Hrothgar remembers Beowulf as a youth, and also remembers his father.
Hrothgar answered, helm of the Scyldings:
“I remember this man as the merest of striplings.
His father long dead now was Ecgtheow titled,
Him Hrethel the Geatman granted at home his
5
One only daughter; his battle-brave son
Is come but now, sought a trustworthy friend.
Seafaring sailors asserted it then,
Beowulf is reported to have the strength of thirty men.
Who valuable gift-gems of the Geatmen1 carried As peace-offering thither, that he thirty men’s grapple
10
Has in his hand, the hero-in-battle.
God hath sent him to our rescue.
The holy Creator usward sent him,
To West-Dane warriors, I ween, for to render
’Gainst Grendel’s grimness gracious assistance:
I shall give to the good one gift-gems for courage.
15
Hasten to bid them hither to speed them, 2
To see assembled this circle of kinsmen;
Tell them expressly they’re welcome in sooth to
The men of the Danes.” To the door of the building
[15]
Wulfgar invites the strangers in.
Wulfgar went then, this word-message shouted:
20
“My victorious liegelord bade me to tell you,
The East-Danes’ atheling, that your origin knows he,
And o’er wave-billows wafted ye welcome are hither,
Valiant of spirit. Ye straightway may enter
Clad in corslets, cased in your helmets,
25
To see King Hrothgar. Here let your battle-boards,
Wood-spears and war-shafts, await your conferring.”
The mighty one rose then, with many a liegeman,
An excellent thane-group; some there did await them,
And as bid of the brave one the battle-gear guarded.
30
Together they hied them, while the hero did guide them,
’Neath Heorot’s roof; the high-minded went then
Sturdy ’neath helmet till he stood in the building.
Beowulf spake (his burnie did glisten,
His armor seamed over by the art of the craftsman):
Beowulf salutes Hrothgar, and then proceeds to boast of his youthful
achievements.
35
“Hail thou, Hrothgar! I am Higelac’s kinsman
And vassal forsooth; many a wonder
I dared as a stripling. The doings of Grendel,
In far-off fatherland I fully did know of:
Sea-farers tell us, this hall-building standeth,
40
Excellent edifice, empty and useless
To all the earlmen after evenlight’s glimmer
’Neath heaven’s bright hues hath hidden its glory.
This my earls then urged me, the most excellent of them,
Carles very clever, to come and assist thee,
45
Folk-leader Hrothgar; fully they knew of
His fight with the nickers.
The strength of my body. Themselves they beheld me
When I came from the contest, when covered with gore
Foes I escaped from, where five3 I had bound,
[16]
The giant-race wasted, in the waters destroying
50
The nickers by night, bore numberless sorrows,
The Weders avenged (woes had they suffered)
Enemies ravaged; alone now with Grendel
He intends to fight Grendel unaided.
I shall manage the matter, with the monster of evil,
The giant, decide it. Thee I would therefore
55
Beg of thy bounty, Bright-Danish chieftain,
Lord of the Scyldings, this single petition:
Not to refuse me, defender of warriors,
Friend-lord of folks, so far have I sought thee,
That I may unaided, my earlmen assisting me,
60
This brave-mooded war-band, purify Heorot.
I have heard on inquiry, the horrible creature
Since the monster uses no weapons,
From veriest rashness recks not for weapons;
I this do scorn then, so be Higelac gracious,
My liegelord belovèd, lenient of spirit,
65
To bear a blade or a broad-fashioned target,
A shield to the onset; only with hand-grip
I, too, shall disdain to use any.
The foe I must grapple, fight for my life then,
Foeman with foeman; he fain must rely on
The doom of the Lord whom death layeth hold of.
Should he crush me, he will eat my companions as he has eaten thy
thanes.
70
I ween he will wish, if he win in the struggle,
To eat in the war-hall earls of the Geat-folk,
Boldly to swallow4 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
[17]
In case of my defeat, thou wilt not have the trouble of burying me.
75
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
Should I fall, send my armor to my lord, King Higelac.
Find me my food. 7 If I fall in the battle, 80
Send to Higelac the armor that serveth
To shield my bosom, the best of equipments,
Richest of ring-mails; ’tis the relic of Hrethla,
Weird is supreme
The work of Wayland. Goes Weird as she must 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.
HROTHGAR AND BEOWULF.— Continued.
Hrothgar responds.
Hrothgar discoursed, helm of the Scyldings:
“To defend our folk and to furnish assistance, 1
Thou soughtest us hither, good friend Beowulf.
Reminiscences of Beowulf’s father, Ecgtheow.
The fiercest of feuds thy father engaged in,
5
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,
[18]
The race of the Scyldings, o’er the roll of the waters;
10
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!
15
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.
Hrothgar recounts to Beowulf the horrors of Grendel’s persecutions.
It pains me in spirit to any to tell it,
What grief in Heorot Grendel hath caused me,
20
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
My thanes have made many boasts, but have not executed them.
25
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,
30
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 down to the feast, and give us comfort.
Sit at the feast now, thy intents unto heroes, 2
Thy victor-fame show, as thy spirit doth urge thee!”
A bench is made ready for Beowulf and his party.
35
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,
[19]
Who a beaker embellished bore with decorum,
The gleeman sings
40
And gleaming-drink poured. The gleeman sang whilom
The heroes all rejoice together.
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.