queen of Hrothgar, heedful of courtesy,
gold-decked, greeting the guests in hall;
615and the high-born lady handed the cup
first to the East-Danes’ heir and warden,
bade him be blithe at the beer-carouse,
the land’s beloved one. Lustily took he
banquet and beaker, battle-famed king.
620Through the hall then went the Helmings’ Lady,
to younger and older everywhere
carried the cup,[1] till came the moment
when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted,
to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead.
625She greeted the Geats’ lord, God she thanked,
in wisdom’s words, that her will was granted,
that at last on a hero her hope could lean
for comfort in terrors. The cup he took,
hardy-in-war, from Wealhtheow’s hand,
630and answer uttered the eager-for-combat.
- ↑ Literally, “jewelled-vessel”; but as Banning points out, this refers simply to the office of passing the cup, not, as in Widsith, 102, to the giving of “lordly gifts,” as some translate the phrase. The Gnomic Verses, preserved in the Exeter Book, are explicit ahout the duties of a noble dame in such cases. She must be (see Grein-Wülker, I, 346)—
fond of her folk, and full of cheer,
fast in a secret, and free of hand
with steeds and treasure: serving the mead
in the crowd of clansmen, constant alway
Defence-of-Athelings first to greet,
to carry the cup to the king’s hand first,
quickly still, and counsel render
ever to him and his heroes all.The Defence-of-Athelings is, of course, the king. “Steeds and treasure” is the usual phrase for “gifts.” Wealhtheow answers well to all these requirements.
