 
 Nor the Wielder's will / a whit unbind. 
 The Doom of God / the deeds must rule 
 Of every man, / as even now it doth. 
 2860 Then out of that youngster / a grim answer 
 
 Quickly came, / to those who their courage had 
 
 lost. 
 Wiglaf made utterance, / Weohstan's son, 
 A lad sore -hearted / seeing those he loved not : 
 " Lo ! This may he say, / who in sooth would 
 
 speak, 
 
 94 
 
That the lord of the tribe / who treasures gave 
 
 you, 
 The soldier-clothing / wherein clad ye stand here, 
 When he at the ale-benches / oft bestowed 
 On the sitters in hall / helms and byrnies, 
 A prince on his people, / on the proudest-hearted 
 2870 Whom, far or near, / he might anywhere find. 
 That wholly he / those weeds of war 
 And wantonly had wasted, / w^hen warfare came 
 
 to him. 
 Never did our Folk-King / of his field-comrades 
 Need to boast ; / howbeit God bestowed on him, 
 The Wielder of Victories, / that he should avenge 
 
 himself 
 Alone with his blade, / when the brave were 
 
 lacking. 
 I could but little / life-protection 
 Give him in the fight ; / I began, no less, 
 Beyond my measure / my master to help. 
 2S80 Always was he the sufferer / when with my sword 
 
 I aimed 
 At the deadly foe ; / the fire less direfuUy 
 Welled from his head. / Helpers too few 
 Trooped to their King / when his time was come. 
 Now shall gold-sharing / and sword-giving. 
 Every home -joy / from your households, 
 All hope, languish ; / of land-rights must 
 All that family, / first and last. 
 Wander empty, / whenas the athelings 
 From afar the fame / of your flight shall hear, 
 2890 Your gloryless deed. / Death is more good 
 For any earl / than infamous life.*' 
 
 XL 
 
 Bade he then that battle-work / at the barrier be 
 
 told, 
 Up over the ocean-cliff, / where those earls in 
 
 company 
 
 95 
 
All morning long / mourning had sate 
 Bearing their shields, / to both chances looking ; 
 To the end of ^his days / and to the after-coming 
 Of the man they loved. / Little did he keep silent 
 The new tidings, / who up the ness rode, 
 But he soothfully / said to them all : 
 2900 '' Now is the Pleasure-Giver / of the 
 
 Weder-People, 
 The Duke of Geats, / on death-bed fast, 
 He hath won to his rest / by the Worm's deed. 
 Levelled with him lieth / his hfe's winner 
 By knife-wounds sickened ; / with his sword he 
 
 might not 
 On that evil creature, / at any cost, 
 Work a wound. / Wiglaf sitteth 
 Over Beowulf, / Weohstan's boy, 
 One earl over another, / and him unliving, 
 Holdeth with honour / watch by the heads 
 2910 Of friend and foe. / Now for the folk is 
 
 foreboding 
 Of a season of conflict, / soon as commonly 
 By Frisians and Franks / the fall of the King 
 Is known afar. 
 
 That feud was shapen 
 Hard against the Hugas, / when Higelac came 
 Faring with a fleet / to the Frisian land. 
 Where, him the Hetware / humbled in battle, 
 Who achieved by their excellence, / overpowering 
 
 him. 
 That the byrny-wearer / must bow before them ; 
 He fell amid his foot-men ; / no finery gave 
 2920 That elder to his gallants. / From us ever since 
 
 Has mercy been withheld / by the Merowingians. 
 Nor do I in the Swede-Folk's / swearing trust 
 
 either. 
 Nor a whit expect it ; / for 'twas widely known 
 That Ongentheow / had thieved the life 
 Of Haethcyn Hrethling / by Ravenswood, 
 When, full of pride, / the Fighter- Scilfings 
 Visited first / the Geatish folk. 
 
 96 
 
Them soon the aged / father of Ohthere, 
 
 Old and awesome, / with onslaught answered, 
 
 Brake that wise seaman, / his wife delivered 
 
 The greybeard his gossip, /of her gold bereft, 
 
 Onela s mother / and Ohthere 's also, 
 
 And then followed / his deadly foes 
 
 Until they escaped / in evil plight 
 
 Into Ravenswood, / wanting their lord. 
 
 Set he then with a great host / about the sword's 
 
 leavings 
 Wounded and weary ; / woes often promised he 
 To the anguished troop / that endless night ; 
 Said that in the morning / with the sword's edge 
 Get them he would, / on the gallows-tre« some 
 A game /or the birds. / Bliss came after 
 To their sorry minds / soon as the day broke 
 Wheri they of Higelac's / horns and trumpets 
 Heard the blast, / when the brave one came 
 With the force of his tribe / their track following. 
 
 XLI 
 
 Was that swathe blood-sweated / of Swedes and 
 
 Geats, 
 That welter of warriors / widely seen, 
 How that folk against them / a feud awakened. 
 Bewent him then the brave one / with his band of 
 
 kinsmen, 
 Old, full of sorrow, / a fastness to seek, 
 Earl Ongentheow / uphill removed ; 
 He had of Higelac's / fighting heard, 
 Boastful battlecraft ; / nor beheved in withstanding, 
 1 hat the men of the sea / he might resist, 
 From the ocean-harriers / his hoard defend 
 His bairns and his bride ; / he bent him back thence. 
 Old, under an earth-wall. / Then pursuit was 
 
 ottered 
 
 To the Swedish people, / the standard of Higelac: 
 Ihe plain of peace / they passed forth over 
 
 97 H 
 
2960 When the Hrethelings / to the hedges thronged. 
 There was Ongentheow / by edged swords, 
 With his bleached locks, / to bay driven, 
 So that People's King / consent he must 
 To Eafor's sole judgment. / Him in anger 
 Wulf Wonreding / with his weapon so reached, 
 That from him at the stroke / in streams the blood 
 
 sprang 
 Forth under his hair. / Yet not fearful was he. 
 The hoary Scilfing, / but in haste repaid 
 With a stronger counter / that crashing stroke, 
 2970 When the king of the tribe / turned him thither. 
 Nor might the swift / son of Wonred 
 To the old carl / an answer give, 
 For he on his head / the helmet had shattered 
 So that, foul with blood, / bow down he must. 
 And fell on the field ; / nor yet fated was he. 
 But raised himself, / though the wound had rent 
 
 him. 
 Let the hardy / thegn of Higelac 
 His broad blade, / where his brother lay. 
 Hoary sword Eotenish, / helm gigantic 
 2980 Break over the shield-wall; / then bowed the King, 
 The People's Herdsman / to the heart was pierced. 
 Then were there many who wrapped up / 
 
 the wounds of their kinsman. 
 Rapidly raised him, / when room was made for 
 
 them. 
 So that they of the slaughter-field / should be 
 
 masters. 
 Then one captain / stripped the other. 
 Took from Ongentheow / his iron byrny. 
 His hard sword hiked / and his helm therewith ; 
 The hoary one's harness / to Higelac he bare. 
 He those precious things took, / and promised him 
 
 fairly 
 2990 Prizes for his people, / and performed the same ; 
 Pay for that punishing / did the Prince of Geats, 
 Hrethel's offspring, / when to his home he came, 
 Eofor and Wulf / with endless wealth, 
 
 98 
 
Gave each of them / an hundred thousands, 
 Land and locked rings ; / nor for lavishness need 
 
 blame him 
 Any man in this middle-garth, / since for their 
 
 meed they had fought ; 
 And then to Eofor he gave / his only daughter 
 To plenish his home, / as a pledge of favour. 
 
 That is the feud / and the foemanship. 
 Slaughter of men, / as it seems to my mind. 
 Wherefore will seek us out / the Swedish people, 
 Whenas they learn / that the lord of us 
 Has ended his Hfe, / of old who held 
 Against hatred of enemies / hoard and realm, 
 And when fighters were fallen / the fierce 
 
 Shieldings ; 
 The folk's good fashioned, / and further again 
 Earlship achieved. / At once meseems best 
 That we come there to look / on our Lord and 
 
 King, 
 And bring him back, / who bracelets gave us. 
 To his fire faring. / Nor shall a few things only 
 Melt with the mighty one, / for there is a mass of 
 
 wealth. 
 Gold uncounted, / grimly bargained for, 
 And now at the last / with his own Hfe 
 Bracelets hath he bought ; / these shall the blaze 
 
 swallow. 
 The flame thatch over ; / never an earl shall wear 
 A jewel for reminder, / nor maiden sheen 
 Have on her throat / a ring for adornment. 
 But gloomy in mind, / of their gold bereft. 
 Often, not once, / else-lands shall they tread. 
 Now that the leader of hosts / has laid aside 
 
 laughter. 
 Sport and song. / Wherefore shall spears 
 Many, morning-cold, / be clasped by fingers. 
 Hoisted in hand ; / never shall the harper's strain 
 Waken the warrior, / but the wan raven, 
 Fond over the fallen, / full of news, 
 
 99 . 
 
