BEOWULF.
91
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;
- ↑ 2137. Wūlcker and Heyne ‘hand gemǣne,’ but cf. Ger. handgemein.
- ↑ 2139. No gap in MS. Grundtvig’s emendation.
- ↑ 2146. MS. defective at corner here and in next line.
- ↑ 2147. Grundtvig ‘[sīn]ne.’
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 2157. This line has constantly been mangled (see Heyne or Wūlcker) through misreading the ‘est’ of the MS. as eft. Cf. l. 2165.