hū him scīr Metodscrīfan wille.”
980Ðā wæs swīgra secgsunu Ec[g]lāfes
on gylp-sprǣcegūð-geweorca,
siþðan æþelingaseorles cræfte
ofer hēanne hrōfhand scēawedon,
fēondes fingras,foran ǣghwylc;
985wæs steda nægla gehwylcstȳle gelīcost,[1]
hǣþenes hand-sporu,*hilde-rinces[2]Fol. 151b.
egl unhēoru;ǣghwylc gecwæð,
þæt him heardra nānhrīnan wolde
īren ǣr-gōd,þæt ðæs āhlǣcan
990blōdge beadu-folmeonberan wolde.
XV.
Ðā wæs hāten hreþeHeort innan-weard
folmum gefrætwod;fela þǣra wæs
wera ond wīfa,þe þæt wīn-reced,
gest-sele, gyredon.Gold-fāg scinon
995web æfter wāgum,wundor-sīona fela
secga gehwylcum,þāra þe on swylc starað.
Wæs þæt beorhte boldtōbrocen swīðe,
eal inne-weardīren-bendum fæst,
- ↑ 984—5. Suggestions too numerous to mention have been made for the emendation of these lines. Heyne adopts a fresh one with each new edition. Sievers considers the second half of l. 984 metrically deficient, and proposes:
fēondes fingras:foran ǣghwylc wæs
stīðra næglastȳle gelīcost. - ↑ 986. MS. ‘hilde hilde rinces,’ the first hilde being the last word on the page, the second the first word overleaf. In such cases italics in the text seem needless. For hand-sporu see Sievers § 279.