To the eagle shall say / how at the eating he sped, 
 When he with the wolf / harried the corpses." 
 So that bold soldier / was saying ever 
 Loathly tidings ; / he lied not much 
 3030 As to fate or fact. 
 
 His friends all arose ; 
 They went unbHthely / under the Eagle's Ness 
 With welling tears, / the wonder to behold. 
 Found they there on the sand, / where his soul 
 
 had left him. 
 His resting-bed holding, / him who rings had 
 
 given them 
 In earlier times ; / then was the end of his days 
 Come to the good one, / when the King of War, 
 The Weders' Prince, / by wondrous-death 
 
 perished. 
 First they beheld / a being more strange, 
 A Worm on the ground / against them there, 
 3040 A foul thing lying ; / 'twas the flame-dragon 
 Their grim scather, / scorched with fire. 
 He was fifty / foot-measures 
 Long, as he lay. / Aloft he had sported 
 In time of night, / and netherwards then went 
 His den to visit ; / in death was he fast there, 
 He had his earth-cavern / used to the end. 
 By him stood / bowls and flagons. 
 Dishes lay, / and dear swords. 
 Rusty, through-eaten, / as they in the earth's 
 
 bosom 
 3050 A thousand winters / there had dwelt ; 
 
 Since it was, that birth-right / of boundless 
 
 strength, 
 The gold of ancient men, / by magic guarded, 
 So that to the ring-chamber / might not reach 
 Any son of man ; / save that God Himself, 
 The Truth-King of Triumphs, / entrusted to 
 
 whom He would 
 (He is mankind's Helper) / the hoard to open, 
 Even unto such a man / as meet to Him seemed. 
 
 100 
 
XLII 
 
 Then ^twas plainly seen / that the way was not 
 
 prosperous 
 Of them who unrightly / inside had hidden 
 3060 Wealth under the walls. / The warden already had 
 
 slain 
 Some few of them ; / Then for the feud was 
 
 vengeance 
 Wrathfully wreaked. / A wonder 'tis wherever 
 An excellent earl /at the end arrives 
 Of the Hfe allotted him, / when no longer he may, 
 A man among his mates, / in the mead-hall dwell. 
 So was it with Beowulf / when he the barrow's 
 
 warden 
 Sought, and keen strife ; / himself he knew not 
 By what his world-sundering / should be wrought. 
 Until doomsday / so deeply had cursed it 
 3070 The mighty princes / who had put it there, 
 That his soul should / of sins be guilty, 
 Fixed in idol-shrines, / fast in hell-bonds, 
 Plagued and poxed, / who plundered that place. 
 Yet he was not gold-hungry ; / rather had he 
 His Owner's Favour / ever followed. 
 
 Wiglaf made utterance, / Weohstan's son : 
 Oft shall many an earl / by one man's will 
 Cruelly suffer, / as is come upon us. 
 Nor could we prevail / on our loved Prince, 
 3080 The Kingdom's Shepherd, / by any counsel. 
 That he would not go / to that gold-warden. 
 But let him lie / where long-time he was. 
 Abide within his walls / to the world's end ; 
 He held to his high calling. / The hoard is to be 
 
 seen. 
 Grimly gained ; / was that gift too costly 
 Which thither lured / the Lord of us. 
 I was inside there / and all of it saw. 
 The ornaments of the house / when 'twas opened 
 
 to me 
 
 lOI 
 
Nowise pleasantly, / passage allowed 
 3090 In under the earth-wall. / I at once seized 
 Much in my hands, / a mighty burthen 
 Of hoarded treasures, / hither out I bare them 
 To my own King ; / quick was he still. 
 Wise and whole-minded. / Very many things spake 
 The old man in his grief, / and to greet you ordered 
 
 me, 
 Bade you furnish fitly, / for your friend's deeds, 
 On the bale-fire's site / a barrow tall, 
 Mickle and mighty, / as of men he was 
 The worthiest warrior / the wide world over, 
 3100 While the wealth of the burgh / he well might use. 
 Let us now be off / on another errand 
 To seek and to see / the subtle store-house. 
 The wonder within the walls ; / I will you guide, 
 That ye from near / enough may look 
 On bracelets and broad gold. / Be the bier in 
 
 readiness. 
 Quickly fashioned, / when out we come, 
 And lay we thereon / the Lord of us. 
 The man beloved, / where long he shall 
 Under the Wielder's / watch abide." 
 3110 Bade he them command, / that boy of Weohstan's, 
 That hero of the host, / heroes many. 
 Who buildings owned, / that they the bale- wood 
 Should fetch from afar, / being folk-owners. 
 To the brave one's side. / *' Now shall the blaze 
 
 devour — 
 The wan flame waxing — / the Warriors' 
 
 Strengthener, 
 Him who oft abode / the iron showers. 
 When a storm of darts / driven by strings 
 Shot over the shield-wall, / the shaft held to its 
 
 duty. 
 And with feather-gear fain / the flying-barb 
 
 followed." 
 3120 And now the sage / son of Weohstan 
 
 Called from the throng / thegns of the King, 
 Seven together, / the seemliest ; 
 
 102 
 
One of eight he went / under the enemy roof ; 
 One man of battle / bare in his hand 
 A flaming torch, / who in front of them trod. 
 Nor was it left to the lot / who should loot that 
 
 hoard, 
 When, all unguarded, / any part of it 
 The soldiers saw / in that cellar abiding. 
 Lying there for a moment ; / little did any mourn 
 That they must at once / fetch out from thence 
 Those dear treasures. / The dragon eke they 
 
 shoved, 
 The Worm over the wall-cliff, / let the wave take 
 
 him. 
 The flood enclasp / that keeper of jewels. 
 There was wounden gold / on a wain laden, 
 All unnumbered ; / and the Atheling borne, 
 The hoary warrior, / to the Whale's Ness. 
 
 XLIII 
 
 Piled for him then / the Geatish people 
 
 A bier on the earth / unyielding in strength. 
 
 And hanged it with helmets, / hero-shields 
 
 Bright byrnies, / the boon he had asked ; 
 
 Laid they on the midst of it/ their mighty Prince, 
 
 The heroes lamenting / the Lord they loved. 
 
 Began then on the barrow^ / of bale-fires the 
 
 mightiest 
 A warrior to awaken ; / the wood-smoke soared 
 Swart over the fire-swathes ; / the singing flame 
 With weeping mingled / (the wind-eddies lay 
 
 still) 
 Until his bone-house / it had broken. 
 Hot in its heart. / Unhappily minded. 
 Moodily they mourned / their master's death ; 
 Also a weary lay / the wife of old 
 For Beowulf J j with bounden hair 
 Sang in her sorrow, / said once and again 
 That harmful days j and harsh she dreaded^ 
 
 103 
 
Wanton slaughter, / terror of warriors^ 
 Humbling and slavery. 
 
 Heaven swallowed the reek. 
 
 Wrought they then, / the Weder-People, 
 A hill upon the cliff / that was high and broad, 
 By Wave-farers / widely seen ; 
 And timbered about / in ten days 
 31 60 The battle-chief's beacon ; / what was left from 
 
 the burning 
 With a wall they enwrapped / in the worthiest 
 
 way 
 Men foremost in wisdom / might have found. 
 In the barrow they laid / bracelets and jewels, 
 All such harnessings / as from the hoard erstwhile 
 Angry men / had taken out ; 
 They left the treasure of earls / for the earth to 
 
 hold, 
 Grold among gravel, / where again now it liveth, 
 To all men useless, / as of old it was. 
 
 Then around the mound / rode battle-champions, 
 3170 Athelings' sons, / twelve in all. 
 
 Who would keen their master ^ / mourn their King, 
 Tuned words measure, / and tell of the man ; 
 They exalted his earlship, / and his excellent work 
 Doughty they deemed, / as due it is 
 That their willing lord / men should laud in words. 
 Should love in their hearts, / when he must forth 
 Out of his body / be borne at length. 
 
 So grieved and plained / the Geatish People 
 For their Lord's fall, / his hearth-fellows ; 
 3 1 80 They said that he was / a World King, 
 Of men the mildest / and to men kindest. 
 To his people most pleasant / and for praise most 
 eager. 
 
