Finn, too, slain, the king amid his company, and the queen
was taken. The bowmen of the Scyldings bore to their ships
all the wealth of the house of that king of earth, all such as
they could find of jewels and cunning gems. Over the ways
950 of the sea they bore that royal lady to the land of the Danes,
and brought her to her people.
The lay was sung, the minstrel’s tale at an end. Merry
noise arose once more, loud and clear the sound of revelry
upon the seats; the cup-bearers gave out wine from vessels
955 wondrous wrought. Now came Wealhtheow forth, and
wearing many a golden ring she went to where those proud
men sat, both uncle and brother’s son. Still was their kin-
ship’s love between them, and each to the other true. There
too Unferth, the king’s sage, sat at the feet of the Scyldings’
960 lord. Each man among them trusted in his mind’s temper,
that he had a mighty heart, albeit he had not in the play of
swords dealt mercy to his kin.
Then spake the lady of the Scyldings: ‘Receive now this
cup, dear lord of mine, giver of rich gifts. In happy hour
965 be thou, from whom men get love and gifts of gold, and
to the Geats speak with kindly words, as behoves a man.
To the Geats be gracious, and forget not to give of those
things that now thou hast, gathered from near and far. I
have heard men say that thou wert in mind to take this
970 warrior for thy son. Lo! Heorot is cleansed, this shining
hall where rings are dealt; dispose while yet thou mayest of
many a reward, and to thy kin after thee leave thy people
and thy realm, when thou must go forth to look upon thy
fate. Hrothulf I know well, my nephew fair, that he will in
975 honour cherish these our youths, if thou, dear master of the
Scyldings, sooner than he do leave this world. Methinks that
he will with good repay our sons, if he recalleth all those
deeds of grace that we did unto him, to his pleasure and his
honour, while yet he was a child.’
980 Then turned she to the seat where sat her sons, Hrethric
and Hrothmund, and the children of mighty men, young
warriors all, were gathered together. There beside those
brethren twain that brave heart sat, Beowulf of the Geats.
To him was the cup borne, and friendship offered in fair
985 words; and the twisted gold was brought forth with all good
will, two armlets, a mantle, and rings, and the mightiest of
torques that I have heard was ever upon the neck of man
on earth. Beneath the light of day I heard never men tell of
any better treasure in the hoards of the mighty, since Hama
990 bore away to the bright city the necklace of the Brosings,
jewel and precious vessel. He fled from the ensnaring hate of
Eormenric, and chose the counsels of the eternal faith. This
circlet Hygelac, King of the Geats, of the blood of Swerting,
had with him on that last day when beneath his standard he
995 defended his treasures, and fought for the spoil of battle.
Fate took him, for that he in his pride had challenged his
own ruin and the enmity of the Frisian folk. This fair thing
of precious stones he bore now over the bowl of the seas, a
king in his might. Beneath his shield he fell. Thus into the
1000 grasp of the Frank came now the life of the king, the armour
upon his breast, and that necklet too; and warriors, albeit of
less prowess in arms, there stripped the slain, when the blows
of battle were done. The people of the Geats were left upon
the field of slain.
1005 The hall was filled with clamour. These words did
Wealhtheow utter, before all that host she spake: ‘Have and
use well to thy good this precious thing, Beowulf, young and
dear, and for thine own joy take this mantle, a thing treasured
among this people, and prosper well! Show forth thyself in
1010 valour, and to these my sons be thou gracious in thy counsels.
For that my heart will remember to reward thee. Thou
hast achieved that far and near all the ages long shall men
esteem thee, as wide as the sea encircleth the windy walls of
the land. Be thou blessed, O prince, while thy life endures!
1015 A wealth of precious things I wish thee with good heart. Be
thou to my sons kindly in deeds, possessing days of mirth!
In this place is each good man to his fellow true, friendly in
heart, loyal unto his liegelord, of one mind the servants of the
king, the people all ready to his will, his warriors filled with
1020 wine. Do thou as I bid!’
She went then to her seat. There was the very choice of
banquets, there men drank their wine; fate they knew not
grim, appointed of old, as it had gone already forth for many
of those good men, so soon as evening came, and Hrothgar
1025 the mighty departed to his lodging and to his couch. The hall
was guarded by a host of men uncounted, even as it was oft
before. They stripped the benches of wooden board, and all
along the hall were beds and pillows spread. Over those who
had there drunk the ale fate hung now nigh at hand, as they
1030 laid them upon their couches on the floor. At their heads
they set their warlike shields, targes fashioned of wood and
blazoned bright. There upon each bench was plain to see
above each knight the helm that he had borne aloft in battle,
and his coat of ringéd mail, his spear valiant in the press of
1035 war. Their manner was it that seldom were they unprepared
for the onslaught, be it at home or amid the host, or in either
case, even at all such times as upon their liegelord need
should come – a worthy company was that!
