Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 32

XXXII.

Nealles mid gewealdum  wyrm-horda cræft^[1]
[sōhte],^[2] sylfes willum,  sē ðe him sāre gescēod;
ac for þrēa-nēdlan  þ[ēow]^[3] nāt-hwylces
hæleða bearna  hete-swengeas flēah,^[4]
2225[ærnes] þearfa,  ond ðǣr inne fealh,^[5]
secg syn-bysig.  Sōna getīd[d]e,^[6]

þæt : : : : : ðām gyst[e  gryre-]brōga stōd;^[7]

hwæðre [earm-]sceapen  . . . . . . . . . . . .^[8]
. . . . . . * . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . .Fol. 179b.
2230. . . . sceapen . . . . . .  [þā hyne] se fǣr begeat^[9]
sinc-fæt [geseah].^[10]  Þǣr wæs swylcra fela
in ðām eorð-[hū]se  ǣr-gestrēona,
swā hȳ on gēar-dagum  gumena nāt-hwylc,
eormen-lāfe  æþelan cynnes,
2235þanc-hycgende  þǣr gehȳdde,
dēore māðmas.  Ealle hīe dēað fornam
ǣrran mǣlum,  ond se^[11] ān ðā gēn
lēoda duguðe,  sē ðǣr lengest hwearf,
wearð wine-gēomor,  wēnde þæs yldan,^[12]
2240þæt hē lȳtel fæc  long-gestrēona
brūcan mōste.  Beorh eall gearo
wunode on wonge  wæter-ȳðum nēah,
nīwe be næsse,  nearo-cræftum fæst;
þǣr on innan^[13] bær  eorl-gestrēona
2245hringa hyrde  hard-fyrne^[14] dǣl,
}} fǣttan goldes,  fēa^[15] worda cwæð:
“Heald þū nū, hrūse,  nū hæleð ne mōstan,^[16]
eorla ǣhte.  Hwæt! hyt ǣr on ðē
gōde begēaton;  gūð-dēað fornam,
2250feorh-bealo frēcne,  fȳra gehwylcne,^[17]
lēoda mīnra,  þāra^[18] ðe þis [līf] ofgeaf;
gesāwon sele-drēam.^[19]  *Nāh hwā sweord wege,Fol. 180a.
oððe fe[o]r[mie]  fǣted wǣge,^[20]
drync-fæt dēore;  dug[uð] ellor scōc.^[21]
2255Sceal se hearda helm  [hyr]sted golde
fǣtum befeallen;  feormend^[22] swefað,
þā ðe beado-grīman  bȳwan sceoldon;
ge swylce sēo here-pād,  sīo æt hilde gebād
ofer borda gebræc  bite īrena,
2260brosnað æfter beorne;  ne mæg byrnan hring
æfter wīg-fruman  wīde fēran
hæleðum be healfe.  Nis^[23] hearpan wyn,
gomen glēo-bēames,  ne gōd hafoc
geond sæl swingeð,  ne se swifta mearh
2265burh-stede bēateð.  Bealo-cwealm hafað
fela feorh-cynna  forð^[24] onsended.”
Swā gīomor-mōd  giohðo mǣnde
ān æfter eallum,  unblīðe hwē[op]
dæges ond nihtes,  oð ðæt dēaðes wylm
2270hrān æt heortan.  Hord-wynne fond
eald ūht-sceaða  opene standan,
sē ðe byrnende  biorgas sēceð,
nacod nīð-draca,  nihtes flēogeð
fȳre befangen;  hyne fold-būend
2275*[swīðe ondrǣ]da[ð].^[25]  Hē gesēcean sceallFol. 180b.
[ho]r[d on] hrūsan,  þǣr hē hǣðen gold
warað wintrum frōd;  ne byð him wihte ðȳ sēl.
Swā se ðēod-sceaða  þrēo hund wintra
hēold on hrūsan^[26]  hord-ærna sum
2280ēacen-cræftig,  oð ðæt hyne ān ābealh^[27]
mon on mōde;  man-dryhtne bær
fǣted wǣge,  frioðo-wǣre bæd
hlāford sīnne.  Ða wæs hord rāsod,
onboren bēaga hord;^[28]  bēne getīðad
2285fēa-sceaftum men.  Frēa scēawode
fīra fyrn-geweorc  forman sīðe.
Þā se wyrm onwoc,  wrōht wæs genīwad;
stonc ðā æfter stāne,  stearc-heort onfand
fēondes fōt-lāst;  hē tō forð gestōp
2290dyrnan cræfte  dracan hēafde nēah.
Swā mæg unfǣge  ēaðe gedīgan
wēan ond wræc-sīð,  sē ðe Waldendes
hyldo gehealdeþ.  Hord-weard sōhte
georne æfter grunde,  wolde guman findan,
2295þone þe him on sweofote  sāre getēode;
hāt ond hrēoh-mōd  *hlǣw^[29] oft ymbehwearfFol. 181a.
ealne ūtan-weardne;  ne ðǣr ǣnig mon
on þǣm^[30] wēstenne.  Hwæðre hilde gefeh,
bea[du]-weorces;^[31]  hwīlum on beorh æthwearf,
2300sinc-fæt sōhte;  hē þæt sōna onfand,
ðæt hæfde gumena sum  goldes gefandod,
hēah-gestrēona.  Hord-weard onbād
earfoðlīce,  oð ðæt ǣfen cwōm;
wæs ðā gebolgen  beorges hyrde,
2305wolde se lāða^[32]  līge forgyldan
drinc-fæt dȳre.  Þā wæs dæg sceacen
wyrme on willan;  nō on wealle leng^[33]
bīdan wolde,  ac mid bǣle fōr,
fȳre gefȳsed.  Wæs se fruma egeslīc
2310lēodum on lande,  swā hyt lungre wearð
on hyra sinc-gifan  sāre geendod.