 104 
 
Finnsburgh 
 
 ** It is never the horns / of the house are burning ? '* 
 Brake then into speech / the battle-young King : 
 '' This nor dawneth from the east, / nor here any 
 
 dragon flieth, 
 Nor here on this hall / are the horns burning ; 
 But the Boar forth bear they, / birds are singing, 
 Clattereth the grey-sark, / clasheth the war-wood, 
 Shield to shaft answereth. / Now shineth this 
 
 moon 
 Waxing under the welkin ; / now arise woeful 
 
 deeds 
 Which battle against this people /will bring to pass, 
 10 But awaken ye now, / warriors mine, 
 
 Take hold of your shields, / as heroes shape you, 
 Fight in the fore-front, / be firm in courage." 
 Then arose many a gold-laden thegn, / girded on 
 
 him his sword ; 
 Then led to the doors / the lordly champions, 
 Sigeferth and Eaha, / their swords drew they. 
 And at the other doors / Ordlaf and Guthlaf 
 And Hengest's self ; / he hied in their wake. 
 Then Garulf again / of Guthere besought 
 That they so free-born a life / in the first sally 
 20 Should not bear in harness, / to that hall's doors. 
 Now that one hardy in fight / was fain to 
 
 harry it ; 
 But he asked over them all / in open speech. 
 Dire-minded hero, / who was holding the doors. 
 '* Sigeferth is my name," quoth he, / '' I am the 
 
 Secgas' lord, 
 A wanderer widely known. / Many the woes IVe 
 
 endured. 
 Hard battles. / For thee now is it here decreed, 
 Whatsoever thou thyself / wilt seek at my hands." 
 
 IOC 
 
Then was there in the hall / havoc of slaughter, 
 Must the curved board / in keen hands, 
 30 The bones' guard, burst. / The burgh-floor 
 
 dinned 
 When in that fight / was fallen Garulf , 
 The first of all / the earth-dwellers, 
 Guthlaf's son, / about him gallants many. 
 Roamed over the corpses / the raven, wandered 
 Swart and sallow-brown ; / the sword-gleam shone 
 As though all Finnsburgh / on fire it were. 
 Nor heard I ever that more worthily / in wars of 
 
 men 
 Sixty battle-heroes / bare themselves better, 
 Nor ever did swains for their sweet mead / give 
 
 seemlier payment 
 40 Than to Hnaef was paid / by his house-fellows. 
 They fought five days, / yet fell there none 
 Of the doughty comrades ; / but the doors they 
 
 held. 
 Then bewent him the wounded hero / on his way 
 
 going, 
 He said that his byrny / broken was, 
 No helpful garment, / and eke was his helmet 
 
 pierced. 
 Then swiftly asked him / the Shepherd of the Folk 
 How the warriors / with their wounds were 
 
 thriving, 
 48 And which of the youths . 
 
 106 
 
Waldere 
 I 
 
 she heartened him eagerly : 
 
 " Indeed Weland's / work not faileth 
 Any among men / who the Mimming can, 
 The hoary one handle. / Oft in the host hath fallen 
 Blood-sweating and sword-wounded / swain after 
 
 other. 
 Attila's Vanguard, / let not thy valour yet 
 Dwindle to-day, / thy dominance pass. 
 
 For the day is come 
 When truly thou shalt take / of two things either ; 
 10 Thy life shalt lose / or lasting glory 
 Own among men, / Aelf here's son. 
 Never of thee, my friend, / the fault do I name 
 That I have seen thee / in the sword-play 
 By ignominy / with any man 
 Avoid to fight, / or flee to the wall. 
 Defending thy body, / though foes in plenty 
 Thy byrny coat / with their blades were hewing ; 
 But thou ever farther / to fight didst seek. 
 To parley beyond thy border ; / therefore thy 
 
 peril I dreaded, 
 20 For that thou too fiercely / to fight didst seek 
 In that encounter, / the other man's 
 Pitched battle. / Prosper thyself 
 By gallant deeds, / while God for thee careth. 
 Nor be troubled for thy sword ; / to thee is the 
 
 choicest of treasure 
 Given, to help thee, / wherewith thou shalt 
 
 Guthhere's 
 Boasting abase, / because he that battle began, 
 Unfairly, / the first to seek. 
 
 Refused he the sword / and the flagon jewelled, 
 And bracelets many ; / now, both of them lacking, 
 
 107 
 
3© Shall hie from this fight / the lord, to find 
 
 His ancient heritage, / or here, first, slumber 
 If he the " 
 
 II 
 
 " a better blade 
 
 Save that one only / which eke I have 
 
 In a stone chest / stealthily hidden. 
 
 I wot that Theodric / thought to send it 
 
 To Widia's self, / and great wealth also 
 
 Of treasure with that blade ; / and a troop of them 
 
 beside him 
 With gold to adorn ; / he had got his fee of old 
 
 40 When out of his narrow straits / Nithhad's kinsman, 
 Weland^s son, / Widia sent him ; 
 When from the giants' fold / forth he hastened/' 
 Waldere made answer, / a warrior stout. 
 Held in his hand / his help in battle. 
 The grip of his war-blade, / and in words boasted : 
 " What ! didst thou indeed believe, / Lord of the 
 
 Burgunds, 
 That me Hagena's hand / had held in battle. 
 And driven from the fight ? / Fetch if thou darest 
 At my hoary byrny, / thus battle-weary. 
 
 50 Is happed here about my shoulders / the heirloom 
 of Aelfhere, 
 Good, broad-fronted, / with gold fashioned. 
 In all things blameless, / an atheling's garment 
 For him to have / when his hand defendeth 
 His life-hoard from foes ; / nor proves it false to me 
 When men unkind, / again beginning, 
 Meet with their blades, / as me ye did. 
 Yet victory may he own / who ever is 
 Ready and resolute / for all things righteous ; 
 Whoso him to the Holiest / for help entrusteth, 
 
 60 To God for favour ; / will he find it readily 
 If on that reward / he thinketh ever. 
 Then may the proud / divide possessions. 
 Wielding power ; / that is 
 
 108 
 
 9> 
 
Deor 
 
 Weland among the Wurmas / wandered in exile, 
 A single-minded earl / he suffered hardship, 
 He had for his comrades / care and longing, 
 Winter-cold wretchedness ; / woe he often found. 
 When Nithhad him / with need constrained. 
 Bitter sinew-cutting / of a better man. 
 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 To Beadohild was not / her brothers' death 
 As sore in her soul / as herself's own plight, 
 lo For clearly she / conceived had 
 
 That she was mothering ; / nor might she ever 
 With certainty think / how that should be. 
 
 13 We have heard, we many, / of Hilda's raping. 
 
 14 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 Was deep beyond plumbing / the passion of the 
 
 Geat 
 So that sorrow of love / his sleep all stole. 
 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 Theodoric was banished j thirty winters 
 From the Maerings' burgh ; / to many 'twas 
 known. 
 20 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 We have asked and learned of / Eormanrices 
 Wolfish thoughts / (he ruled widely the folk 
 Of the Gothic realm) ; / that was a grim King. 
 Sate many a wight / by sorrows bounden. 
 Woe awaiting, / wished well enough 
 That overcome / that kingdom were. 
 
 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 109 
 
Sitteth any sorrowful, / severed from fortune, 
 His soul darkened, / to himself thinketh he 
 30 That his share of evil / endless is ? 
 
 Let him then bethink him / that beyond this world 
 Our Lord All-Wise / often changeth ; , 
 To many an earl / His Mercy sheweth, 
 Sure glory ; / to some a share of woes 
 
 And I of myself / will say this thing, 
 That a while I was / the Heodenings' bard ; 
 To my duke was I dear ; / and Deor was my name, 
 I had, for many winters, / a worthy office, 
 A handsome lord, / until Heorrenda now, 
 40 A man skilled in lays, / the land-right has taken 
 
 Which the Guardian of Earls / of old had given me. 
 That overpassing, / this also may. 
 
 no 
 
Notes 
 
 WIDSITH 
 
 I must again turn the reader to the edition of Widstth, a Study 
 in Old English Heroic Legend, by Mr. R. W. Chambers, pub- 
 lished in 1 912 by the Cambridge University Press. There are, 
 in the poem, 143 Unes ; in the book 274 pages, on which the 
 innumerable stories of history and myth suggested by each of 
 the names in Widsith s catalogues are cunningly explored. Here 
 I can refer to those only of the first importance or who figure in 
 the other poems. 
 
 1 Widsith, the real, assumed, or symbolical name of a wandering 
 minstrel, means simply ** the wide traveller.'' The lock of his 
 word-hoard is, of course, the ** barrier of teeth " which we find 
 in Homer. 
 
 2 I have used the word '' meiny " here, and several times in Beo- 
 wulf, to render the Old English ** maegth,*' a tribe, or group of 
 people. For this word as for its parent ** maeg," a kinsman or 
 comrade, there is no good equivalent with the** m ''initial which 
 alliteration requires, though ** maeg " can sometimes be rendered 
 " mate." 
 
 3 The Myrgings seem (see 43) to have lived south of the Angles, 
 i.e., between the Eider, the Elbe and the Baltic. 
 
 4 But Ealhhild is a Lombard, daughter of Eadwine (Audoin) ; 
 Widsith seems to have escorted her when she went as bride to 
 the Gothic King Eormanric. 
 
 8 Eormanric (Hermanaricus), who died about a.d. 375 in his 
 
 I loth year, remained for centuries a type of the fierce and martial 
 tyrant. In Beowulf (1200) Hama fled from his cunning, bearing 
 off the Brosings' Collar. Deor (21) had heard of his wolfish 
 thoughts. ** Fierce and faithless " he seems to Widsith, yet he 
 (89) ** was good to me ; a bracelet he gave me " ; and his 
 courtiers were ** the best of boon- companions." 
 
