Wiglaf defends Beowulf.
Then I heard that at need of the king of the people
The upstanding earlman exhibited prowess,
Vigor and courage, as suited his nature;
1He his head did not guard, but the high-minded liegeman’s 5
Hand was consumed, when he succored his kinsman,
So he struck the strife-bringing strange-comer lower,
Earl-thane in armor, that in went the weapon
Gleaming and plated, that ’gan then the fire2
Beowulf draws his knife,
Later to lessen. The liegelord himself then
10
Retained his consciousness, brandished his war-knife,
Battle-sharp, bitter, that he bare on his armor:
and cuts the dragon.
The Weder-lord cut the worm in the middle.
They had felled the enemy (life drove out then3
Puissant prowess), the pair had destroyed him,
15
Land-chiefs related: so a liegeman should prove him,
A thaneman when needed. To the prince ’twas the last of
His era of conquest by his own great achievements,
[92]
Beowulf’s wound swells and burns.
The latest of world-deeds. The wound then began
Which the earth-dwelling dragon erstwhile had wrought him
20
To burn and to swell. He soon then discovered
That bitterest bale-woe in his bosom was raging,
Poison within. The atheling advanced then,
He sits down exhausted.
That along by the wall, he prudent of spirit
Might sit on a settle; he saw the giant-work,
25
How arches of stone strengthened with pillars
The earth-hall eternal inward supported.
Then the long-worthy liegeman laved with his hand the
Wiglaf bathes his lord’s head.
Far-famous chieftain, gory from sword-edge,
Refreshing the face of his friend-lord and ruler,
30
Sated with battle, unbinding his helmet.
Beowulf answered, of his injury spake he,
His wound that was fatal (he was fully aware
He had lived his allotted life-days enjoying
The pleasures of earth; then past was entirely
35
His measure of days, death very near):
Beowulf regrets that he has no son.
“My son I would give now my battle-equipments,
Had any of heirs been after me granted,
Along of my body. This people I governed
Fifty of winters: no king ’mong my neighbors
40
Dared to encounter me with comrades-in-battle,
Try me with terror. The time to me ordered
I bided at home, mine own kept fitly,
Sought me no snares, swore me not many
I can rejoice in a well-spent life.
Oaths in injustice. Joy over all this
45
I’m able to have, though ill with my death-wounds;
Hence the Ruler of Earthmen need not charge me
With the killing of kinsmen, when cometh my life out
Forth from my body. Fare thou with haste now
Bring me the hoard, Wiglaf, that my dying eyes may be refreshed by a
sight of it.
To behold the hoard ’neath the hoar-grayish stone,
50
Well-lovèd Wiglaf, now the worm is a-lying,
Sore-wounded sleepeth, disseized of his treasure.
Go thou in haste that treasures of old I,
Gold-wealth may gaze on, together see lying
[93]
The ether-bright jewels, be easier able,
55
Having the heap of hoard-gems, to yield my
Life and the land-folk whom long I have governed.”
[1] B. renders: He ( W.) did not regard his ( the dragon’s) head (since Beowulf had struck it without effect), but struck the dragon a little lower
down.— One crux is to find out whose head is meant; another is to bring out the antithesis between ‘head’ and ‘hand.’
[2] ‘Þæt þæt fýr’ (2702), S. emends to ‘þá þæt fýr’ = when the fire began to grow less intense afterward. This emendation relieves the passage of a
plethora of conjunctive þæt’s.
[3] For ‘gefyldan’ (2707), S. proposes ‘gefylde.’ The passage would read: He felled the foe (life drove out strength), and they then both had
destroyed him, chieftains related. This gives Beowulf the credit of having
felled the dragon; then they combine to annihilate him.—For ‘ellen’ (2707),
Kl. suggests ‘e(a)llne.’—The reading ‘ life drove out strength’ is very
unsatisfactory and very peculiar. I would suggest as follows: Adopt S.’s
emendation, remove H.’s parenthesis, read ‘ferh-ellen wræc,’ and
translate: He felled the foe, drove out his life-strength (that is, made him hors de combat), and then they both, etc.
WIGLAF PLUNDERS THE DRAGON’S
DEN.—BEOWULF’S DEATH.
Wiglaf fulfils his lord’s behest.
