Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem

4
them, as of yore he did
often
The best of the Hrethmen! Thou needest not
trouble
A head-watch to give me;
5
 he will have me dripping
And dreary with gore, if death overtake me,
6
Will bear me off bleeding, biting and mouthing
me,
The hermit will eat me, heedless of pity,
Marking the moor-fens; no more wilt thou need
then
Find me my food.
7
 If I fall in the battle,
Send to Higelac the armor that serveth
To shield my bosom, the best of equipments,
Richest of ring-mails; ’tis the relic of Hrethla,
The work of Wayland. Goes Weird as she must
[16]
50
55
60
65
70
[17]
75
80

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supreme
go!”
[1] Some render ‘gif-sceattas’ by ‘tribute.’—‘Géata’ B. and Th. emended
to ‘Géatum.’ If this be accepted, change ‘of the Geatmen’ to ‘to the
Geatmen.’
[2] If t.B.’s emendation of vv. 386, 387 be accepted, the two lines,
‘Hasten … kinsmen’ will read: Hasten thou, bid the throng of
kinsmen go into the hall together.
[3] For 420 (b) and 421 (a), B. suggests: Þær ic (on) fífelgeban ýðde
eotena cyn = where I in the ocean destroyed the eoten-race.—t.B.
accepts B.’s “brilliant” ‘fífelgeban,’ omits ‘on,’ emends ‘cyn’ to
‘hám,’ arranging: Þær ic fífelgeban ýðde, eotena hám = where I
desolated the ocean, the home of the eotens.—This would be better
but for changing ‘cyn’ to ‘hám.’—I suggest: Þær ic fífelgeband (cf.
nhd. Bande) ýðde, eotena cyn = where I conquered the monster band,
the race of the eotens. This makes no change except to read ‘fífel’ for
‘fífe.’
[4] ‘Unforhte’ (444) is much disputed.—H.-So. wavers between adj. and
adv. Gr. and B. take it as an adv. modifying etan: Will eat the Geats
fearlessly.—Kl. considers this reading absurd, and proposes
‘anforhte’ = timid.—Understanding ‘unforhte’ as an adj. has this
advantage, viz. that it gives a parallel to ‘Geátena leóde’: but to take
it as an adv. is more natural. Furthermore, to call the Geats ‘brave’
might, at this point, seem like an implied thrust at the Danes, so long
helpless; while to call his own men ‘timid’ would be befouling his
own nest.
[5] For ‘head-watch,’ cf. H.-So. notes and cf. v. 2910.—Th. translates:
Thou wilt not need my head to hide (i.e., thou wilt have no occasion
to bury me, as Grendel will devour me whole).—Simrock imagines a
kind of dead-watch.—Dr. H. Wood suggests: Thou wilt not have to
bury so much as my head (for Grendel will be a thorough undertaker),
—grim humor.
[6] S. proposes a colon after ‘nimeð’ (l. 447). This would make no
essential change in the translation.
[7] Owing to the vagueness of ‘feorme’ (451), this passage is variously
translated. In our translation, H.-So.’s glossary has been quite closely
followed. This agrees substantially with B.’s translation (P. and B.
XII. 87). R. translates: Thou needst not take care longer as to the
consumption of my dead body. ‘Líc’ is also a crux here, as it may
mean living body or dead body.
VIII.

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Hrothgar
responds.
Reminiscences
of Beowulf’s
father,
Ecgtheow.
Hrothgar
recounts to
Beowulf the
horrors of
Grendel’s
persecutions.
My thanes have
made many
boasts, but have
not executed
them.
Sit down to the
feast, and give
us comfort.