Beowulf makes a parting speech to Hrothgar.
Beowulf spake, Ecgtheow’s son:
“Recall now, oh, famous kinsman of Healfdene,
Prince very prudent, now to part I am ready,
Gold-friend of earlmen, what erst we agreed on,
If I fail, act as a kind liegelord to my thanes,
5
Should I lay down my life in lending thee assistance,
When my earth-joys were over, thou wouldst evermore serve me
In stead of a father; my faithful thanemen,
My trusty retainers, protect thou and care for,
Fall I in battle: and, Hrothgar belovèd,
and send Higelac the jewels thou hast given me
10
Send unto Higelac the high-valued jewels
Thou to me hast allotted. The lord of the Geatmen
May perceive from the gold, the Hrethling may see it
I should like my king to know how generous a lord I found thee to be.
When he looks on the jewels, that a gem-giver found I
Good over-measure, enjoyed him while able.
15
And the ancient heirloom Unferth permit thou,
The famed one to have, the heavy-sword splendid1
The hard-edgèd weapon; with Hrunting to aid me,
I shall gain me glory, or grim-death shall take me.”
Beowulf is eager for the fray.
The atheling of Geatmen uttered these words and
20
Heroic did hasten, not any rejoinder
Was willing to wait for; the wave-current swallowed
He is a whole day reaching the bottom of the sea.
The doughty-in-battle. Then a day’s-length elapsed ere
He was able to see the sea at its bottom.
Early she found then who fifty of winters
25
The course of the currents kept in her fury,
Grisly and greedy, that the grim one’s dominion
[52]
Grendel’s mother knows that some one has reached her domains.
Some one of men from above was exploring.
Forth did she grab them, grappled the warrior
With horrible clutches; yet no sooner she injured
30
His body unscathèd: the burnie out-guarded,
That she proved but powerless to pierce through the armor,
The limb-mail locked, with loath-grabbing fingers.
The sea-wolf bare then, when bottomward came she,
She grabs him, and bears him to her den.
The ring-prince homeward, that he after was powerless
35
(He had daring to do it) to deal with his weapons,
But many a mere-beast tormented him swimming,
Sea-monsters bite and strike him.
Flood-beasts no few with fierce-biting tusks did
Break through his burnie, the brave one pursued they.
The earl then discovered he was down in some cavern
40
Where no water whatever anywise harmed him,
And the clutch of the current could come not anear him,
Since the roofed-hall prevented; brightness a-gleaming
Fire-light he saw, flashing resplendent.
The good one saw then the sea-bottom’s monster,
Beowulf attacks the mother of Grendel.
45
The mighty mere-woman; he made a great onset
With weapon-of-battle, his hand not desisted
From striking, that war-blade struck on her head then
A battle-song greedy. The stranger perceived then
The sword will not bite.
The sword would not bite, her life would not injure,
50
But the falchion failed the folk-prince when straitened:
Erst had it often onsets encountered,
Oft cloven the helmet, the fated one’s armor:
’Twas the first time that ever the excellent jewel
Had failed of its fame. Firm-mooded after,
55
Not heedless of valor, but mindful of glory,
Was Higelac’s kinsman; the hero-chief angry
Cast then his carved-sword covered with jewels
That it lay on the earth, hard and steel-pointed;
The hero throws down all weapons, and again trusts to his hand-grip.
He hoped in his strength, his hand-grapple sturdy.
60
So any must act whenever he thinketh
To gain him in battle glory unending,
And is reckless of living. The lord of the War-Geats
[53]
(He shrank not from battle) seized by the shoulder2
The mother of Grendel; then mighty in struggle
65
Swung he his enemy, since his anger was kindled,
That she fell to the floor. With furious grapple
Beowulf falls.
She gave him requital3 early thereafter, And stretched out to grab him; the strongest of warriors
Faint-mooded stumbled, till he fell in his traces,
The monster sits on him with drawn sword.
70
Foot-going champion. Then she sat on the hall-guest
And wielded her war-knife wide-bladed, flashing,
For her son would take vengeance, her one only bairn.
His armor saves his life.
His breast-armor woven bode on his shoulder;
It guarded his life, the entrance defended
75
’Gainst sword-point and edges. Ecgtheow’s son there
Had fatally journeyed, champion of Geatmen,
In the arms of the ocean, had the armor not given,
Close-woven corslet, comfort and succor,
God arranged for his escape.
