gift

Then if death taketh me thou wilt not need to hide

Grendel will have me, drenched in gore; my bleeding body, dead,

He'll bear away in hope of feast; the fiend who walks

alone

Will ruthless eat, the moorland wide shall be my burial stone!

Not long for me thy kindly cares! But if in war I fail Send Higelac my battle-weed, this goodly shirt of

mail,

That guards my breast. 'Tis Hrethel's gift, and 'twas by Wayland made.

Weird ever goeth as she must!

"Thou com'st to us,

'gainst the foe;

Then spoke the Scyldings' aid:

Beowulf friend! for honour

Great was the fight thy father fought, who Hatholaf

laid low

'Mong Wylfings, when the Weder-kin refused him for their head;

Thence to the Danes, the Scylding folk, o'er heaving seas he sped,

When first in youth I ruled the Danes, and swayed the kingdom wide

And treasure-hold of men. Ere then my Heregar had

died,

My elder brother, Halfdene's son-a better man than

me!

* i.e. bury me.' See Note F.

And then with gifts I healed the feud, and o'er the

broad-backed sea

Send to the Wylfing treasures good and bound him fast by oaths.

To tell the tale to any man is grief my spirit

loathes,

The shame and deadly scathe that Grendel's evil heart has done

To Heorot and to me! My thanes are minished, one

by one;

By Grendel's horror Weird has swept the warrior band

away.

Yet that proud monster from his work God easily

can stay!

Over their ale-cups many a time they boasteddrunk with beer

These mighty men, that they would bide, within the mead-hall here,

With sharp-edged swords for Grendel's raid, and at the morning tide

When daylight broke, this lordly house was seen with blood all dyed,

The blood of slaughter in the hall-the benches steeped with gore

Fewer my faithful knights beloved, and death had taken more!

Sit now to meat thou famed in war! and to thy

heart's content

Take thou thine ease."

Together then the Gothic warriors went,

And on the bench prepared for them in hall, in all

their pride

They sat them down-the bold of heart. A thane their needs supplied

Who bore a flagon goodly chased and poured the brewage clear;

And sweet the while was minstrel's song, and joyous was the cheer

Of Danes and Goths in Heorot there, a goodly

company.

IV.

HUNFERD AND BEOWULF.

Hunferd the son of Ecglaf spoke-at Hrothgar's feet sat he

And thus let loose his secret grudge; (for much did him displease

The coming of Beowulf now-bold sailor o'er the seas. To none on earth would he allow a greater fame

'mong men

Beneath the heavens than his): "Art thou the same Beowulf then,

Who swam a match with Breca once upon the waters

wide,

When ye vainglorious searched the waves, and risked

your lives for pride

Upon the deep? Nor hinder you could any friend

or foe

From that sad venture.

waters row;

Then ye twain did on the

Ye stretched your arms upon the flood; the sea-ways

ye did mete;

O'er billows glided—with your hands them tossedthough fiercely beat

The rolling tides and wintry waves! Seven nights long toilèd ye

In waters' might; but Breca won-he stronger was than thee!

And to the Hathorems * at morn washed shoreward by the flood,

Thence his loved native land he sought-the Brondings' country good,

And stronghold fair, where he was lord of folk and burg and rings.

Right well 'gainst thee his vaunt he kept. But yet I ween worse things

May now befall thee, (doughtily as thou in shocks

of fight

Hast ever done), if thou dar'st bide near Grendel for a night!"

Beowulf spoke: "Lo! many things, friend Hunferd, drunk with beer,

Thou tell'st of Breca and his deed! The truth now

shalt thou hear,

* The inhabitants of that part of Norway called formerly Raumaríki, now Romsdal.

That I was stronger 'mong the waves,―more steadfast

in the flood,

Than any man.

When we were boys, we spoke in

boyish mood,

And in the deep to risk our lives did one another

dare.

And so 'twas done. When out we swam our firmgrasped swords were bare

To guard ourselves from water-beasts; and nowise could he swim

Swifter than me, or float away; nor would I part from him.

Together thus for five nights long upon the deep were

we,

Till coldest weather, northern wind, dark night, and

stormy sea

Beat fiercely, and the surging flood us sundered. Rough the wave !

Wrathful the water-beasts! But help my hard-wov'n hauberk gave

Against their rage; the broidered war-shirt lay upon my breast

All golden wrought. With deadly hate a foe in fast. clutch pressed

And to the bottom dragged me down; yet with my battle-brand,

I stabbed the monster through-such hap was mine

and by my hand

In shock of fight the mighty sea-beast died.

Yet on me still