56
BEOWULF.
ēode eorla sum,æþele cempa
self mid gesīðum,þǣr se snotera bād,
hwæþre him Al-walda[1]ǣfre wille
1315æfter wēa-spellewtrpe gefremman.
Gang ðā æfter flōrefyrd-wyrðe man
mid his hand-scole[2](heal-wudu dynede),
þæt hē þone wīsanwordum nǣgde[3]
frēan Ingwina,frægn gif him wǣre
1320æfter nēod-laðu[4]niht getǣse.
XX.
Hrōðgār maþelode,helm Scyldinga:
“Ne frīn þū æfter sǣlum;sorh is genīwod
Denigea lēodum.Dēad is Æschere,
Yrmenlāfesyldra brōþor,
1325mīn rūn-witaond mīn rǣd-bora,
eaxl-gestealla,ðonne wē on orlege
hafelan weredon,þonne hniton fēþan,
eoferas cnysedan.*Swy[lc][5] scolde eorl wesan,Fol. 159b.
[æþeling][6] ǣr-gōd,swylc Æschere wæs.
1330Wearð him on Heorotetō hand-banan
wæl-gæst wǣfre;ic ne wāt hwæder[7]
- ↑ 1314. MS. ‘alf walda.’ Cf. ll. 316, 955.
- ↑ 1317. MS. ‘hand scale.’ Cf. l. 1963. There seems absolutely no authority or support for the form scale, which is retained by most editors.
- ↑ 1318. AB ‘hnægde’; now de gone. The h is prosthetic. “Wordum nǣgan (nēgan)” occurs Elene 287, 559, Exodus 23, etc.
- ↑ 1320. Sweet ‘nēod-laðe’; but see Sievers § 253, N. 2.
- ↑ 1328. MS. defective at corner; AB ‘swyscolde.’
- ↑ 1329. No gap in MS.
- ↑ 1331. MS. ‘hwæþer.’ Toller gives three instances of hwæder=hwider.