And had God most holy not awarded the victory,
80
All-knowing Lord; easily did heaven’s
Ruler most righteous arrange it with justice; 4
Uprose he erect ready for battle.
[1] Kl. emends ‘wæl-sweord.’ The half-line would then read, ‘ the battle-sword splendid.’—For ‘heard-ecg’ in next half-verse, see note to 20 39
above.
[2] Sw., R., and t.B. suggest ‘feaxe’ for ‘eaxle’ (1538) and render: Seized by the hair.
[3] If ‘hand-léan’ be accepted (as the MS. has it), the line will read: She hand-reward gave him early thereafter.
[4] Sw. and S. change H.-So.’s semicolon (v. 1557) to a comma, and translate: The Ruler of Heaven arranged it in justice easily, after he arose
again.
BEOWULF IS DOUBLE-CONQUEROR.
Beowulf grasps a giant-sword,
Then he saw mid the war-gems a weapon of victory,
An ancient giant-sword, of edges a-doughty,
Glory of warriors: of weapons ’twas choicest,
Only ’twas larger than any man else was
[54]
5
Able to bear to the battle-encounter,
The good and splendid work of the giants.
He grasped then the sword-hilt, knight of the Scyldings,
Bold and battle-grim, brandished his ring-sword,
Hopeless of living, hotly he smote her,
10
That the fiend-woman’s neck firmly it grappled,
and fells the female monster.
Broke through her bone-joints, the bill fully pierced her
Fate-cursèd body, she fell to the ground then:
The hand-sword was bloody, the hero exulted.
The brand was brilliant, brightly it glimmered,
15
Just as from heaven gemlike shineth
The torch of the firmament. He glanced ’long the building,
And turned by the wall then, Higelac’s vassal
Raging and wrathful raised his battle-sword
Strong by the handle. The edge was not useless
20
To the hero-in-battle, but he speedily wished to
Give Grendel requital for the many assaults he
Had worked on the West-Danes not once, but often,
When he slew in slumber the subjects of Hrothgar,
Swallowed down fifteen sleeping retainers
25
Of the folk of the Danemen, and fully as many
Carried away, a horrible prey.
He gave him requital, grim-raging champion,
Beowulf sees the body of Grendel, and cuts off his head.
When he saw on his rest-place weary of conflict
Grendel lying, of life-joys bereavèd,
30
As the battle at Heorot erstwhile had scathed him;
His body far bounded, a blow when he suffered,
Death having seized him, sword-smiting heavy,
And he cut off his head then. Early this noticed
The clever carles who as comrades of Hrothgar
The waters are gory.
35
Gazed on the sea-deeps, that the surging wave-currents
Were mightily mingled, the mere-flood was gory:
Of the good one the gray-haired together held converse,
Beowulf is given up for dead.
The hoary of head, that they hoped not to see again
The atheling ever, that exulting in victory
40
He’d return there to visit the distinguished folk-ruler:
[55]
Then many concluded the mere-wolf had killed him. 1
The ninth hour came then. From the ness-edge departed
The bold-mooded Scyldings; the gold-friend of heroes
Homeward betook him. The strangers sat down then
45
Soul-sick, sorrowful, the sea-waves regarding:
They wished and yet weened not their well-loved friend-lord
The giant-sword melts.
To see any more. The sword-blade began then,
The blood having touched it, contracting and shriveling
With battle-icicles; ’twas a wonderful marvel
50
That it melted entirely, likest to ice when
The Father unbindeth the bond of the frost and
Unwindeth the wave-bands, He who wieldeth dominion
Of times and of tides: a truth-firm Creator.
Nor took he of jewels more in the dwelling,
55
Lord of the Weders, though they lay all around him,
Than the head and the handle handsome with jewels;
[56]
The brand early melted, burnt was the weapon:2
So hot was the blood, the strange-spirit poisonous
The hero swims back to the realms of day.
That in it did perish. He early swam off then
60
Who had bided in combat the carnage of haters,
Went up through the ocean; the eddies were cleansèd,
The spacious expanses, when the spirit from farland
His life put aside and this short-lived existence.
