Beowulf - Delphi Poets Series

by Beowulf

  the living earl by the other dead,

  and heavy of heart a head-watch3 keeps

  2910 o’er friend and foe. — Now our folk may look

  for waging of war when once unhidden

  to Frisian and Frank the fall of the king

  is spread afar. — The strife began

  when hot on the Hugas4 Hygelac fell

  2915 and fared with his fleet to the Frisian land.

  Him there the Hetwaras humbled in war,

  plied with such prowess their power o’erwhelming

  that the bold-in-battle bowed beneath it

  and fell in fight. To his friends no wise

  2920 could that earl give treasure! And ever since

  the Merowings’ favor has failed us wholly.5

  Nor aught expect I of peace and faith

  from Swedish folk. ’Twas spread afar

  how Ongentheow reft at Ravenswood

  2925 Hæthcyn Hrethling of hope and life,

  when the folk of Geats for the first time sought

  in wanton pride the Warlike-Scylfings.

  Soon the sage old sire6 of Ohtere,

  ancient and awful, gave answering blow;

  2930 the sea-king7 he slew, and his spouse redeemed,

  his good wife rescued, though robbed of her gold,

  mother of Ohtere and Onela.

  Then he followed his foes, who fled before him

  sore beset and stole their way,

  2935 bereft of a ruler, to Ravenswood.

  With his host he besieged there what swords had left,

  the weary and wounded; woes he threatened

  the whole night through to that hard-pressed throng:

  some with the morrow his sword should kill,

  2940 some should go to the gallows-tree

  for rapture of ravens. But rescue came

  with dawn of day for those desperate men

  when they heard the horn of Hygelac sound,

  tones of his trumpet; the trusty king

  2945 had followed their trail with faithful band.

  Footnotes

  1 Nothing.

  2 Dead.

  3 Death-watch, guard of honor, “lyke-wake.”

  4 A name for the Franks.— “The fleet” (literally “fleet-army”) marks a viking’s raid; but does not make necessarily for the argument that Geats were Swedes. An expedition by boat from Jutland, using the large rivers for quick piratical assaults and plunderings, is likely enough.

  5 The Hetwaras (see v. 2363, above) were subordinate to the Frankish or Merovingian line founded by Chlodowech (Clovis), whose grandson Theudebert was in command of the forces which routed Hygelac’s army.

  6 Ongentheow. — This episode has heen explained above, note to v. 2477.

  7 Hæthcyn.

  XLI

  “The bloody swath of Swedes and Geats

  and the storm of their strife, were seen afar,

  how folk against folk the fight had wakened.

  The ancient king with his atheling band

  2950 sought his citadel, sorrowing much:

  Ongentheow earl went up to his burg.

  He had tested Hygelac’s hardihood,

  the proud one’s prowess, would prove it no longer,

  defied no more those fighting-wanderers

  2955 nor hoped from the seamen to save his hoard,

  his bairn and his bride: so he bent him again,

  old, to his earth-walls. Yet after him came

  with slaughter for Swedes the standards of Hygelac

  o’er peaceful plains in pride advancing,

  2960 till Hrethelings fought in the fencéd town.1

  Then Ongentheow with edge of sword,

  the hoary-bearded, was held at bay,

  and the folk-king there was forced to suffer

  Eofor’s anger. In ire, at the king

  2965 Wulf Wonreding with weapon struck;

  and the chieftain’s blood, for that blow, in streams

  flowed ‘neath his hair. No fear felt he,

  stout old Scylfing, but straightway repaid

  in better bargain that bitter stroke

  2970 and faced his foe with fell intent.

  Nor swift enough was the son of Wonred

  answer to render the agéd chief;

  too soon on his head the helm was cloven;

  blood-bedecked he bowed to earth,

  22975 and fell adown: not doomed was he yet,

  and well he waxed, though the wound was sore.

  Then the hardy Hygelac-thane,2

  when his brother fell, with broad brand smote,

  giants’-sword crashing through giants’-helm

  2980 across the shield-wall: sank the king,

  his folk’s old herdsman, fatally hurt.