 15 Alexander seems an anachronism, but his story had travelled 
 through the West, and Jordanes speaks of him as a parallel to 
 Eormanric. 
 
 19 Under Gifica (Gibeche) the Burgunds were still neighbours of 
 Huns, Goths, Greeks and Finns in the Vistula country. In 
 Waldere we find them settled in the West, under Gunther. 
 
 20 The Greeks are called " Creacs " here and in 76 Csesar here is 
 the Emperor of the East. 
 
 21 See my note to Deor, 36. 
 
 22 Wada, whose name survives in Yorkshire, had a great literary 
 career. We find in Chaucer and Mallory rumours of his strength 
 
 III 
 
and of his magic boat. He was also ascribed as father to Weland. 
 
 24 Theodric the Frank, son of Clovis, was father of Theodebert, 
 who killed Beowulf's uncle Higelac in Friesland. 
 
 25 Breca of the Brondings is the hero who swam with Beowulf 
 (499-606). 
 
 27 Finn, son of Folcwalda, is the hero of the episode in Beowulf 
 
 (1068-1159) and the lord of Finnsburgh. 
 29 Hnaef, son of Hoc, was the brother of Finn's Queen, Hilde- 
 
 burh, and was killed at Finnsburgh {Beowulf, 1070). 
 
 31 Ongentheow is, in Beowulf, the father of Onela and Ohthere, 
 who is killed in the fight with Higelac at Ravenswood. 
 
 32 The Longbeards (Lombards) are here still in their northern 
 home on the banks of the Elbe. 
 
 33 The Hetwaras (Hatuarii) figure twice in Beowulf (lines 2363, 
 2916) as the enemy, fighting whom Higelac was killed in Fries- 
 land. 
 
 35 Offa : there were two Kings of this name, one in the contin- 
 ental Anglia, the other, his descendant, an actual King of Mercia. 
 One of them is, in Beowulf, the husband of a fierce Queen, 
 Thrytho. The story of the first Ofl^a is told at length by Saxo. 
 In youth he was stupid and speechless, but came forward as the 
 champion of his country, which he defended in a duel by Fifeldor 
 (the river Eider). 
 
 44 The Swaef (Suabian) is apparently equivalent here to Myrging. 
 Of the latter nothing can be said with certainty beyond what 
 this poem says. 
 
 45 Hrothwulf (5^oz^«//^, 10 17, 11 81) was probably son of Hrothgar's 
 brother, Halga the Kind {id. 61). He is also hero of the Saga of 
 Rolf Kraki, where his father is Helgi, his uncle Hroarr, and his 
 grandfather Half dan. Froni Beowulf we guess that the peace 
 between uncle and nephew is not to last : in line 1163 : 
 
 even w^here the goodly twain 
 Sate, the uncle and the nephew ; still were they at each at peace 
 together, 
 
 and earlier (10 15) we find 
 
 the kinsmen of all there . . . 
 Hrothgar and Hrothulf . Heorot within was 
 Filled with friends ; no fashion of treason 
 The Shielding-People shaped that while. 
 
 Later, we can discern from Saxo that Hrothwulf deposed and 
 killed the son of his uncle Hrothgar, and that he himself was 
 attacked and killed by Heoroweard, the son of Hrothgar 's elder 
 brother, mentioned in Beowulf only as being deprived of the 
 succession to his father's armour. 
 4S Ingeld, son of Froda, is the Heathobeard prince mentioned by 
 Beowulf (2064) as betrothed to Hrothgar 's daughter, in order 
 to heal an old feud. What that feud was is suggested here. 
 
 112 
 
►5 The Burgunds {cf, 19) have perhaps moved to their Western 
 home. Guthhere is the ** Lord of the Burgunds " addressed 
 in Waldere, (56). 
 
 -JO Aelfwine and his father, Eadwine, are the Alboin and Audoin, 
 who brought the Lombards into Italy. It seems here that Ead- 
 \yine had also a daughter, Ealhhild, who was given in marriage 
 to Eormanric. That Audoin died in 565, whereas Eormanric 
 was born about 265 is a discrepancy which need not detain us. 
 
 76 This Caesar is probably the Western, as opposed to the Eastern 
 Emperor in line 20 ; and the Welsh kingdom is Rome. 
 
 79 '' Skating- Finns : *' the Scritobini or Scridefinnas, so called from 
 their practice of crossing the ground on snow-shoes or skis. 
 
 80 '* Lidwicings : " the Armoricans. The Britons having invaded 
 their country, killed the men and cut the tongues of the women, 
 so that their children might not learn the Armorican tongue. 
 Hence, says the chronicler, ** illos vocamus in nostra lingua 
 Letewicion, id est Semitacentes, quoniam confuse loquuntur.'* 
 
 91 This is obscure, but compare the sword given by Valdabrun to 
 Guenes in the Song 0} Roland, 620 : 
 
 ** Take now this sword, and better sword has none ; 
 Into the hilt a thousand coins are run." 
 
 93 The poet gives the treasure he has received in a foreign court to 
 his own King, on his return. So we find Beowulf presenting the 
 best of Hrothgar s gifts to his master, Higelac. 
 
 113 ** East-Gota, old and gallant," is the earliest, save Alexander, 
 of the heroes who figure in Widsith, being Ostrogotha, King of 
 all the Goths, who crossed the Danube and wasted Moesia and 
 Thrace in the reign of the Emperor Philip (a.d. 244-249). 
 Cassiodorus says of him : ** Enituit enim Ostrogotha patientia." 
 
 115 '* Theodric." We have seen Theodric the Frank at line 24; 
 Mr. Chambers argues and, I think, proves, that this is the Gothic 
 champion, Dietrich von Bern, whom legend makes the nephew 
 of Eormanric and a victim of his treachery. This is the Theo- 
 dric who (in Waldere) thought to send a sword, and great 
 treasure to Widia ; and whose story is hinted in two lines of 
 Deor, Seafola then becomes his retainer, Sabene of Ravenna. 
 
 121 '' The Wistula Wood : " Mr. Chambers says : ** The Goths left 
 the Vistula towards the end of the second century a.d. (Hodgkin's 
 Italy, I, 4c). These lines, therefore, preserve a very early tra- 
 dition, but we can draw no exact chronological argument from 
 the allusion except that we are here dealing with saga and not 
 with history. The wood is probably to be identified with the 
 Mirkwood which, in later Icelandic story, separates Goths and 
 Huns." 
 
 124 Wudga is in Waldere Widia, the son of Weland by Beadohild, 
 daughter of Nithhad. In Jordanes he is ** Vidigoia, Gothorum 
 fortissimus," in the later German epics he is Wittich, a type of 
 
 113 I 
 
treachery. Hama is obscurely mentioned in Beowulf (1198) as 
 carrying off the Brosings' Collar, and flying from Eormanric s 
 cunning. In the Thidreks Saga he figures as Heimir Studasson, 
 who after a long career as a robber-chief enters a monastery. 
 (See my note on Beowulf 1198). From 129 we see that Wudga 
 and Hama were not natives of the country they ruled, though 
 we are not told where that country was, or how the two came 
 together. 
 135 The poem ends, as it began, with nine lines, not put into the 
 mouth of Widsith himself, but generally descriptive of the poet s 
 lot, which has altered little in these fifteen centuries. 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 4 There is some confusion between this ** Scyld Scefing," Shield 
 
 of the Sheaf, and the Angles' ancestor Sceaf, to whom William 
 of Malmesbury ascribes a similar origin : " Iste ut ferunt, in 
 quandam insulam Germaniae Scandzam . . . appulsus navi 
 sine remige, puerulus, posito ad caput frumenti manipulo, 
 dormiens, ideoque Sceaf nuncupatus, ab horainibus regionis 
 ilUus pro miraculo exceptus et sedulo nutritus : adulta aetate 
 regnavit in oppido quod tunc Slaswic, nunc vero Haithebi ap- 
 pellatur.'* Sceaf appears in the Anglo-Saxon pedigrees as a son 
 born in the Ark to Noah, and ancestor of the English Kings. In 
 Widsith (32) Sceaf rules the Lombards. On the other hand, 
 Scyld is the Danes' ancestor, whence their name of Shieldings. 
 
