2700he smote with sword; his steel drove in
bright and burnished; that blaze began
to lose and lessen. At last the king
wielded his wits again, war-knife drew,
a biting blade by his breastplate hanging,[1]
2705and the Weders’-helm smote that worm asunder,
felled the foe, flung forth its life.[2]
So had they killed it, kinsmen both,
athelings twain: thus an earl should be
in danger’s day!—Of deeds of valor
2710this conqueror’s-hour of the king was last,
of his work in the world. The wound began,
which that dragon-of-earth had erst inflicted,
to swell and smart; and soon he found
in his breast was boiling, baleful and deep,
2715pain of poison. The prince walked on,
wise in his thought, to the wall of rock;
then sat, and stared at the structure of giants,
where arch of stone and steadfast column
upheld forever that hall in earth.
2720Yet here must the hand of the henchman peerless
lave with water his winsome lord,
the king and conqueror covered with blood,
with struggle spent, and unspan his helmet.
Beowulf spake in spite of his hurt,
- ↑ In the ballads this useful dagger or short sword is often a “wee penknife that hangs low down by the gare”; but the wee penknife now and then is described as “three-quarters [of a yard] long.”
- ↑ As in all the adventures described by our poet, the actual climax and decisive part of the fight is told in briefest fashion.
under its belly” where his sword can thrust and kill.—Saxo, Bk. II (Holder, p. 38). Much the same is told of another king who slays the serpent that guards an “underground room.” Bk. VI (Holder, p. 181).
