2340þæt him holt-wudu he[lpan][1] ne meahte,
lind wið līge. Sceolde lǣn-daga.[2]
æþeling ǣr-gōd ende gebīdan,
worulde līfes, ond se wyrm somod,
þēah ðe hord-welan hēolde lange.
2345Oferhogode ðā hringa fengel,
þæt hē þone wīd-flogan weorode gesōhte,
sīdan herge; nō hē him þā[3] sæcce ondrēd,
ne him þæs wyrmes wīg for wiht dyde,
eafoð ond ellen, forðon hē ǣr fela,
2350nearo nēðende, nīða gedīgde,
hilde-hlemma, syððan hē Hrōðgāres,
sigor-ēadig secg, sele fǣlsode,
ond æt gūðe forgrāp Grendeles mǣgum
lāðan cynnes. Nō þæt lǣsest wæs
2355hond-gemōt, þǣr mon Hygelāc slōh,
syððan Gēata cyning gūðe rǣsum,[4]
frēa-wine folca Frēs-londum on,
Hrēðles eafora, hioro-dryncum swealt
bille gebēaten; þonan Bīowulf cōm
2360sylfes cræfte, sund-nytte drēah;
hæfde him on earme *[āna][5] þrittigFol. 182b.
hilde-geatwa, þā hē tō holme [st]āg.
- ↑ 2340. MS. defective at corner.
- ↑ 2241. MS. ‘þend’; Kemble ‘lǣn.’ Cf. l. 2591.
- ↑ 2347. MS. ‘þa’ (= þām). Wūlcker retains the MS. reading and defends it in a note, which one can only suppose to be a misprint: “Da on mit dat. ebenso wie mit accus. verbunden wird.” Sæcc is fem. (Sievers § 258. 1).
- ↑ 2356. Zupitza ‘guðe-ræsum.’ Not one of the sixty odd compounds of gūð is formed in this way.
- ↑ 2361. MS. defective at corner, here and in two following lines. Zupitza ‘. . . xxx.’ Grein’s emendation.