 18 This Beowulf is not the hero of the poem. He disappears finally 
 at line 56. 
 
 33 Here, as in the fine passage 2231-2270, the poet touches on cust- 
 oms which even to him were archaic, with feeling and imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 57 Halfdane and his sons come also in Saxo and in the Saga of Rolf 
 Kraki. From 467 we learn that Heorogar died in Hrothgar s 
 youth ; from 2158 that he did not leave his armour to his son, 
 Heoroweard, but that Hrothgar gave it to Beowulf. Hrothgar is 
 at once a type of the wise old ruler, and of the doomed son of an 
 accursed race. Throughout all his misfortunes, when he is wholly 
 helpless, he is called the Helm of Shieldings, the Shepherd of 
 his Folk, and so forth. Nor is his story finished in Beowulf, We 
 learn (2020) that he wished to give his daughter to the Heatho- 
 beard Prince Ingeld, in order to heal an old feud. But he himself, 
 Saxo tells us, was slain by one '* Hodbroddus," in whose name 
 the Heathobeard seems to lurk. His sons, Hrethric and Hroth- 
 mund, were still young (11 80, etc.), and he was succeeded by 
 Hrothulf, the son of his younger brother, Halga. Halga is the 
 Helgi Hundingsbane of the Sagas, and Hrothulf is Rolf Kraki. 
 In Saxo the dispossessed cousin, Heoroweard, reappears (as 
 
 114 
 
Hiarwanis), falling upon Rolf and his men in the blazing hall. 
 
 Ij Thus, though it is nowhere said in the poem, the Shielding 
 
 ![ dynasty was one stained with fratricide and other tragic frailties. 
 
 ll Against this background, too familiar for statement to the list- 
 
 Ij eners gathered about the singing poet, the simplicity, honesty 
 
 I and courage of Beowulf and the Geats are unmistakably out- 
 
 I lined. 
 
 jfc The MS. has ** hyrde ic th. elan cwen heatho-scilfingas heals- 
 gebedda.'' ** Heard I that elan " (or " ela s ") " queen, a Battle- 
 
 I Scilfing s neck-bedfellow.'' Grundtvig suggested that elan is 
 
 I part of the word Onelan, and that Halfdane s fourth child, a 
 
 daughter, was married to the Swedish King Onela, of whom 
 later. Mr. Wyatt reads ** hyrde ic, thaet Elan cwen Ongentheowes 
 waes," making the lady's name Elan, and herself the wife of 
 Ongentheow. This identifies her with the '' gossip " in line 
 2930, and makes her mother of Onela and Ohthere. Another 
 suggestion is to borrow the names Signy and Saevil from the 
 Saga of Rolf Kraki and read*' hyrde ic, thaet Sigeneow Saewelan 
 cwen waes." But the matter is of little importance. 
 
 63 The Swedes are called Scilfings or Scylfings, as the Danes are 
 called Scyldings (Shieldings). Both names are compounded, 
 usually to help out alliteration ; so that we have North — , 
 South — , East — , West — , Spear — , Ring — , Bright-Danes, 
 Honour — , Triumph- Shieldings, etc. The Swedish Kings in 
 Beowulf are Ongentheow and his son, Onela. A younger son, 
 Ohthere, is father of Eanmund and Eadgils, who rebel against 
 Onela, are banished, and take refuge with Beowulf's cousin, 
 Heardred, at the Geatish court. This results in the campaigns 
 described towards the end of Beowulf, 
 
 68 Heorot means Hart. The horns (82) were probably antlers fixed 
 to or carved upon the gables as symbols. 
 
 83 ** Nor was it long " — this refers to the fight between Hrothgar 
 and the Heathobeards ; see Widsith 45-9. It was, perhaps, in a 
 later fight that Hrothgar was killed, and the first fight may have 
 come before Grendel's invasion. 
 
 92 This hymn, in its reiteration of a simple thought, recalls the 
 famous Hymn of Caedmon, and is probably contemporary. 
 Properly speaking, there are no Christian passages in Beowulf, 
 but this seems to indicate that the poet had had a monastic 
 schooling. Notice, too, at 175 his contempt for the heathen prac- 
 tices to which, after and in spite of this hymn, his Danes revert. 
 
 I02 In Beowulf the words " gast," a ghost or spirit, and *' gist," a 
 guest or stranger, are both often written ** gaest," which leads 
 to confusion. But a guest, in Old English, was seldom an ex- 
 pected, and not often a welcome guest. Hence to this midnight 
 murderer one word is as fitting as the other. The villain enters 
 before the hero. 
 
^©7 This, though not a *' Christian passage/' implies an acquaint- 
 ance with, at least, the Old Testament. ** He " in 115 is still 
 Grendel. 
 
 168 This is one of the cruces of the poem. A literal rendering is 
 •' Nor he the " (or '' that ") '' Gift-Stool greet " (or ** visit ") 
 ** might, with treasure before the Creator, nor know his mind " 
 (or ** nor have his desire "). The difficulty is to determine 
 whether ** he " is Hrothgar or Grendel, and whether " his " is 
 Hrothgar s, Grendels, or the Creator s mind. On the whole I 
 prefer to take *' he " as Hrothgar ; its prominence in the line 
 suggests a fresh subject, and Grendel was subject of the last 
 sentence. This reading makes line 170 simple also. Hrothgar 
 was ashamed because he could not visit the Gift- Stool, the 
 Sacred Throne or Royal Altar in his Hall, from which he had 
 planned to deal out shares of wealth to all his people. And he 
 could not visit it because the hall was defiled by Grendel. On 
 the other hand, it is held that '* he " is Grendel, who was allowed 
 to ravage the hall, but prevented by some charm from violating 
 the sanctuary, and from interpreting (as the King must) the Will 
 of God. 
 
 180 This follows harshly upon the hymn of lines 92-98. But one can 
 imagine that a poet, himself a convert or the son of converts to 
 Christianity in England, would feel some doubt as to the faith 
 of his Continental ancestors. 
 
 194 ** Higelac's Thegn " is the hero of the poem, Beowulf, the son 
 of Ecgtheow, by a daughter of the Geatish King Hrethel. From 
 this point in the story the Danes fade into insignificance, and 
 Beowulf and his " handful " hold the field. The Geats are placed 
 by Widsith (58) between the Swedes and the South-Danes. 
 They seem to have lived in the southern part of modern Sweden, 
 beyond Lakes Wener and Wetter, and to have waged incessant 
 war with the Swedes across these lakes. ** Was deep beyond 
 plumbing,'' says Deor, ** the passion of the Geat," meaning, 
 apparently, Nithhad, the captor and tormentor of Weland the 
 Smith. 
 
 340 There is no gap here, but some words are plainly missing. I 
 follow Bugge's emendation. Throughout the text I have printed 
 in italics all words that represent serious additions to or alterations 
 of the MSS. of these poems. 
 
 303 The Boar's image worn upon the helmet (as crests were worn in 
 the days of chivalry) was a symbol of Freya. Its use is mentioned 
 by Tacitus {Germania, xlv.) : " Insigne superstitionis formas 
 aprorum gestant : id pro armis omnique tutela securum deae 
 cultorem etiam inter hostis praestat." And what remains of such 
 a helmet was found in a Derbyshire barrow in 1848. 
 
 340 The Weders are the Geats. 
 
 389 These two half-lines were suggested by Grein to remedy the 
 
 116 
 
defective alliteration, and fill a gap in the narrative. There is none 
 in the MS. here or in 403. 
 
 Etins seem to have existed on land and sea. A thousand years 
 later, in The Knight of the Burning Pestle (I, ii) the Citizen's 
 Wife tells us : ** Faith, husband, and Ralph says true ; for they 
 say the King of Portugal cannot sit at his meat, but the giants 
 and the ettins will come and snatch it from him.'' Nicors are 
 more properly sea- monsters. I heard of, but did not see, the 
 arrival of one upon the shore of the Isle of Portland, in the 
 autumn of 1914. It was described as a fish of repellent appear- 
 ance, which lay at high water-mark, beneath Portland Castle, 
 gasping audibly. A native at once named it a *' nicor," but I 
 have never seen the modern word defined. 
 The *' Hrethmen " (Triumph- men) are here, most inappro- 
 priately, the suflFering and discomfited Danes. The word is 
 generally used of the Goths, as of Eormanric, the Hreth-King, 
 in Widsith 7. This and the next lines suggest a speech in Virgil 
 {Aeneid x, 557-580) : Istic nunc, metuende, iace. Non te optima 
 mater 
 
 Condet humi, patriove onerabit membra sepulcro : 
 Alitibus linquere feris, aut gurgite mersum 
 Unda feret, piscesque impasti vulnera lambent. 
 