  There were many to bind the brother’s wounds

  and lift him, fast as fate allowed

  his people to wield the place-of-war.

  2985 But Eofor took from Ongentheow,

  earl from other, the iron-breastplate,

  hard sword hilted, and helmet too,

  and the hoar-chief’s harness to Hygelac carried,

  who took the trappings, and truly promised

  2990 rich fee ‘mid folk,3 — and fulfilled it so.

  For that grim strife gave the Geatish lord,

  Hrethel’s offspring, when home he came,

  to Eofor and Wulf a wealth of treasure.

  Each of them had a hundred thousand4

  2995 in land and linked rings; nor at less price reckoned

  mid-earth men such mighty deeds!

  And to Eofor he gave his only daughter

  in pledge of grace, the pride of his home.

  “Such is the feud, the foeman’s rage,

  3000 death-hate of men: so I deem it sure

  that the Swedish folk will seek us home

  for this fall of their friends, the fighting-Scylfings,5

  when once they learn that our warrior leader

  lifeless lies, who land and hoard

  3005 ever defended from all his foes,

  furthered his folk’s weal, finished his course

  a hardy hero. — Now haste is best,

  that we go to gaze on our Geatish lord,

  and bear the bountiful breaker-of-rings

  3010 to the funeral pyre. No fragments merely

  shall burn with the warrior.6 Wealth of jewels,

  gold untold and gained in terror,

  treasure at last with his life obtained,

  all of that booty the brands shall take,

  3015 fire shall eat it. No earl must carry

  memorial jewel. No maiden fair

  shall wreathe her neck with noble ring:

  nay, sad in spirit and shorn of her gold,

  oft shall she pass o’er paths of exile

  3020 now our lord all laughter has laid aside,

  all mirth and revel. Many a spear

  morning-cold shall be clasped amain,

  lifted aloft; nor shall lilt of harp

  those warriors wake; but the wan-hued raven,7

  3025 fain o’er the fallen, his feast shall praise

  and boast to the eagle how bravely he ate

  when he and the wolf were wasting the slain.”

  So he told his sorrowful tidings,

  and little8 he lied, the loyal man

  3030 of word or of work. The warriors rose;

  sad, they climbed to the Cliff-of-Eagles,

  went, welling with tears, the wonder to view.

  Found on the sand there, stretched at rest,

  their lifeless lord, who had lavished rings

  3035 of old upon them. Ending-day

  had dawned on the doughty-one; death had seized

  in woful slaughter the Weders’ king.

  There saw they, besides, the strangest being,

  loathsome, lying their leader near,

  3040 prone on the field. The fiery dragon,

  fearful fiend
, with flame was scorched.

  Reckoned by feet, it was fifty measures

  in length as it lay. Aloft erewhile

  it had revelled by night, and anon come back,

  3045 seeking its den; now in death’s sure clutch

  it had come to the end of its earth-hall joys.

  By it there stood the stoups and jars;

  dishes lay there, and dear-decked swords

  eaten with rust, as, on earth’s lap resting,

  3050 a thousand winters they waited there.

  For all that heritage huge, that gold

  of bygone men, was bound by a spell,9

  so the treasure-hall could be touched by none

  of human kind, — save10 that Heaven’s King,

  3055 God himself, might give whom he would.

  Helper of Heroes, the hoard to open, —

  even such a man as seemed to him meet.

  Footnotes

  1 The line may mean: till Hrethelings stormed on the hedgéd shields, — i.e. the shield-wall or hedge of defensive war. — Hrethelings, of course, are Geats.

  2 Eofor, brother to Wulf Wonreding. As was noted above, this Homeric account of the fight is not difficult to follow. Wulf wounds Ongentheow, who replies with a terrific stroke, felling Wulf to earth, but not killing him. Eofor, the brother, avenges Wulf speedily, and gets his reward for killing the old hero-king.

