Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem

HROTHGAR AND BEOWULF.
—Continued.
Hrothgar discoursed, helm of the Scyldings:
“To defend our folk and to furnish assistance,
1
Thou soughtest us hither, good friend Beowulf.
The fiercest of feuds thy father engaged in,
Heatholaf killed he in hand-to-hand conflict
’Mid Wilfingish warriors; then the Wederish
people
For fear of a feud were forced to disown him.
Thence flying he fled to the folk of the South-Danes,
The race of the Scyldings, o’er the roll of the waters;
I had lately begun then to govern the Danemen,
The hoard-seat of heroes held in my youth,
Rich in its jewels: dead was Heregar,
My kinsman and elder had earth-joys forsaken,
Healfdene his bairn. He was better than I am!
That feud thereafter for a fee I compounded;
O’er the weltering waters to the Wilfings I sent
Ornaments old; oaths did he swear me.
It pains me in spirit to any to tell it,
What grief in Heorot Grendel hath caused me,
What horror unlooked-for, by hatred unceasing.
Waned is my war-band, wasted my hall-troop;
Weird hath offcast them to the clutches of
Grendel.
God can easily hinder the scather
From deeds so direful. Oft drunken with beer
O’er the ale-vessel promised warriors in armor
They would willingly wait on the wassailing-
benches
A grapple with Grendel, with grimmest of
edges.
Then this mead-hall at morning with murder was reeking,
The building was bloody at breaking of daylight,
The bench-deals all flooded, dripping and bloodied,
The folk-hall was gory: I had fewer retainers,
Dear-beloved warriors, whom death had laid hold of.
Sit at the feast now, thy intents unto heroes,
2
Thy victor-fame show, as thy spirit doth urge
5
[18]
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8/8/13 3:21 PM
Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem
Page 38 of 134
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm
A bench is
made ready for
Beowulf and
his party.
The gleeman
sings
The heroes all
rejoice together.
Unferth, a thane
of Hrothgar, is
jealous of
Beowulf, and
undertakes to
twit him.
thee!”
For the men of the Geats then together
assembled,
In the beer-hall blithesome a bench was made
ready;
There warlike in spirit they went to be seated,
Proud and exultant. A liegeman did service,
Who a beaker embellished bore with decorum,
And gleaming-drink poured. The gleeman sang
whilom
Hearty in Heorot; there was heroes’ rejoicing,
A numerous war-band of Weders and
Danemen.
[1] B. and S. reject the reading given in H.-So., and suggested by Grtvg.
B. suggests for 457-458:
wáere-ryhtum Þú, wine mín Béowulf,
and for ár-stafum úsic sóhtest.
This means: From the obligations of clientage, my friend
Beowulf, and for assistance thou hast sought us.—This gives
coherence to Hrothgar’s opening remarks in VIII., and also
introduces a new motive for Beowulf’s coming to Hrothgar’s aid.
[2] Sit now at the feast, and disclose thy purposes to the victorious
heroes, as thy spirit urges.—Kl. reaches the above translation by
erasing the comma after ‘meoto’ and reading ‘sige-hrèðsecgum.’—
There are other and bolder emendations and suggestions. Of these the
boldest is to regard ‘meoto’ as a verb (imperative), and read ‘on sæl’:
Think upon gayety, etc.—All the renderings are unsatisfactory, the
one given in our translation involving a zeugma.