The seamen’s defender came swimming to land then
65
Doughty of spirit, rejoiced in his sea-gift,
The bulky burden which he bore in his keeping.
The excellent vassals advanced then to meet him,
To God they were grateful, were glad in their chieftain,
That to see him safe and sound was granted them.
70
From the high-minded hero, then, helmet and burnie
Were speedily loosened: the ocean was putrid,
The water ’neath welkin weltered with gore.
Forth did they fare, then, their footsteps retracing,
Merry and mirthful, measured the earth-way,
75
The highway familiar: men very daring3
Bare then the head from the sea-cliff, burdening
Each of the earlmen, excellent-valiant.
It takes four men to carry Grendel’s head on a spear.
Four of them had to carry with labor
The head of Grendel to the high towering gold-hall
80
Upstuck on the spear, till fourteen most-valiant
And battle-brave Geatmen came there going
Straight to the palace: the prince of the people
Measured the mead-ways, their mood-brave companion.
The atheling of earlmen entered the building,
85
Deed-valiant man, adorned with distinction,
Doughty shield-warrior, to address King Hrothgar:
[57]
Then hung by the hair, the head of Grendel
Was borne to the building, where beer-thanes were drinking,
Loth before earlmen and eke ’fore the lady:
90
The warriors beheld then a wonderful sight.
[1] ‘Þæs monige gewearð’ (1599) and ‘hafað þæs geworden’ (2027).—In a paper published some years ago in one of the Johns Hopkins University
circulars, I tried to throw upon these two long-doubtful passages some light
derived from a study of like passages in Alfred’s prose.—The impersonal
verb ‘geweorðan,’ with an accus. of the person, and a þæt-clause is used
several times with the meaning ‘agree.’ See Orosius (Sweet’s ed.) 1787;
20434; 20828; 21015; 28020. In the two Beowulf passages, the þæt-clause is
anticipated by ‘þæs,’ which is clearly a gen. of the thing agreed on.
The first passage (v. 1599 (b)-1600) I translate literally: Then many agreed
upon this (namely), that the sea-wolf had killed him.
The second passage (v. 2025 (b)-2027): She is promised …; to this the
friend of the Scyldings has agreed, etc. By emending ‘is’ instead of ‘wæs’
(2025), the tenses will be brought into perfect harmony.
In v. 1997 ff. this same idiom occurs, and was noticed in B.’s great article
on Beowulf, which appeared about the time I published my reading of 1599
and 2027. Translate 1997 then: Wouldst let the South-Danes themselves
decide about their struggle with Grendel. Here ‘Súð-Dene’ is accus. of
person, and ‘gúðe’ is gen. of thing agreed on.
With such collateral support as that afforded by B. (P. and B. XII. 97), I
have no hesitation in departing from H.-So., my usual guide.
The idiom above treated runs through A.-S., Old Saxon, and other
Teutonic languages, and should be noticed in the lexicons.
[2] ‘Bróden-mæl’ is regarded by most scholars as meaning a damaskeened sword. Translate: The damaskeened sword burned up. Cf.
25 16 and note.
[3] ‘Cyning-balde’ (1635) is the much-disputed reading of K. and Th. To render this, “nobly bold,” “excellently bold,” have been suggested. B. would
read ‘cyning-holde’ (cf. 290), and render: Men well-disposed towards the
king carried the head, etc. ‘Cynebealde,’ says t.B., endorsing Gr.
BEOWULF BRINGS HIS TROPHIES.—
HROTHGAR’S GRATITUDE.
Beowulf relates his last exploit.
Beowulf spake, offspring of Ecgtheow:
“Lo! we blithely have brought thee, bairn of Healfdene,
Prince of the Scyldings, these presents from ocean
Which thine eye looketh on, for an emblem of glory.
5
I came off alive from this, narrowly ’scaping:
In war ’neath the water the work with great pains I
Performed, and the fight had been finished quite nearly,
Had God not defended me. I failed in the battle
Aught to accomplish, aided by Hrunting,
10
Though that weapon was worthy, but the Wielder of earth-folk
God was fighting with me.
Gave me willingly to see on the wall a
Heavy old hand-sword hanging in splendor
(He guided most often the lorn and the friendless),
That I swung as a weapon. The wards of the house then
15
I killed in the conflict (when occasion was given me).