  3 Conjectural but obvious reading, with the general sense of “open” — public, prominent.

  4 Sc. “value in” hides and the weight of the gold. See note on v. 2195, above.

  5 Transposed from its place as v. 3005, and reading “Scylfings” for the “Scyldings” of the Ms. Then no gap need be assumed.

  6 Beowulf was glad he had won such treasure for his folk, v. 2794, above. Earls and maids should be glad for it. But the herald, who foresees for earl and maid another fate — exile for one, and death in battle after surprise at dawn (or is it that the spear shall be found clasped by a cold, dead hand?) for the other — will heap all the treasure in the tomb. Compare the treasures for Scyld’s ship-burial.

  7 See Finnsburg, vv. 6, 36.

  8 Not at all.

  9 Laid on it when it was put in the barrow. This spell, or in our days the “curse,” either prevented discovery or brought dire ills on the finder and taker. The Nibelungs’ gold is cited by Holthausen as a case in point. — See below, v. 3069.

  10 One of our poet’s mild “riders” to correct obvious remains of gentilism.

  XLII

  A perilous path, it proved, he1 trod

  who heinously hid, that hall within,

  3060 wealth under wall! Its watcher had killed

  one of a few,2 and the feud was avenged

  in woful fashion. Wondrous seems it,

  what manner a man of might and valor

  oft ends his life, when the earl no longer

  3035 in mead-hall may live with loving friends.

  So Beowulf, when that barrow’s warden

  he sought, and the struggle; himself knew not

  in what wise he should wend from the world at last.

  For3 princes potent, who placed the gold,

  3070 with a curse to doomsday covered it deep,

  so that marked with sin the man should be,

  hedged with horrors, in hell-bonds fast,

  racked with plagues, who should rob their hoard.

  Yet no greed for gold, but the grace of heaven,

  3075 ever the king had kept in view.4

  Wiglaf spake, the son of Weohstan: —

  “At the mandate of one, oft warriors many

  sorrow must suffer; and so must we.

  The people’s-shepherd showed not aught

  3080 of care for our counsel, king belovéd!

  That guardian of gold he should grapple not, urged we,

  but let him lie where he long had been

  in his earth-hall waiting the end of the world,

  the hest of heaven. — This hoard is ours,

  3085 but grievously gotten; too grim the fate

  which thither carried our king and lord.

  I was within there, and all I viewed,

  the chambered treasure, when chance allowed me

  (and my path was made in no pleasant wise)

  3090 under the earth-wall. Eager, I seized

  such heap from the hoard as hands could bear

  and hurriedly carried it hither back

  to my liege and lord. Alive was he still,

  still wielding his wits. The wise old man

  3095 spake much in his sorrow, and sent you greetings

  and bade that ye build, when he breathed no more,

  on the place of his balefire a barrow high,

  memorial mighty. Of men was he

  worthiest warrior wide earth o’er

  3100 the while he had joy of his jewels and burg.

  Let us set out in haste now, the second time

  to see and search this store of treasure,

  these wall-hid wonders, — the way I show you, —

  where, gathered near, ye may gaze your fill

  3105 at broad-gold and rings. Let the bier, soon made,

  be all in order when out we come,

  our king and captain to carry thither

  — man beloved — where long he shall bide

  safe in the shelter of sovran God.”

  3110 Then the bairn of Weohstan bade command,

  hardy chief, to heroes many

  that owned their homesteads, hither to bring

  firewood from far — o’er the folk they ruled —

  for the famed-one’s funeral. “Fire shall devour

  3115 and wan flames feed on the fearless warrior

  who oft stood stout in the iron-shower,

  when, sped from the string, a storm of arrows

  shot o’er the shield- wall: the shaft held firm,

  featly feathered, followed the barb.”5

  3120 And now the sage young son of Weohstan

  seven chose of the chieftain’s thanes,

  the best he found that band within,

  and went with these warriors, one of eight,

  under hostile roof. In hand one bore

  3125 a lighted torch and led the way.