Now they sank into sleep. One there was who paid
1040 grievously for his rest that eve, even as full oft had befallen
them, in time when Grendel had dwelt in that golden hall
and wrought evil there, even until his end came and death
after his deeds of wrong. Plain was it made and published
abroad among men that an avenger to succeed their foe
1045 lived yet long while after that woeful strife – Grendel’s
mother, ogress, fierce destroyer in the form of woman.
Misery was in her heart, she who must abide in the dreadful
waters and the cold streams, since Cain with the sword
became the slayer of his only brother, his kinsman by his
1050 father’s blood. Thereafter he departed an outlaw branded
with murder, shunning the mirth of men, abiding in the
wilderness. From thence sprang many creatures doomed of
old; of whom was Grendel one, outlawed by hate as is the
deadly wolf, who at Heorot had found one who unsleeping
1055 awaited battle. There had the fierce slayer seized upon
him, but he remembered the might of his valour, that gift
which God had bounteously bestowed upon him, and he
trusted in the One God for mercy, for succour and for aid.
Therewith did he vanquish that fiend and brought low the
1060 creature of hell. Wherefore that enemy of man departed
humbled, robbed of his triumph, to look upon his house of
&
nbsp; death. And now once more his mother grimhearted, ravenous,
was minded to go upon a journey full of woe to avenge
the slaying of her son.
1065 Now was she come to Heorot, where the Ring-Danes
slept along the hall. There suddenly now old ills returned
upon those knights when into their midst crept Grendel’s
mother. Less indeed was the terror, even by so much as is
the might of women, the terror of a woman in battle com-
1070 pared with arméd man, when the sword with wire-bound
hilt, hammer-forged, its blade stained with dripping blood,
trusty of edge, cleaves the opposing boar-crest high upon the
helm. Lo! in the hall along the benches stoutedged swords
were drawn, many a tall shield was gripped in hand and held
1075 aloft. Of his helm no man bethought him, nor of long corslet,
when that horror came upon him. She was in haste. Out and
away she would be gone for the saving of her life, now that
she was discovered. Swift and close had she clutched one of
those noble knights as she departed to the fen. He was unto
1080 Hrothgar of all his men of might, holding high place in his
court, the one most dear the Two Seas between; proudly had
he borne his shield in battle, whom now she rent upon his
bed, a man established in renown. Not there was Beowulf,
but to that glorious Geatish knight had other lodging been
1085 assigned after the giving of gifts.
Clamour arose in Heorot. Under the covering dark she
took the arm she knew so well. Grief was renewed, and was
come again to those dwelling places. An evil barter was that,
wherein they must on either side exchange the lives of men
1090 beloved! Now was that king aged in wisdom, warrior grey
of hair, in mournful mood, knowing that his princely servant
lived no more, and that most beloved of his men was dead.
Swiftly was Beowulf, that warrior whom victory had blessed,
summoned to the king’s chamber. With the break of day he
1095 went, a noble champion with his good men about him, him-
self and his companions, to where that wise king abode pondering
whether haply the Almighty God will ever after these
grievous tidings bring some betterment to pass. Now strode
across the floor that man well-tried in arms amid his retinue
1100 - the timbers of the hall echoed – and there he addressed in
speech the wise lord of the Friends of Ing, asking if he had
known repose according to his desire.
Hrothgar made answer, the guardian of the Scyldings:
‘Ask not for news of happy hours! Sorrow is come anew
1105 upon the people of the Danes. Dead is Æschere, the elder
brother of Yrmenlaf; my counsels were his and his wisdom
mine, at my right hand he stood when on fatal field we
fended our lives, as the ranks clashed in battle and the boar-
crests rang. Such should a good man be, of noble birth long
1110 tried in deeds, even as was Æschere! In Heorot has death
come upon him at the hands of a wandering murderous thing.
I know not whither she hath turned her backward steps, as
dreadfully she gloats over her prey, exulting in her belly’s
fill. That deed of war she hath avenged, that last night thou
1115 didst slay in violent wise Grendel with thy gripings hard, for
that he too long had minished and destroyed my folk. He
fell in battle forfeiting his life, and now another hath come,
a mighty doer of cruel wrong. She purposed to avenge her
kin, and indeed hath carried far the feud, as may well seem
1120 to many a knight who mourns in his heart for him that gave
him bounty: a heartpiercing grief and bitter. Now lieth still
that hand that aforetime availed to accomplish for you (O
knights) all things of your desire.