1. 2221. “weoldum the later hand instead of wealdum, the a being still recognisable. Nothing after horda [i.e. between it and cræft].”—Zupitza.
2. 2222. Grein’s emendation. No gap in MS.
3. 2223. Zupitza ‘þ[egn],’ and in a foot-note: “the traces of three letters between þ and nat justify us in reading egn (þegn K.).” So Grein. On the other hand, Thorpe, who made a careful collation of the MS. in 1830, three years before Kemble’s first edition, leaves a blank. As þegn seems from the whole context to be an impossible name for the “fēa-sceaftum men” (l. 2285), I read þēow with Wülcker and Heyne 5.
4. 2224. Later hand ‘fleoh.’
5. 2225. “To judge from what is left, the second word of this line was ærnes.”—Z.  AB ‘weall.’ “Now only weal left, but w stands on an original f, which is still recognisable; and what seemed to be another l in Thorkelin’s time may have been the remnant of an original h.”—Z.
6. 2226. Grein ‘[Wæs] sōna in þā. tīde.’ Thorpe ‘inwlātode’ (so Heyne 5). Zupitza “mwatide, no doubt, the second hand.” What did the second hand mean? My own conjecture is given in the text.
7. 2227. “The indistinct letter after gyst seems to have been e. The traces of the third word allow us to read gryre.”—Z.
8. 2228. “According to the traces left, the first word [i.e. in the MS. line] may have been earm.”—Z.
9. 2230. “þa hine before se?”—Z.  Wülcker ‘fǣs.’ Zupitza: “fæs freshened up, but s seems to stand on an original r.”
10. 2231. After the first line of the new folio, the illegibility is confined to the edges of the next three lines. Heyne’s emendation. Wülcker ‘scīr’ or ‘seah,’ thinking there is not room for geseah. I think there is. Zupitza has six dots.
11. 2237. “Si the later hand, but i seems to stand on an original e.”—Z.
12. 2239. B ‘weard’ (so Wülcker and Heyne); Zupitza ‘wearð’ (almost the only instance in which he transliterates the reading of the first hand). “The last letter of the first word was originally ð, although the later hand has not freshened up the stroke through the d.”—Z.  “rihde the later hand, but wende the first.”—Z. Wülcker ‘wīscte.’
13. 2244. “innon the later hand, but o stands on an original a.”—Z.
14. 2245. Zupitza ‘hard-wyrðne,’ and in a foot-note: “w (or f?) and the stroke through d in wyrðne not freshened up.” Though adopting its reading, I am suspicious of the later hand. The form hard occurs nowhere else in “Beowulf.”
15. 2246. “fec later hand, but originally fea.”—Z.
16. 2247. “mæstan later hand, but I think I see an original o under the æ; a also seems to stand on another vowel (u or o?).”—Z.
17. 2250. “reorh bealc later hand, but the first r stands on an original f, and c on an original o.”—Z. MS. ‘fyrena.’
18. 2251. “þana later hand, no doubt; nor do I see any sign of the third letter having originally been r.”—Z.
19. 2252. Zupitza ‘sele-dream : : ’
20. 2253. MS. defective at corner and edge here and in ll. 2254, 2255, and 2268. Grein’s emendation, supported by Zupitza, who says that the remaining traces of the word in the MS. make fetige impossible. Cf. l. 2256.
21. 2254. MS. ‘seoc’
22. 2256. MS. ‘feor mynd.’ Cf. l. 2761.
23. 2262. MS. ‘næs’ (so Heyne). Cf. ll. 1923, 2486, where I have kept the MS. reading. But here the change of tense is too harsh.
24. 2266. A B ‘feorð’; Zupitza ‘forð.’ He says: “There is a dot under e, which is besides very indistinct.” Underdotting is equivalent to erasure. Heyne considers l. 808 conclusive in favour of his reading ‘feorr.’
25. 2275—6. MS. defective and illegible at top and corner. Zupitza’s emendations.
26. 2279. MS. ‘hrusam.’
27. 2280. MS. ‘abealch.’
28. 2284. Bugge suggests ‘beaga dǣl’ on the ground that the repetition of hord is a mistake of the scribe.
29. 2296. MS. ‘hlæwū’; Grundtvig ‘hlǣw nū’ (so Wülcker and Heyne).
30. 2298. B ‘þære’; A a blank; Grein ‘hǣðe,’ for the alliteration; “now nothing but the lower part of the perpendicular stroke of þ left” (Z.). Heyne ‘[wæs] on þǣre wēstenne.’ Grein inserts wæs after ne in the previous line.
31. 2299. MS. defective at edge.
32. 2305. MS. ‘fela ða’; Bugge ‘se lāða.’
33. 2307. MS. ‘læg’; Thorpe ‘leng.’