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Beowulf XLI
"THE
bloody swath of
Swedes and
Geats
and the storm of their strife, were seen afar,
how
folk against
folk the fight had wakened.
The
ancient king with his
atheling band
sought his
citadel,
sorrowing much:
Ongentheow earl went up to his burg.
He had tested
Hygelac's
hardihood,
the proud one's
prowess, would prove it no longer,
defied no more those
fighting-
wanderers
nor hoped from the seamen to save his hoard,
his
bairn and his
bride: so he bent him again,
old, to his earth-walls. Yet after him came
with slaughter for
Swedes the standards of
Hygelac
o'er peaceful plains in pride advancing,
till
Hrethelings fought in the
fenced town. (1)
Then
Ongentheow with edge of sword,
the
hoary-
bearded, was held at bay,
and the folk-king there was forced to suffer
Eofor's anger. In ire, at the king
Wulf Wonreding with
weapon struck;
and the chieftain's
blood, for that blow, in streams
flowed 'neath his hair. No fear felt he,
stout old
Scylfing, but straightway repaid
in better bargain that bitter stroke
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and faced his
foe with fell intent.
Nor swift enough was the son of
Wonred
answer to render the aged chief;
too soon on his head the helm was cloven;
blood-
bedecked he bowed to earth,
and fell adown; not doomed was he yet,
and well he
waxed, though the
wound was sore.
Then the hardy
Hygelac-
thane, (2)
when his brother fell, with broad
brand smote,
giants'
sword crashing through
giants'-
helm
across the shield-wall: sank the king,
his folk's old
herdsman,
fatally hurt.
There were many to bind the brother's wounds
and lift him, fast as fate allowed
his people to wield the place-of-war.
But
Eofor took from
Ongentheow,
earl from other, the
iron-
breastplate,
hard sword
hilted, and
helmet too,
and the hoar-chief's harness to
Hygelac carried,
who took the trappings, and truly promised
rich fee 'mid folk, -- and fulfilled it so.
For that grim strife gave the Geatish lord,
Hrethel's offspring, when home he came,
to
Eofor and
Wulf a wealth of treasure,
Each of them had a hundred thousand (3)
in land and linked rings; nor at less price reckoned
mid-earth men such mighty deeds!
And to
Eofor he gave his
only daughter
in pledge of grace, the pride of his home.
"Such is the feud, the
foeman's
rage,
death-hate of men: so I deem it sure
that the
Swedish folk will seek us home
for this fall of their friends, the
fighting-
Scylfings,
when once they learn that our warrior leader
lifeless lies, who land and hoard
ever defended from all his foes,
furthered his folk's weal, finished his course
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a hardy hero. -- Now
haste is best,
that we go to gaze on our
Geatish lord,
and bear the bountiful
breaker-of-
rings
to the
funeral pyre. No fragments merely
shall burn with the warrior. Wealth of jewels,
gold untold and gained in terror,
treasure at last with his life obtained,
all of that booty the brands shall take,
fire shall eat it. No earl must carry
memorial
jewel. No maiden fair
shall wreathe her neck with noble ring:
nay, sad in spirit and shorn of her gold,
oft shall she pass o'er paths of exile
now our lord all laughter has laid aside,
all mirth and revel. Many a spear
morning-cold shall be clasped amain,
lifted aloft; nor shall lilt of harp
those
warriors wake; but the
wan-
hued raven,
fain o'er the
fallen, his feast shall praise
and boast to the
eagle how
bravely he ate
when he and the
wolf were wasting the
slain."
So he told his sorrowful tidings,
and little (4) he lied, the loyal man
of word or of work. The
warriors rose;
sad, they climbed to the
Cliff-of-
Eagles,
went, welling with tears, the wonder to view.
Found on the sand there, stretched at rest,
their lifeless lord, who had lavished rings
of old upon them. Ending-day
had dawned on the doughty-one; death had seized
in woful slaughter the
Weders' king.
There saw they, besides, the
strangest being,
loathsome, lying their leader near,
prone on the field. The fiery dragon,
fearful fiend, with
flame was scorched.
Reckoned by feet, it was fifty measures
in length as it lay. Aloft erewhile
it had revelled by night, and anon come back,
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seeking its den; now in death's sure clutch
it had come to the end of its earth-hall joys.
By it there stood the stoups and jars;
dishes lay there, and
dear-
decked swords
eaten with rust, as, on earth's lap resting,
a thousand winters they waited there.
For all that heritage huge, that gold
of
bygone men, was bound by a spell, (5)
so the treasure-hall could be touched by none
of
human kind, -- save that
Heaven's King,
God himself, might give whom he would,
Helper of Heroes, the hoard to open, --
even such a man as seemed to him meet.
(1) The line may mean: till Hrethelings stormed on the
hedged shields, -- i.e. the
shield-
wall or hedge of defensive war -- Hrethelings, of course, are Geats.
(2)
Eofor, brother to
Wulf Wonreding.
(3) Sc. "value in" hides and the weight of the gold.
(4) Not at all.
(5) Laid on it when it was put in the
barrow. This spell, or in our days the "curse," either
prevented discovery or brought dire ills on the finder and taker.