‘This have I heard dwellers in the land, lieges of mine,
1125 vassals in their halls, recount, telling how they saw two such
mighty stalkers of the outer places, who kept the moors,
alien creatures. Of these was one, in so far as they might clear
discern, a shape as of a woman; the other, miscreated thing,
in man’s form trod the ways of exile, albeit he was greater
1130 than any other human thing. Him in days of old the dwellers
on earth named Grendel; of a father they knew not, nor
whether any such was ever before begotten for him among
the demons of the dark. In a hidden land they dwell upon
highlands wolfhaunted, and windy cliffs, and the perilous
1135 passes of the fens, where the mountain-stream goes down
beneath the shadows of the cliffs, a river beneath the earth. It
is not far hence in measurement of miles that that mere lies,
over which there hang rimy thickets, and a wood clinging
by its roots overshadows the water. There may each night
1140 be seen a wonder grim, fire upon the flood. There lives not
of the children of men one so wise that he should know the
depth of it. Even though harried by the hounds the ranger of
the heath, the hart strong in his horns, may seek that wood
being hunted from afar, sooner will he yield his life and
1145 breath upon the shore, than he will enter to hide his head
therein: no pleasant place is that! Thence doth the tumult
of the waves arise darkly to the clouds, when wind arouses
tempests foul, until the airs are murky and the heavens weep.
‘Now once more doth hope of help depend on thee alone.
1150 The abode as yet thou knowest not nor the perilous place
where thou canst find that creature stained with sin. Seek it
if thou durst! For that assault I will with riches reward thee,
with old and precious things, even as I did ere now, yea with
twisted gold, if thou comest safe away.’
1155 Beowulf made answer, the son of Ecgtheow: ‘Grieve
not, O wise one! Better it is for every man that he should
avenge his friend than he should much lament. To each one
of us shall come in time the end of life in the world; let him
who may earn glory ere his death. No better thing can brave
1160 knight leave behind when he lies dead. Arise, O lord of
this realm! Swiftly let us go and look upon the footprint of
Grendel’s kin. This I vow to thee: in no refuge shall he ever
hide, neither in bosom of earth nor in mountain-forest, nor
in the deeps of the sea, go where he will! For this day have
1165 patience in every woe, even as I know thou wilt!’
Then did the aged king leap up, and God, the Mighty
Lord, he thanked for that other’s words. Now a horse was
bridled for Hrothgar, a steed with plaited mane, and forth the
wise prince went with seemly array, forth went the company
1170 of his warriors bearing shields. Far over the paths across the
wolds the print of her feet, her course over the lands, was
plain to see, as straight on she strode over the darkling moor,
bearing the best of knights who by Hrothgar’s side had ruled
his house, a lifeless corse. And now those men of noble race,
1175 steep stony slopes they overpassed, narrow tracks and one-
man paths, down unfamiliar trails, past headlong crags, and
many a hou
se of demons of the deep. One with a few men
of hunting-craft went on before to spy the land, until on a
sudden he came upon the mountain-trees leaning o’er the
1180 hoar rock, a joyless forest. Bloodstained and troubled water
loomed beneath.
To all the Danes, vassals of the Scylding lords, to the
hearts of many a knight, grievous was it endure, and pain to
all good men, when there upon the cliff above the deep they
1185 found the head of Æschere. The water surged with gore, with
blood yet hot. The people gazed thereon. Ever and anon the
horn cried an eager call unto the host. There sat them down
the ranks of men. Now they saw about the water many of
the serpent-kind, strange dragons of the sea, ranging the
1190 flood, and demons of the deep lying upon the jutting slopes,
even such as in the middle hours watch for those journeying
anxious upon the sailing paths, serpents and beasts untamed.
Back they dived filled with wrath and hate; they had heard
the clangour of the war-horns braying. One the Geatish chief
1195 with an arrow from his bow bereft of life and his labour in
the waves, that in his vitals stood the hard and deadly dart.
Therefore less swift to swim in the deeps was he, for death
took him. Straightway amid the waves with boar-spears
cruelly barbed sorely was he pressed and grievously assailed,
1200 and dragged upon the jutting cliff, monstrous upheaver of the
waves. Men there gazed upon this strange and terrible thing.
In warrior’s harness Beowulf clad him, no whit recked
he of his life. Now must his long corslet woven for battle
by the hands of smiths and cunningly adorned make trial
1205 of the flood, raiment skilled to guard his body’s frame, that
the grappling of war and the fell clutch of angry foe should
not harm his life. But his head the white helm guarded, that
now must stir the deep places of the mere, searching out the
eddying floods, adorned with gold and clasped with rich
1210 chains, even as in days of old a weapon-smith had wrought
it, marvellously fashioning it, setting thereon images of the
boar, so that thereafter never blade nor swords of strife
might cleave it. Nor yet was that thing to be misprized
among his mighty aids which to him in his need Hrothgar’s
1215 sage had lent. Hrunting was the name of that hafted blade;
pre-eminent among old and precious things was that, of iron
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell Page 6