 Weland, in later English Wayland, is the master-smith. This 
 armour had perhaps come to Hrethel from Nithhad, the Geat 
 by whom Weland was imprisoned and forced to work. See Deor, 
 *' Leaving " (laf) is a word frequently used of swords and armour, 
 which must have figured prominently among the heirlooms of 
 our ancestors. By a metaphor, the sword is spoken of as the 
 hammer's, or the file's legacy ; for from these implements its 
 first owner may be said to have inherited it. 
 ** Wyrd " (Destiny) is here personified, as in 477. Elsewhere 
 the word is used of the destiny allotted to a man or men. 
 This is the story alluded to by Beowulf at 420. Breca of the 
 Brondings has been mentioned in Widsith. Beowulf, at 541, 
 seems to imply that Breca could not swim faster than he, and 
 that he could but did not choose to swim faster than Breca. At 
 581 he breaks into what the sixteenth century Scots poets called 
 a *' fly ting " and charges Unferth with the murder of his own 
 brothers. The poet repeats this charge at 11 67, but nothing more 
 is known of it. The quarrel is made up at 1455, when Unferth 
 lends Beowulf his sword, Hrunting, to fight Grendel's mother. 
 There is a quaint parallel to the story of Grendel's visit to the 
 fifteen Geats in Heorot, in Treasure Island, when Long John 
 Silver comes to the stockade with a flag of truce, and says : 
 ** That was a good lay of yours last night. I don't deny it was a 
 good lay. Some of you pretty handy with the hand- 
 spike end. And I'll not deny either but what some of my 
 
 117 
 
people was shook, — maybe all was shook ; maybe I was shook 
 myself ; maybe that s why Vm in here for terms. But you mark 
 me, cap n, it won't do twice, by thunder ! We'll have to do 
 sentry-go, and ease oj9F a point or so on the rum. Maybe you 
 think we were all a sheet in the wind s eye. But I'll tell you I was 
 sober ; I was on y dog-tired ; and if Td awoke a second sooner 
 I'd a' caught you at the act, I would. He wasn't dead when I 
 got round to him, not he." 
 
 '* Well ? " says Captain Smollett, as cool as can be. All that 
 Silver said was a riddle to him, but you would never have guessed 
 it from his tone. As for me, I began to have an inkling. Ben Gunn's 
 last words came back to my mind. I began to suppose that he 
 had paid the buccaneers a visit while they all lay drunk together 
 round the fire, and I reckoned up with glee that we had only 
 fourteen enemies to deal with. — Treasure Island, chap. xx. 
 
 741 This man was Hondscio (2076). 
 
 748 He may be Beowulf or Grendel, probably the latter, as ** thoughts 
 of envy (inwit-thonc) " implies treacherous intent. 
 
 769 To these simple ancients a shortage of ale seemed the worst 
 calamity that could befall them. The ** cruel wardens " are 
 apparently Beowulf and Grendel. 
 
 874 This, the Lay of Sigemund, is the first of the Episodes in Beo- 
 ZDulf, In the later and more familiar story, the dragon was killed 
 by Sigemund's son, Sigurd or Siegfried. Fitela (Sinfiotli) was 
 the son of Sigemund, by his sister Signy, and so also his nephew. 
 The Waelsing is better known as Volsung. 
 
 900 Sigemund as a good and heroic King is a type of Beowulf. In 
 Heremod, here and at 1709, we find the contrast of a bad King, 
 who harms his people. He seems to have been a King of the 
 Danes, of a dynasty older than the Shiel dings. 
 
 1017 Compare Widsith, 45. 
 
 1044 Ing was, according to Tacitus {Germanta, ii) one of the three 
 sons of Mannus, son of the earth-born god Tuisto, from whom 
 the tribe nearest the ocean take the name of Ingaevones. This is 
 in Beowulf Ing-wine, or Ing's Friends. We find Ing mentioned 
 among the East-Danes in the Runic Poem. 
 
 1068 The Lay of Finn is the longest and most important of the Epi- 
 sodes in Beowulf. It appears to be a condensation of a similar 
 epic, of which the 48 lines called Finnsburgh (page 105-6) are a 
 fragment. The story seems to be as follows : 
 
 Finn, King of the Frisians, or Eotens, had carried off Hilde- 
 burh, daughter of the Danish King Hoc, and sister of Hnaef 
 and Hengest. After some years her brothers invade Finn's 
 country, and in their attack Hnaef and a son of Finn by 
 Hildeburh are killed, with many of the Frisians. Peace is 
 signed, and the surviving Frisians undertake to build a hall 
 for Hengest and his Danes, and to pay them tribute daily. 
 
 118 
 
The bodies of the slain are solemnly burned. It is now mid- 
 winter, and Hengest is obliged to stay among the Frisians ; 
 he is consumed with grief for his brother, and plans an attack 
 upon Finn. This the Frisians anticipate, and in the Finns- 
 burgh fragment we find them attacking Hengest in his hall. 
 According to the fragment, none of the Danes falls, but from 
 Beowulf (i 142-4) we find that Hengest is killed. Two of his 
 men, GuthlaiF and Oslaf (or Ordlaf), escape to Denmark, return 
 with fresh forces, kill Finn and loot his hall, and carry back 
 Hildeburh (in a triumph which she perhaps does not share) 
 to her own people. 
 1 1 13 *' Some " in the sense (which seems to have survived or revived 
 
 in America) of ** many.'' 
 1 1 43 Hunlafing is possibly the w^arrior w^ho kills Hengest ; but the 
 MS. has ** him lafing,'' and the words may be separate. If so, 
 Hun is the warrior (so Widsith, 33) and Lafing is a very probable 
 name for a sword. The ** w^orld's ruling " is, of course, death. 
 1 1 62 Here we have a passage such as is commoner in other poems, 
 where there are three accented syllables in each half-line (com- 
 pare 1705-7)- 
 II 80 It is evident that Hrothulf, being older than Hrothgar's sons, is 
 
 regarded as the heir to his throne. 
 1 1 98 Another story, of which tantalisingly little is told. We have seen 
 Hama in Widsith (124-130). There he rules as an exile, by dis- 
 tributing ** wounden gold." Here he flees into exile — appar- 
 ently into a cloister, choosing the '* Eternal Rule.'' Mr. Chambers 
 {Widsith y p. 56) translates a passage from the Thidreks Saga, 
 which bears on this. *' The monastery into which Heimir has 
 been received without telling his name, is attacked by a giant, who 
 challenges the monks. Heimir offers to meet him, and asks for 
 the weapons which he has, long ago, surrendered to the abbot. 
 The abbot answers : * Thou shalt not have thy sword ; it was 
 broken asunder and a door hinge of made it here in the monast- 
 ery. And the rest of thine armour was sold in the market- 
 place.' Then spake Heimir : * Ye monks know much of books 
 but little of chivalry ; had ye known how good these weapons 
 were, ye had never parted with them.' And he sprang towards 
 the abbot, and took his cowl in both hands and said : * Verily 
 thou wast a fool, if no iron would suit thee to furnish thy 
 church doors, but my good sword Naglhring, which has cut 
 asunder many a helm like cloth, and made many a son of the 
 giants headless ; and thou shalt pay for it.' And he shook the 
 cowl, with the head inside, so hard that four of the abbot s teeth 
 fell out ; three on to the floor, and the fourth down his throat. 
 And when the monks heard mention of Naglhring, then they 
 knew that it was Heimir Studasson, of whom they had oft heard 
 tell. And they were sore afraid, and took the keys and went to 
 
 119 
 
the great chest where all his weapons were stored. One took his 
 sword Naglhring, the second his hauberk, the third his helm, 
 the fourth his shield, and the fifth his spear. And all these 
 weapons had been so well stored that they were no whit worse 
 than when he parted with them. 
 
 ** And Heimir took Naglhring and saw how fairly its edges and 
 its gold ornaments shone ; and it came into his mind what trust 
 he had had in its edges each time that he should fight. And as 
 he thought of many a happy day, and how he had ridden out to 
 fight with his fellows, he was first red as blood, and then pale as 
 a corpse. And he kepti silence for a time. x\fter that he asked 
 where was his horse Rspa. And the abbot made answer : * Thy 
 horse used to draw stones to the church ; he has been dead many 
 a year.' " 
 
 The Brosings' Collar we find in the Elder Edda, It was won from 
 the dwarfs by Freya, and stolen from her by Lx>ki. The Brosings 
 or Brisings probably dwelt on the rocky sununit of Alt-Breisach 
 on the Rhine. 
 
 1202 This other Collar Beowulf gives to Higelac, who wears it on his 
 last expedition to Friesland, where he is slain and robbed by 
 the Franks of Theodebert. 
 
 1 214 ** Held " — not as conquerors (the word's usual meaning), but 
 by covering it with their corpses, 
 
 1247 So Tacitus tells us {Germania, xiii) : *' Nihil autem neque pub- 
 licae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt." 
 
 1 25 1 There is a distinct break in the poem. These lines (1251-78) 
 sum up the preceding and introduce the new adventure. This 
 time the Danes have returned to sleep in their hall, and the 
 Geats are lodged elsewhere. 
 
 1257 This *' long time " was one or two days at most. 
 
 1386 So in Virgil {Aeneid x, 467-9) : 
 
 Stat sua cuique dies, breve et irreparabile tempus 
 Omnibus est vitae : sed famam extendere factis, 
 Hoc virtutis opus. 
 
 1458 Swords have names here, as in Roland. So we have seen Heimir s 
 
 sword Naglhring (Nail-ring) and shall see Beowiilf s last sword 
 
 (2680) Naegling (Nail's offspring — its hilt was perhaps studded 
 
 with nails, like the treasure-cup at 2023). 
 1558 ** Eotenish," here and at 2616 and 2979, means *' gigantic," the 
 
 work of etins ; there is no allusion to the Eotens of King Finn. 
 1594 It is difficult to explain how, if water could not get into the hall, 
 
 Grendel's blood rose through the water. 
 1643 IMead-plains are fields in which the ingredients of mead are 
 
 grown; so, too, the "mead-walk" in 924. 
 1653 The alliteration in the second half-line is in ''to," as in the 
 
 original (literally, *' which thou here to lookest "). 
 1688 Runes were cut on the hilts of swords. This story, of the war 
 
 120 
 
with the giants, and of the Deluge, is probably the oldest of all 
 those mentioned in the poem. 
 
