Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 04

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1311124Beowulf (Wyatt) — Beowulf: IV

IV.

Him se yldestaondswarode,
werodes wīsa,word-hord onlēac:
260“Wē synt gum-cynnesGēata lēode
ond Higelācesheoið-genēatas.
Wæs mīn fæderfolcum gecȳþed,
æþele ord-frumaEcgþēow hāten;
gebād wintra worn,ǣr hē on weg hwurfe
265gamol of geardum;hine gearwe geman
witena wel-hwylcwīde geond eorþan.
Wē þurh holdne higehlāford þīnne,
sunu Healfdenes,sēcean cwōmon,
lēod-gebyrgean;wes þū ūs lārena gōd.
270Habbað wē tō þǣm mǣranmicel ǣrende
Deniga frēan;ne sceal þǣr dyrne sum
wesan, þæs ic wēne.Þū wāst gif hit is,
swā wē sōþlīce*secgan hȳrdon,Fol. 136a.
þæt mid Scyldingumsceaðona[1] ic nāt hwylc,
275dēogol dǣd-hata,[2]deorcum nihtum
ēaweð þurh egsanuncūðne nīð,
hȳnðu ond hrā-fyl.Ic þæs Hrōðgār mæg
þurh rūmne sefanrǣd gelǣran,
hū hē frōd ond gōdfēond oferswȳðeþ,
280gyf him ed-wendanǣfre scolde
bealuwa bisigu,bōt eft cuman,
ond þā cear-wylmascōlran wurðaþ;
oððe ā syþðanearfoð-þrāge,
þrēa-nȳd þolað,þenden þǣr wunað
285on hēah-stedehūsa sēlest.”
Weard maþelode,ðǣr on wicge saet,
ombeht unforht:“Ǣghwaþres sceal
scearp scyld-wigagescād witan,
worda ond worca,sē þe wel þenceð.
290Ic þæt gehȳre,þæt þis is hold weorod
frēan Scyldinga.Gewītaþ forð beran
wǣpen ond gewǣdu,ic ēow wīsige;
swylce ic magu-þegnasmīne hāte
wið fēonda gehwoneflotan ēowerne,
295nīw-tyrwydnenacan on sande,
ārum healdan,oþ þæt eft byreð
ofer lagu-strēa*maslēofne mannanFol. 136b.
wudu wunden-halstō Weder-mearce.
Gōd-fremmendra[3]swylcum gifeþe bið,
300þæt þone hilde-rǣshāl gedīgeð.”
Gewiton him þā fēran;[4]flota stille bād,
seomode on sāle[5]sīd-fæþmed scip,
on ancre fæst.[6]Eofor-līc scionon[7]
ofer hlēor-ber[g]an,[8]gehroden golde,
305fāh ond fȳr-heard;ferh wearde hēold.
Gūþmōd[9] grummon,guman ōnetton,
sigon ætsomne,oþ þæt hȳ [s]æl timbred,[10]
geatolīc ond gold-fāh,ongyton mihton;
þæt wæs fore-mǣrostfold-būendum
310receda underroderum, on þǣm se rīca bād;
līxte se lēomaofer landa fela.
Him þā hilde-dēor[h]of[11] mōdigra
torht getǣhte,þæt hīe him tō mihton
gegnum gangan;gūð-beorna sum
315wicg gewende,word æfter cwæð:
“Mǣl is mē tō fēran;Fæder al-walda
mid ār-stafumēowic gehealde
sīða gesunde!Ic tō sǣ wille
wið *wrāð werodwearde healdan.”Fol. 137a.

  1. 274. Zupitza says: “now only scea left.” Only Thorkelin’s first transcript has sceaðona.
  2. 275. Grein’s Glossary gives: “dǣd-hata m. der durch Thaten hasst oder verfolgt? oder dǣd-hāta facinora spondens vel moliens?” Earle adopts the latter reading, and translates ‘author of deeds.’
  3. 299. Grundtvig’s needless emendation gūð-fremmendra is followed by some editors and by Earle.
  4. 301—3. Heyne puts “flota……faest” in a parenthesis, with a semi-colon at the close.
  5. 302. MS. ‘sole.’ For the emendation cf. ll. 226, 1906, and 1917, and mod. “riding on a hawser.” The MS. reading is not impossible. It is from sol, mod. Kent, sole, a muddy pool.
  6. 303—5. These lines have given rise to much discussion and many suggestions. Bugge takes eofor as the subject of hēold, ferh- (for feorh-) wearde, “life-guard,” as the object, and līc-scīonon, “of handsome form,” as the dat. sing, of an adj. referring to Beowulf.
  7. 303. Grein’s Glossary gives scionon as a second form of scinon, pret. pi. of scīnan, “shine,” but adds: “wenn letzteres nicht zu einem redupl. Verbum scānan scēon gehört.” This supposition is quite needless; in l. 3170 we find a pret. pi. riodan = ridon, “rode,” of the same ablaut-class, showing the same effect of u-umlaut. Sievers § 376.
  8. 304. MS. ‘hleor beran’; Grein ‘hlēor-beran,’ dat. sg., visor?; Gering ‘hlēor-ber[g]an,’ acc. pl., cheek-guards.
  9. 306. Kemble ‘gūð-mōd[e].
  10. 307. MS. ‘æltimbred’; Grein ‘sæl timbred.’
  11. 312. MS. ‘of,’ in spite of the alliteration.