15that erst they had lacked an earl for leader
so long a while; the Lord endowed him,
the Wielder of Wonder, with world’s renown.
Famed was this Beowulf:[1] far flew the boast of him,
son of Scyld, in the Scandian lands.
20So[2] becomes it a youth[3] to quit him well
with his father’s friends, by fee and gift,
that to aid him, agéd, in after days,
come warriors willing, should war draw nigh,
liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds
25shall an earl have honor in every clan.
Forth he fared at the fated moment,
sturdy Scyld to the shelter of God.[4]
Then they bore him over to ocean’s billow,
loving clansmen, as late he charged them,
30while wielded words the winsome Scyld,
the leader belovéd who long had ruled. . . .
In the roadstead rocked a ring-dight vessel,
ice-flecked, outbound, atheling’s barge:
- ↑ Not, of course, Beowulf the Geat, hero of the epic. Genealogies of Anglo-Saxon kings name this son of Scyld as Beaw, Beo, Bedwig, Beadwig, Beowinus, etc., all shorter forms or corruptions of a common original name. The name Beowulf may mean “Wolf-of-the-Croft” (Gering), but its etymology is uncertain.
- ↑ Sc. “as Scyld did.” Beowulf’s coming fame is mentioned, so to speak, as part of Scyld’s assets, and the whole passage is praise of the “pious founder” of the Danish line.
- ↑ The Exeter Maxims, vv. 14 f., say
Let the atheling young by his honest comrades
be emboldened to battle and breaking of rings,—i.e. liberal gifts to his clansmen.
- ↑ To heaven, the other world. Various metaphors are used for death; e.g. “he chose the other light.” See also v. 2469.