 1709 Beowulf has already been contrasted with Heremod in lines 
 901-915. 
 
 1747 ** Worn wundor-bebodum wergan gastes.*' Woh means crooked, 
 hence wicked. The cursed ghost is the Tempter. 
 
 175 s The poet is constantly occupied by the thought of man s fleet- 
 ing liJFe, his forced parting from his wealth, and the callous in- 
 difference of his heirs. 
 
 1836 The suggestion that Hrethric, the elder son of Hrothgar, should 
 take service among the Geats may be inspired by the prevision 
 ef a war with the Heathobeards, of which Beowulf speaks later 
 (2024-2069) ; or by the feeling that Hrothulf would not protect 
 Hrethric (whom, indeed, he appears from Saxo to have murdered) 
 after the death of Hrothgar. 
 
 1 861 " The gannet's bath,*' an effective synonym for the sea, is used 
 also in the Chronicle (anno 975) in a short poem of lament for 
 Edgar. 
 
 1885 A King. The word '* a '' here is strongly emphasised, and bear* 
 the alliteration. 
 
 1930 Humble ** hnah '' — mean, base, illiberal. 
 
 1 93 1 As Heremod is contrasted with Beowulf, so is Thrytho with 
 Hygd. From the Vttce Duorum Off arum we learn of the Princess 
 Drida, condemned to death, and set adrift in a boat ; carried to 
 the shores of England, and taken as his bride by Offa. But this 
 is the second, the historic Offa, an eighth century King of Mercia. 
 The story seems to have strayed to him from his Anglian an- 
 cestor, whom we found in Widsith 35. But the man she killed 
 was her daughter's, not her own suitor, 
 
 1950 " Counsel," i.e., a sentence of banishment. 
 
 2000 Beowulf runs through the tale with which we are now familiar, 
 but introduces a fresh episode, the story of Hrothgar 's daughter, 
 Freaw^aru, and what is likely to happen if she goes with attend- 
 ants to the court of Ingeld the Heathobeard. There is possibly 
 a gap here, as Section XXVHI begins at 1962, and Section XXXJ 
 at 2144. There is no Section- number between these in the MS., 
 and the space left between 2038 and 2039 is singularly inappro- 
 priate, coming in the middle of a sentence. I have used the word 
 * femme ' in 2034 and 2059 — to preserve the alliteration of the 
 original * faemne ' meaning a maiden, or bride. 
 
 2140 He does not add that he cut off Grendels head also. 
 
 2166 Here is implied a contrast between the Shieldings (though their 
 crimes and treachery are never specified) and the blameless 
 Geats. With this giving up of gifts we may compare Widsith 's 
 surrender to his own King, Eadgils, of the ring given to him by 
 Eormanric. 
 
 2177 Here, in 23 lines which end the story of Beowulf's Adventures 
 
 121 
 
among the Danes, we have a summary of his character. Like the 
 elder Offa, he had been considered sluggish in his youth. 
 
 2195 See my note on Widsith, 91. 
 
 aaoo A gap of some sixty years is indicated by the asteriks which I 
 have placed in the text here. As it happens, the fire of 1731 has 
 made a gap also in the MS. Four half-lines are entirely lost, and 
 in others the words I have italicised are illegible. After the mutil- 
 ated lines begins what is certainly the most imaginative, and I 
 think the most poetical passage, in Beowulf. With a rare sense of 
 perspective, the poet describes the hoard of treasure, then pic- 
 tures the long-dead chief, last survivor of an earlier race, who 
 must have hidden it in the mound ; then his reason for hiding 
 it, and so his elegy (2247-2266) on his dead companions. Then 
 three and a half lines summing up the rest of his life, until 
 ** Death's tide felt at his heart." After making allowances every- 
 where for verbosity, and for barrenness of grammatical con- 
 struction, the reader of Beowulf comes upon this concise, simple 
 and eloquent passage with a sense of joy, as one who comes upon 
 a pool where he may dive and swim after walking through mile 
 upon mile of the acrid dust and ensnaring stems of burned 
 heather upon a moor . 
 
 3270 ** He "in the first half-line is the dead chief ; in the second, the 
 dragon. 
 
 2288 '* Stone tha aefter stane, stearc-heort onfand Fcondcs fot-last " ; 
 a strong and effective phrase. 
 
 2354 This, as I have pointed out in the preface, brings us in touch 
 with a historical invasion of Friesland, in the first quarter of the 
 sixth century, in which Chocilaicus (Higelac) was killed. We 
 have had the Hetware in TVidsith (33). They appear to be the 
 same as the classical Hatuarii. 
 
 2370 The boy is Heardred, son of Higelac and Hygd. As Hrothulf 
 had succeeded his uncle, Hrothgar, so the Geatish throne is 
 offered to Beownilf (the *' atheling " of 2374). 
 
 2378 ** He " here, and ** him " in the next line, refer to Heardred. 
 He seems to have given shelter to Eanmund and Eadgils, the 
 sons of Ohthere, when they were banished by their uncle Onela. 
 He (the " Ongentheow s bairn " of 2397) pursues them, and kills 
 Heardred. He then retires, leaving Beowulf on the Geatish 
 throne. Beowulf continues to support Eadgils (although his re- 
 tainer Weohstan has slain Eanmund, as at 2612) and follows 
 Onela to his own country, where he kills him, in a battle on the 
 frozen surface of Lake Wener. 
 
 2396 ** Cealdum cear-sithum " in cold care-marches. The two words 
 outline a picture as clear as Balzac's long story of the Beresina. 
 
 2430 There was tragedy in the Geatish as in the Danish dynasty, but 
 it was by chance, not through malice, that Haethcyn killed his 
 brother, Herebeald. Haethcyn, however, is killed by the Swedes, 
 
 122 
 
Ongentheow and his sons, in one of their attacks on Hreosna 
 Hill (Hreosnabeorh). 
 
 2484 Haethcyn was killed, but his brother, Higelac, avenged him by 
 the hand of Eofor. Later we find that Higelac rewards Eofor 
 with the hand of his only daughter (2997). This battle is des- 
 cribed again in lines 2946-2998. 
 
 2490 ** Him '' and ** he '' refer to Higelac. 
 
 2494 The ** Yifthas " are probably the Gepidae (see Widsith, 60), 
 whose King, Fastida, sent a foolish challenge to Ostrogotha. 
 
 2502 The ** Hugas," with the Franks and Frisians, opposed Higelac 
 in his last battle, 
 
 2561 ** The ring-twister " (hring-boga) describes the serpentine 
 advance of the dragon. 
 
 2577 This sword is called ** Naegling,'' or *' Nailing,'' at 2680. Here 
 the word is ** incgelafe," whose meaning is uncertain. As good 
 as any other rendering is to suppose that this is the Danish sword, 
 presented by Hrothgar, the " Lord of Ing s Friends/' to Beo- 
 wulf, and that it is in some way connected with Ing, the founder 
 of the earlier Danish house. 
 
 a6c2 Wiglaf is here a Scylfing (but in 2814 he is one of Beowulf's 
 kindred) and a Waegmunding. Mr. Wyatt suggests that Ecgtheow 
 and Weohstan were brothers, and sons of Waegmund, who was 
 a brother of Ongentheow and son of Scylf , It is possible that he 
 is called ** a lord of Scylfings," because he had inherited 
 Scylfing heirlooms from his father, who had won them from 
 Eanmund. 
 
 2705 As writing was originally done with a knife, upon wood, the 
 suggestion that Beowulf, in wounding the dragon, carved runes 
 of death upon it, is obvious and eflFective. 
 
 2720 There is something of the scene between Roland and Turpin 
 here, and more of Arthur and Bedivere. 
 
 2767 The nature of this sign or standard, as of that set up over Shield 
 of the Sheaf (47), is uncertain. 
 
 2890 So Tacitus {Gennania, vi) : " Scutum reliquisse praecipuum 
 flagitium, nee aut sacris adesse aut concilium inire ignominioso 
 fas ; multique superstites bellorum infamiam laqueo finierunt." 
 
 2913 Here again we have a reference to the last fight of Higelac in 
 Friesland. And, at 2922, a further account of the fight at Ravens- 
 wood, in which we are told how Ongentheow delivers his wife 
 (possibly the daughter of Halfdane, mentioned at 62) from the 
 Geats who had carried her oflF ; and how Higelac (after Haethcyn 
 has been killed) comes to the rescue of his Geats, and drives the 
 Swedes back across the plain of peace. Wulf and Eofor, sons of 
 Wonred, attack Ongentheow. Wulf falls wounded, but Eofor 
 kills the old King, and is rewarded with the hand of Higelac's 
 daughter. 
 
