mǣg wið mǣge, *syððan man-diyhtenFol. 173b.
þurh hlēoðor-cwyde holdne gegrētte
1980meaglum wordum. Meodu-scencum hwearf
geond þæt heal-reced[1] Hæreðes dohtor,
lufode ðā lēode, lið-wǣge bær
hælum[2] tō handa. Higelāc ongan
sīnne geseldan in sele þām hēan
1985fægre fricgcean, hyne fyrwet bræc,[3]
hwylce Sǣ-Gēata sīðas wǣron:
“Hū lomp ēow on lāde, lēofa Bīowulf,
þā ðū fǣringa feorr gehogodest
sæcce sēcean ofer sealt wæter,
1990hilde tō Hiorote? Ac ðū Hrōðgāre
wīd-cūðne[4] wēan wihte gebēttest,
mǣrum ðēodne? Ic ðæs mōd-ceare
sorh-wylmum sēað, sīðe ne trūwode
lēofes mannes. Ic ðē lange bæd,
1995þæt ðū þone wæl-gæst wihte ne grētte,
lēte Sūð-Dene sylfe geweorðan
gūðe wið Grendel. Gode ic þanc secge,
þæs ðe ic ðē gesundne gesēon mōste.”
Bīowulf maðelode, bearn Ecgðīoes:
2000*“Þæt is undyrne, dryhten Higelāc,Fol. 174a.
- ↑ 1981. MS. ‘þætside.reced.’ Zupitza: “side added over the line in the same hand I think, but with another ink,” Kemble: ‘heal-reced.’
- ↑ 1983. MS. ‘hæ nū.’ Zupitza: “between æ and n a letter (I think ð) erased.” Grein ‘hælum.’ Bugge defends ‘Hǣnum’ (so Heyne and Socin), which he regards as a contracted form meaning “dwellers on the heath” (of Jutland). But the fact that he identifies the “Gēatas” with the Jutes inevitably discounts his opinion.
- ↑ 1985. Wülcker ‘(hyne fyrwet bræc)’; but ll. 232, 2784, show that these words have an interrogative force, and are therefore a true parallel to what precedes.
- ↑ 1991. MS. ‘wið’; Thorpe ‘wīd-.’