Then the battle-sword burned, the brand that was lifted, 1
As the blood-current sprang, hottest of war-sweats;
Seizing the hilt, from my foes I offbore it;
I avenged as I ought to their acts of malignity,
20
The murder of Danemen. I then make thee this promise,
Heorot is freed from monsters.
Thou’lt be able in Heorot careless to slumber
With thy throng of heroes and the thanes of thy people
Every and each, of greater and lesser,
And thou needest not fear for them from the selfsame direction
25
As thou formerly fearedst, oh, folk-lord of Scyldings,
[58]
End-day for earlmen.” To the age-hoary man then,
The famous sword is presented to Hrothgar.
The gray-haired chieftain, the gold-fashioned sword-hilt,
Old-work of giants, was thereupon given;
Since the fall of the fiends, it fell to the keeping
30
Of the wielder of Danemen, the wonder-smith’s labor,
And the bad-mooded being abandoned this world then,
Opponent of God, victim of murder,
And also his mother; it went to the keeping
Of the best of the world-kings, where waters encircle,
35
Who the scot divided in Scylding dominion.
Hrothgar looks closely at the old sword.
Hrothgar discoursed, the hilt he regarded,
The ancient heirloom where an old-time contention’s
Beginning was graven: the gurgling currents,
The flood slew thereafter the race of the giants,
40
They had proved themselves daring: that people was loth to
It had belonged to a race hateful to God.
The Lord everlasting, through lash of the billows
The Father gave them final requital.
So in letters of rune on the clasp of the handle
Gleaming and golden, ’twas graven exactly,
45
Set forth and said, whom that sword had been made for,
Finest of irons, who first it was wrought for,
Wreathed at its handle and gleaming with serpents.
The wise one then said (silent they all were)
Hrothgar praises Beowulf.
Son of old Healfdene: “He may say unrefuted
50
Who performs ’mid the folk-men fairness and truth
(The hoary old ruler remembers the past),
That better by birth is this bairn of the nobles!
Thy fame is extended through far-away countries,
Good friend Beowulf, o’er all of the races,
55
Thou holdest all firmly, hero-like strength with
Prudence of spirit. I’ll prove myself grateful
As before we agreed on; thou granted for long shalt
Become a great comfort to kinsmen and comrades,
Heremod’s career is again contrasted with Beowulf’s.
A help unto heroes. Heremod became not
60
Such to the Scyldings, successors of Ecgwela;
He grew not to please them, but grievous destruction,
[59]
And diresome death-woes to Danemen attracted;
He slew in anger his table-companions,
Trustworthy counsellors, till he turned off lonely
65
From world-joys away, wide-famous ruler:
Though high-ruling heaven in hero-strength raised him,
In might exalted him, o’er men of all nations
Made him supreme, yet a murderous spirit
Grew in his bosom: he gave then no ring-gems
A wretched failure of a king, to give no jewels to his retainers.
70
To the Danes after custom; endured he unjoyful
Standing the straits from strife that was raging,
Longsome folk-sorrow. Learn then from this,
Lay hold of virtue! Though laden with winters,
I have sung thee these measures. ’Tis a marvel to tell it,
Hrothgar moralizes.
75
How all-ruling God from greatness of spirit
Giveth wisdom to children of men,
Manor and earlship: all things He ruleth.
He often permitteth the mood-thought of man of
The illustrious lineage to lean to possessions,
80
Allows him earthly delights at his manor,
A high-burg of heroes to hold in his keeping,
Maketh portions of earth-folk hear him,
And a wide-reaching kingdom so that, wisdom failing him,
He himself is unable to reckon its boundaries;
85
He liveth in luxury, little debars him,
Nor sickness nor age, no treachery-sorrow
Becloudeth his spirit, conflict nowhere,
No sword-hate, appeareth, but all of the world doth
Wend as he wisheth; the worse he knoweth not,
90
Till arrant arrogance inward pervading,
Waxeth and springeth, when the warder is sleeping,
The guard of the soul: with sorrows encompassed,
Too sound is his slumber, the slayer is near him,
Who with bow and arrow aimeth in malice.
[60]
[1] Or rather, perhaps, ‘ the inlaid, or damaskeened weapon.’ Cf. 24 57 and note.
HROTHGAR MORALIZES.—REST AFTER