 123 
 
3005 This line has been regarded as a repetition of 2052, and as pre- 
 senting a difficulty, which I myself cannot see, unless in the 
 suggested reading *' Scylfings/' The speaker is rapidly sum- 
 marizing Beowulf's career backwards. This line refers to the 
 fight with Grendel, the next line to the still earlier exploits, 
 such as the swimming-match with Breca. 
 
 3052 The greatest pains were taken to guard against the violation of 
 treasure hoards. The grim story in Grettir the Strong suggests 
 the kind of fear associated w^ith them. 
 
 3 12 1 The last folio, which begins here, is much torn. The worst gaps 
 are in lines 3 150-3 155, where it seems that a new character is 
 introduced, ** sio geo-meowle," ** the wife of old.'' We have 
 heard nothing hitherto of Beowulf's wife, but it is only natural 
 to suppose that one existed. Possibly she was Hygd. 
 
 FINNSBURGH 
 
 1 The sole authority for the text of this fragment is the Thesaurus 
 of Dr. George Hickes, Dean of Worcester, the MS. having long 
 disappeared. It opens with ** . . . nas byrnath naefre." Sup- 
 plying " hornas " from line 4, we get the end of a question or 
 exclamation ** The gable-horns are never burning." There is 
 still some obscurity, as the speaker appears to be inside the hall . 
 See my note on Beowulf, 1068. 
 
 2 The ** battle-young King " is probably Hengest ; his brother, 
 Hnaef, having been killed earlier in the story. 
 
 16 Orlaf and Guthlaf are probably the Oslaf and Guthlaf of Beo- 
 fvulf, 1 148, who escape from the fight and return, later, to avenge 
 the death of Hengest by slaying Finn. 
 
 18 These difficult lines are, literally. *' Then yet Garulf stirred up 
 Guthere that they so noble (free-born) a life on the first journey 
 to the halls doors in harness bear not, now that it one hardy in 
 enmity would take." But whose was the noble life ? Hengest 's 
 or Sigeferth's or Garulf 's own ? The last was, apparently, son of 
 Guthlaf. 
 
 Z4 ** Secg " means ** a man," or (Beowulf, 684) '' a sword." We 
 have seen a tribe of " Sycgs " twice in Widsith (31 and 62), 
 where their ruler is called Saeferth. M oiler identifies them with 
 the subsequent colonists of Essex. 
 
 34 Hickes here reads ** Hwearflacra hraer," which is meaningless. 
 
 40 They paid Hnaef for their mead by avenging his death. But it is 
 possible that the place of the fragment is far earlier in the story, 
 during the first Danish attack on Finn, in which Hnaef is killed. 
 
 41 Yet we have seen that Garulf was killed, and we know that Hnaef 
 was killed in the first and Hengest in the second fight. Without 
 the help of Beowulf, 1068-1159, this fragment would not be in- 
 telligible, and even with that help it presents several puzzles^ 
 
 124 
 
It seems to belong to an epic of which the poet in BeoumlJ has 
 summarized part, and to an epic more tersely and vigorously 
 written than is the greater part of Beowulf. 
 
 WALDERE 
 
 I have given a sunmiary of the story in my Preface (p. xiv). 
 3 The ** Mimming " was a sword made by Weland, and inherited 
 
 by his son, Widia (Wittich), whom we have seen in Widsith, 
 
 124 (Wudga). He was an associate of Theodoric, into whose 
 
 possession this, or possibly Gunther s, sword seems (36) to have 
 
 passed. 
 6 Waldere had just left the host of Attila, of which he had been a 
 
 captain. 
 2'8 Gunther had been offered a large ransom by Waldere, but had 
 
 refused to bargain, preferring to win the whole by fighting. 
 
 The second fragment opens in a speech by Gunther (Guthhere) 
 to Waldere before their fight. 
 
 4c Widia was son of Weland, by Beadohild, daughter of Nithhad, 
 and thus kin to both parties. 
 
 46 We have seen Guthhere and his Burgunds in Widsith (65-6), 
 where he gives the poet a ** gladsome jewel." 
 
 47 It is evident that Waldere has now fought with Hagena. 
 
 50 Either a sark or a helmet ; the epithet ** geapneb," *' wide- 
 mouthed, "suggests the latter ; but is glossed ** amply studded," 
 by Mr. Wyatt. Aelfhere is unknown, but Wiglaf was also of his 
 kindred {Beowulf, 2604). 
 
 DEOR 
 
 I ** Weland him be wurman wraeces cunnade " is difficult ; Mr. 
 Wyatt takes it to mean ** in Wermaland," a district of western 
 Sweden. Nithhad, a King among the Geats, or South Swedes, 
 imprisoned the smith Weland, and hamstrung him so that he 
 could not escape while working for him. But Weland made 
 himself wings, killed the sons of Nithhad and violated his daughter 
 Beadohild, and then escaped. 
 
 II She was pregnant with Widia. 
 
 13 By transposing lines 14 and 13 we get symmetrical stanzas, and 
 
 better sense than if we take 14 and 15 together. Hilda is then the 
 
 same as Beadohild. 
 15 "The Geat " is Nithhad, and his passion (according to the 
 
 Volundarkvitha) is grief for the death of his sons. 
 18 The MS. reads : " Theodric held for thirty winters," etc. But, 
 
 as the poem deals with sufferings, and as Theodric is the classic 
 
 "5 
 
instance of an exiled prince, I have ventured to assume an error 
 in the text. Yet the poet may have been commiserating the 
 Maerings as victims of Theodric s rule. 
 
 21 See Widsith, 9. 
 
 28 This, and the six following lines, are condemned as an inter- 
 polation, which breaks the symmetry of the stanzas. 
 
 36 Heoden ruled the Glommas, according to Wtdsith, 21. In the 
 Edda he carries off the daughter of Hagena, who pursues the 
 pair to the Island of Hoy, in Orkney. ** They fought all day, and 
 in the evening the Kings w^ent to their ships. But Hild (Hagena s 
 daughter) went by night to the corpses, and awoke the dead by 
 magic. And the next day the Kings went to the battle-field and 
 fought, and so did all those who fell the day before. In such wise 
 the battle continued day after day ; so that all those who fell, 
 and all the weapons and shields which lay on the battle-field, 
 were turned into stone. And when it dawned, all the dead men 
 stood up and fought, and all the weapons were sound ; and it is 
 told in songs that the Hjathningar shall so abide till Dooms- 
 day/' Heorrenda, in this story, is Hjarrandi, the father of Hethin 
 (Heoden). In the High German poem Kudrun he is Horant, the 
 sweet singer of the court of Hetel, who sails to Ireland to win 
 Hild, daughter of the Irish King Hagen. His song ** shames into 
 silence the birds singing in the bushes. Hild is charmed by it ; 
 she cannot rest till Horant comes to sing to her in her chamber 
 So Horant sings a song of Amile ; the like of which was 
 never known by Christian man before or since, unless he heard 
 it upon the wild waves. Then he throws oflf his disguise and 
 woos for his lord. * Noble maid, my lord has in his court twelve 
 who sing far beyond me ; and all so sweet as is their song, yet 
 my lord sings best of all/ She consents to flee with the wooers/* 
 It is, of course, possible that this is the Hild of line 14, and that 
 15 refers to Heoden 's love for her ; but why should he be a 
 Geat ? 
 
 In closing these notes with two large quotations borrowed from 
 Mr. Chambers, I must again express in words a debt to him 
 which is otherwise insoluble. 
 
 C. K. S. M. 
 
 London, 
 
 April, 1 92 1. 
 
 126 
 
THE DANISH KINGS 
 
 Scef (Sheaf) 
 
 I 
 Scyld Scefing (Shield) .4 — 52 
 
 Beowulf Scylding .53 
 
 I 
 
 Healfdene (Halfttaae) ,57 
 
 Heorogar Hrothgar = Wealhtheow, Halga ? the Queen 
 
 61,467,2158 61 &c. a Helming. 6i of Onela 
 
 612, Sec. \ 62. 
 
 \ 
 
 I \ 
 
 Heoroweard Hrethric Hrothmund Freawaru Hrothulf 
 
 2161 1189,1836 1189 2022 wife 1017,1181 
 
 of Ingeld, 
 son of Ffoda, 
 a Heathobeard 
 
 THE GEATISH KINGS 
 
 Swerting 1203 
 
 I 
 
 Hrethel 454 Haereth 1929 
 
 Herebeald Haethcyn the Hygelac= Hygd 1926 
 
 2434 2434,2923 wife 43S»*c- I 
 
 of I I 
 
 Ecgtheow the Heardred 
 
 I wife 2200 &c. 
 
 I of Eofor 
 
 Beowulf 2484 
 343> etc. 
 
 (Numbers refer to lines in Beowulf) 
 
 127 
 
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