Merewīoingas[1] milts ungyfeðe.
Ne ic tō[2] Swēo-ðēode sibbe oððe trēowe
wihte ne wēne; ac wæs wīde cūð,
þætte Ongenðīo ealdre besnyðede
2925Hǣðcen Hreþling wið Hrefna-wudu,
þā for onmēdlan ǣrest gesōhton
Gēata lēode Gūð-Scilfiiigas.
Sōna him se frōda fæder Ōhtheres,
eald ond eges-full, ondslyht[3] āgeaf,
2930ābrēot brim-wīsan, brȳd āhēorde,[4]
gomela īo-meowlan golde berofene,
Onelan mōdor ond Ōhtheres,
ond ðā folgode feorh-genīðlan,
oð ðæt hī oðēodon earfoðlīce
2935in Hrefnes holt hlāford-lēase.
Besæt ðā sin-herge sweorda lāfe
wundum wērge; *wēan oft gehētFol. 193b.
earmre teohhe ondlonge niht;
cwæð, hē on mergenne mēces ecgum
2940gētan wolde, sum[e] on galg-trēowu[m]
[fuglum] tō gamene.[5] Frōfor eft gelamp
sārig-mōdum somod ǣr-dæge,
- ↑ 2921. Wülcker ‘Merewīoinga.’ See note on l. 2453.
- ↑ 2922. MS. ‘te.’
- ↑ 2929. MS. ‘hond slyht,’ here and in l. 2972. The change in the text is necessary, unless one admits that h can alliterate with vowels. Such cases as this and that of the name “Unferth,” always Hunferð in the MS. but alliterating with vowels, tempt strongly to the abandonment of the rule. Cf. l. 1541 (and note), and see Sievers § 217, N. 1.
- ↑ 2930. MS. and Zupitza ‘bryda heorde.’
- ↑ 2940—1. MS. ‘sum on galg treowu to gamene.’ Thorpe ‘sume’ and ‘fuglum,’ comparing Judith 297: “fuglum tō frōfre.”
