On fierce-heart Finn there fell likewise,
on himself at home, the horrid sword-death;
for Guthlaf and Oslaf of grim attack
had sorrowing told, from sea-ways landed,
1150mourning their woes.[1] Finn’s wavering spirit
bode not in breast. The burg was reddened
with blood of foemen, and Finn was slain,
king amid clansmen; the queen was taken.
To their ship the Scylding warriors bore
1155all the chattels the chieftain owned,
whatever they found in Finn’s domain
of gems and jewels. The gentle wife
o’er paths of the deep to the Danes they bore,
led to her land.
The lay was finished,
1160the gleeman’s song. Then glad rose the revel;
bench-joy brightened. Bearers draw
from their “wonder-vats” wine. Comes Wealhtheow forth,
under gold-crown[2] goes where the good pair sit,
uncle and nephew, true each to the other one,
1165kindred in amity. Unferth the spokesman
at the Scylding lord’s feet sat: men had faith in his spirit,
his keenness of courage, though kinsmen had found him
- ↑ That is, these two Danes, escaping home, had told the story of the attack on Hnæf, the slaying of Hengest, and all the Danish woes. Collecting a force, they return to Frisia and kill Finn in his home. To this attack some writers refer the fragment of Finnsburg.
- ↑ So men go “hardy under helmet.”—The following lines are of unusual length, and are so rendered. The uncle and nephew are Hrothgar and Hrothulf. See above, v. 1017, and below, vv. 1180 f.
