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Beowulf XXII
Beowulf spake, bairn of
Ecgtheow: --
"Have mind, thou honored offspring of
Healfdene
gold-friend of men, now I go on this quest,
sovran wise, what once was said:
if in thy cause it came that I
should lose my life, thou wouldst loyal bide
to me, though fallen, in father's place!
Be
guardian, thou, to this group of my thanes,
my warrior-friends, if War should seize me;
and the goodly gifts thou gavest me,
Hrothgar beloved, to
Hygelac send!
Geatland's king may ken by the gold,
Hrethel's son see, when he stares at the treasure,
that I got me a friend for goodness famed,
and joyed while I could in my
jewel-
bestower.
And let
Unferth wield this wondrous sword,
earl far-honored, this heirloom precious,
hard of edge: with Hrunting I
seek doom of glory, or Death shall take me."
After these words the
Weder-
Geat lord
boldly hastened, biding never
answer at all: the ocean floods
closed o'er the hero. Long while of the day
fled ere he felt the floor of the sea.
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Soon found the
fiend who the flood-domain
sword-
hungry held these hundred winters,
greedy and grim, that some guest from above,
some man, was raiding her
monster-
realm.
She grasped out for him with
grisly claws,
and the warrior
seized; yet scathed she not
his body hale; the breastplate hindered,
as she strove to shatter the sark of war,
the linked harness, with
loathsome hand.
Then bore this brine-wolf, when bottom she touched,
the lord of rings to the lair she haunted
whiles
vainly he strove, though his valor held,
weapon to wield against
wondrous monsters
that sore beset him; sea-beasts many
tried with
fierce tusks to tear his mail,
and
swarmed on the
stranger. But soon he marked
he was now in some hall, he knew not which,
where water never could work him harm,
nor through the roof could reach him ever
fangs of the flood. Firelight he saw,
beams of a blaze that brightly shone.
Then the warrior was ware of that wolf-of-the-deep,
mere-wife monstrous. For mighty stroke
he
swung his
blade, and the blow withheld not.
Then sang on her head that seemly blade
its
war-
song wild. But the warrior found
the
light-of-
battle (1) was loath to bite,
to harm the heart: its hard edge failed
the noble at need, yet had known of old
strife hand to hand, and had helmets cloven,
doomed men's
fighting-
gear. First time, this,
for the gleaming blade that its glory fell.
Firm still stood, nor failed in valor,
heedful of high deeds,
Hygelac's
kinsman;
flung away fretted sword,
featly jewelled,
the angry earl; on earth it lay
steel-edged and stiff. His strength he trusted,
hand-gripe of might. So man shall do
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whenever in war he weens to earn him
lasting fame, nor fears for his
life!
Seized then by shoulder, shrank not from combat,
the Geatish war-prince
Grendel's mother.
Flung then the fierce one, filled with wrath,
his deadly foe, that she fell to ground.
Swift on her part she paid him back
with grisly grasp, and grappled with him.
Spent with struggle, stumbled the warrior,
fiercest of
fighting-
men, fell adown.
On the hall-guest she hurled herself, hent her short sword,
broad and brown-edged, (2) the
bairn to
avenge,
the sole-born son. -- On his shoulder lay
braided breast-mail, barring death,
withstanding entrance of edge or
blade.
Life would have ended for
Ecgtheow's son,
under wide earth for that earl of
Geats,
had his
armor of
war not aided him,
battle-net hard, and holy God
wielded the victory, wisest
Maker.
The
Lord of
Heaven allowed his cause;
and easily rose the earl erect.
(1)
Kenning for "
sword."
Hrunting is bewitched, laid under a spell of uselessness, along with all other swords.
(2) This brown of swords, evidently meaning burnished, bright, continues to be a favorite adjective in the popular ballads.