This page has been validated.
BEOWULF
PRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSE
Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing[1] from squadroned foes,
5from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls.[2] Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
10who house by the whale-path,[3] heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
To him an heir was afterward born,
a son in his halls, whom heaven[4] sent
- ↑ English historians knew the story or myth of this Scyld (“Shield”), who as a helpless child drifts ashore in an oarless boat. The boat is filled with weapons, but a “sheaf” of grain serves as pillow for the little sleeper; and hence the people call him Shield the Sheaf-Child. They make him their king. He ruled, so William of Malmesbury says, “where Heithebi stands, once called Slaswic.” The term “Sheaf-Child” came to be misunderstood as “Child of Sheaf,” and Scyld was furnished with a father, Scef or Sceaf.
- ↑ An “earl” was the freeman, the warrior in a chosen band; though not yet indicating specific rank, the word carried a general idea of nobility.
- ↑ Kenning for “sea.” Tribes across the water, say in southern Sweden, or westward of the Danish lands in Zealand, became tributary to Scyld.
- ↑ Literally, “God.”
22
