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BEOWULF.
91


Þǣr unc hwīle wæs  hand-gemǣne;[1]
holm heolfre wēoll,  ond ic hēafde becearf
in ðām [grund-]sele[2]  Grendeles mōdor
2140ēacnum ecgum;  unsōfte þonan
feorh oðferede; næs ic fǣge þā gyt;
ac mē eorla hlēo  eft gesealde
māðma menigeo,  maga Healfdenes.

XXXI.

Swā se ðēod-kyning  þēawum lyfde;
2145nealles ic ðām lēanum  forloren hæfde,
mægnes mēde,  ac hē mē *[māðma]s[3] geaf,Fol. 177b.
sunu Healfdenes, on [mīn]ne[4] sylfes dōm,
ðā ic ðē, beorn-cyning,  bringan wylle,
ēstum geȳwan.  Gēn is eall ǣt ðē
2150lissa gelong;  ic lȳt hafo
hēafod-māga  nefne, Hygelāc, ðec.”
Hēt ðā in beran  eafor, hēafod-segn,[5]
heaðo-stēapne helm,  hāre byrnan,
gūð-sweord geatolīc,  gyd æfter wræc:
2155“Mē ðis hilde-sceorp  Hrōðgār sealde,
snotra fengel; sume worde hēt,
þæt ic his ǣrest ðē  ēst[6] gesægde;
cwæð þæt hyt hæfde  Hiorogār cyning,
lēod Scyldunga,  lange hwīle;

  1. 2137. Wūlcker and Heyne ‘hand gemǣne,’ but cf. Ger. handgemein.
  2. 2139. No gap in MS. Grundtvig’s emendation.
  3. 2146. MS. defective at corner here and in next line.
  4. 2147. Grundtvig ‘[sīn]ne.’
  5. 2152. Zupitza and most editors ‘eafor-hēafod-segn.’ But, as compounds of three words are as rare in O.E. poetry as compounds of two words are common, it seems better to make two parallels.
  6. 2157. This line has constantly been mangled (see Heyne or Wūlcker) through misreading the ‘est’ of the MS. as eft. Cf. l. 2165.