  No lots they cast for keeping the hoard

  when once the warriors saw it in hall,

  altogether without a guardian,

  lying there lost. And little they mourned

  3130 when they had hastily haled it out,

  dear-bought treasure! The dragon they cast,

  the worm, o’er the wall for the wave to take,

  and surges swallowed that shepherd of gems.

  Then the woven gold on a wain was laden —

  3135 countless quite! — and the king was borne,

  hoary hero, to Hronës-Ness.

  Footnotes

  1 Probably the fugitive is meant who discovered the hoard. Ten Brink and Gering assume that the dragon is meant. “Hid” (the Ms. reading) may well mean here “took while in hiding.”

  2 That is, “one and a few others.” But Beowulf seems to he indicated.

  3 Ten Brink points out the strongly heathen character of this part of the epic. Beowulf’s end came, so the old tradition ran, from his unwitting interference with spell-bound treasure.

  4 A hard saying, variously interpreted. In any case, it is the somewhat clumsy effort of the Christian poet to tone down the heathenism of his material by an edifying observation.

  5 Professor Garnett’s translation.

  XLIII

  Then1 fashioned for him the folk of Geats

  firm on the earth a funeral-pile,

  and hung it with helmets and harness of war

  3140 and breastplates bright, as the boon he asked;

  and they laid amid it the mighty chieftain,

  heroes mourning their master dear.

  Then on the hill that hugest of balefires

  the warriors wakene
d. Wood-smoke rose

  3145 black over blaze, and blent was the roar

  of flame with weeping (the wind was still),

  till the fire had broken the frame of bones,

  hot at the heart. In heavy mood

  their misery moaned they, their master’s death.

  3150 Wailing her woe, the widow2 old,

  her hair upbound, for Beowulf’s death

  sung in her sorrow, and said full oft

  she dreaded the doleful days to come,

  deaths enow, and doom of battle,

  3155 and shame. — The smoke by the sky was devoured.

  The folk of the Weders fashioned there

  on the headland a barrow broad and high,

  by ocean-farers far descried:

  in ten days’ time their toil had raised it,

  3160 the battle-brave’s beacon. Round brands of the pyre

  a wall they built, the worthiest ever

  that wit could prompt in their wisest men.

  They placed in the barrow that precious booty,

  the rounds and the rings they had reft erewhile,

  3165 hardy heroes, from hoard in cave, —

  trusting the ground with treasure of earls,

  gold in the earth, where ever it lies

  useless to men as of yore it was.

  Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,3

  3170 atheling-born, a band of twelve,

  lament to make, to mourn their king,

  chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.

  They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess

  worthily witnessed: and well it is

  3175 that men their master-friend mightily laud,

  heartily love, when hence he goes

  from life in the body forlorn away.

  Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,

  for their hero’s passing his hearth-companions:

  3180 quoth that of all the kings of earth,

  of men he was mildest and most belovéd,

  to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.

  Footnotes

  1 The construction of the poem is certainly strengthened by this dignified close, which corresponds in theme to the opening lines.

  2 Compare the account of Hildeburh at her brother’s funeral, above, vv. 1114 ff. Nothing is said of Beowulf’s wife in the poem, but Bugge — whose restoration of the text is followed here — surmises that Beowulf finally accepted Hygd’s ofier of kingdom and hoard, and, as was usual, took her into the bargain. In any case a praefica (with differences) belonged to the Germanic funeral, and chanted her vocero. Specimens of these laments, which often, as here, expressed forebodings for the future, may be found in the present writer’s Beginnings of Poetry.

  3 The close resemblance of these funeral rites to the ceremonies at Attila’s burial has often been noted. Jordanis, reporting them briefly — pauca de multis dicere — tells how the corpse was placed under a “silken tent,” and how horsemen rode round it, in masterly fashion, and chanted Attila’s great deeds. At the burial of Achilles “heroes of the Achaeans moved mail-clad round the pyre . . . both footmen and horse, and great was the noise that arose.”