Then heard I that Wihstan’s son very quickly,
These words being uttered, heeded his liegelord
Wounded and war-sick, went in his armor,
His well-woven ring-mail, ’neath the roof of the barrow.
5
Then the trusty retainer treasure-gems many
The dragon’s den.
Victorious saw, when the seat he came near to,
Gold-treasure sparkling spread on the bottom,
Wonder on the wall, and the worm-creature’s cavern,
The ancient dawn-flier’s, vessels a-standing,
10
Cups of the ancients of cleansers bereavèd,
Robbed of their ornaments: there were helmets in numbers,
Old and rust-eaten, arm-bracelets many,
Artfully woven. Wealth can easily,
Gold on the sea-bottom, turn into vanity1
15
Each one of earthmen, arm him who pleaseth!
And he saw there lying an all-golden banner
High o’er the hoard, of hand-wonders greatest,
Linkèd with lacets: a light from it sparkled,
That the floor of the cavern he was able to look on,
The dragon is not there.
20
To examine the jewels. Sight of the dragon
[94]
Not any was offered, but edge offcarried him.
Wiglaf bears the hoard away.
Then I heard that the hero the hoard-treasure plundered,
The giant-work ancient reaved in the cavern,
Bare on his bosom the beakers and platters,
25
As himself would fain have it, and took off the standard,
The brightest of beacons; 2 the bill had erst injured (Its edge was of iron), the old-ruler’s weapon,
Him who long had watched as ward of the jewels,
Who fire-terror carried hot for the treasure,
30
Rolling in battle, in middlemost darkness,
Till murdered he perished. The messenger hastened,
Not loth to return, hurried by jewels:
Curiosity urged him if, excellent-mooded,
Alive he should find the lord of the Weders
35
Mortally wounded, at the place where he left him.
’Mid the jewels he found then the famous old chieftain,
His liegelord belovèd, at his life’s-end gory:
He thereupon ’gan to lave him with water,
Till the point of his word piercèd his breast-hoard.
40
Beowulf spake (the gold-gems he noticed),
Beowulf is rejoiced to see the jewels.
The old one in sorrow: “For the jewels I look on
Thanks do I utter for all to the Ruler,
Wielder of Worship, with words of devotion,
The Lord everlasting, that He let me such treasures
45
Gain for my people ere death overtook me.
Since I’ve bartered the agèd life to me granted
For treasure of jewels, attend ye henceforward
He desires to be held in memory by his people.
The wants of the war-thanes; I can wait here no longer.
The battle-famed bid ye to build them a grave-hill,
50
Bright when I’m burned, at the brim-current’s limit;
As a memory-mark to the men I have governed,
[95]
Aloft it shall tower on Whale’s-Ness uprising,
That earls of the ocean hereafter may call it
Beowulf’s barrow, those who barks ever-dashing
55
From a distance shall drive o’er the darkness of waters.”
The hero’s last gift
The bold-mooded troop-lord took from his neck then
The ring that was golden, gave to his liegeman,
The youthful war-hero, his gold-flashing helmet,
His collar and war-mail, bade him well to enjoy them:
and last words.
60
“Thou art latest left of the line of our kindred,
Of Wægmunding people: Weird hath offcarried
All of my kinsmen to the Creator’s glory,
Earls in their vigor: I shall after them fare.”
’Twas the aged liegelord’s last-spoken word in
65
His musings of spirit, ere he mounted the fire,
The battle-waves burning: from his bosom departed
His soul to seek the sainted ones’ glory.
[1] The word ‘oferhígian’ (2767) being vague and little understood, two quite distinct translations of this passage have arisen. One takes
‘oferhígian’ as meaning ‘to exceed,’ and, inserting ‘hord’ after ‘gehwone,’
renders: The treasure may easily, the gold in the ground, exceed in value
every hoard of man, hide it who will. The other takes ‘oferhígian’ as
meaning ‘to render arrogant,’ and, giving the sentence a moralizing tone,
renders substantially as in the body of this work. (Cf. 28 13 et seq.)
[2] The passage beginning here is very much disputed. ‘The bill of the old lord’ is by some regarded as Beowulf’s sword; by others, as that of the
ancient possessor of the hoard. ‘Ær gescód’ (2778), translated in this work
as verb and adverb, is by some regarded as a compound participial adj. =
sheathed in brass.
THE DEAD FOES.—WIGLAF’S BITTER