Beowulf (Wyatt)/The Fight at Finnsburg
***[hor]nas byrnað nǣfre?”
Hlēoðrode þā heaðo-geong[2] cyning:
“Ne ðis ne dagað ēastan,[3] ne hēr draca ne flēogeð,
ne hēr ðisse healle hornas ne byrnað,
5ac fēr[4] forþ beratð, fugelas singað,
gylleð grǣg-hama, gūð-wudu hlynneð,
scyld scefte oncwyð. Nū scȳneð þes mōna
waðol under wolcnum; nū ārīsað wēa-dǣda,
ðe ðisne folces nið fremman willað.
10Ac onwacnigeað nū, wīgend mīne,
habbað ēowre linda, hiegeað[5] on ellen,
winnað[6] on orde, wesað on mōde.”
Þā ārās mænig gold-hladen ðegn, gyrde hine his swurde;
þa tō dura ēodon drihtlīce cempan,
15Sigeferð and Eaha, hyra sword getugon,
and æt ōþrum durum Ordlāf ond Gūþlāf
and Hengest sylf; hwearf him on lāste.
Þā gyt Gārulf Gūðere styrode,
þæt hīe[7] swā frēolīc feorh forman sīþe
20tō ðǣre healle durum hyrsta ne bǣran,
nū hyt nīþa heard ānyman wolde;
ac hē frægn ofer eal undearninga,
dēor-mōd hæleð, hwā ðā duru hēolde.
“Sigeferþ is mīn nama (cweð he), ic eom Secgena lēod,
25wreccea wīde cūð. Fela ic wēana[8] gebād,
heardra[9] hilda; ðē is gyt hēr witod,
swæðer ðū sylf tō mē sēcean wylle.”
Þā wæs on wealle[10] wæl-slihta gehlyn,
sceolde cellod bord cēnum on handa,[11]
30bān-helm berstan. Buruh-ðelu dynede,
ōð [þæt] æt ðǣre gūðe Gārulf gecrang,
ealra ǣrest eorð-būendra,
Gūðlāfes sunu, ymbe hyue gōdra fela.
Hwarf [f]lacra hrǣw[12] hræfen, wandrode
35sweart and sealo-brün; swurd-lēoma stōd
swylce eal Finns-buruh fȳrenu wǣre.
Ne gefrægn ic nǣfre wurþlīcor æt wera hilde
sixtig sige-beorna sēl gebǣran,
ne nǣfre swānas swētne medo[13] sēl forgyldan,
40ðonne Hnæfe guldan his hæg-stealdas.
Hig fuhton fīf dagas, swā hyra nān ne fēol
driht-gesīða, ac hig ðā duru hēoldon.
Þā gewāt him wund hæleð on wæg gangan,
sǣde þæt his byrne ābrocen wǣre,
45here-sceorp unhrōr,[14] and ēac wæs his helm ðȳrl.
Ðā hine sōna frægn folces hyrde,
hū ðū wīgend hyra wunda genǣson,
oððe hwæþer ðǣra hyssa ***
- ↑ “Fragmenti poetici singulare folium, in codice MS. homiliarum Semi-Saxonicarum qui extat in Bibliotheca Lambethana.” Hickes I.192. The MS. is now lost. Hickes’s readings are denoted by H., but they are given only when they have been considerably altered in the text.
- ↑ 2. ‘hearo geong’ H.
- ↑ 3. ‘eastun’ H.
- ↑ 5. ‘her’ H.
- ↑ 11. ‘landa’ H. ‘hie geaþ’ H.
- ↑ 12. ‘windað’ H.
- ↑ 19. ‘he’ H.
- ↑ 25. ‘wrecten’ H.‘fæla’ H.‘weuna’ H.
- ↑ 26. ‘heordra’ H.
- ↑ 28. ‘healle’ H.
- ↑ 29. ‘sceolde Celæs borð genumon handa’ H.
- ↑ 34. ‘Hwearflacra hrær’ H.
- ↑ 39. ‘ne nefre swa noc hwitne medo’ H.
- ↑ 45. ‘here sceorpum hror’ H.