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134
BEOWULF.


lǣne licgan;  lȳt ǣnig mearn,
3130þæt hī ofostlīc[e][1]  ūt geferedon
dȳre māðmas.  Dracan ēc scufun,
wyrm ofer weall-clif,  lēton wēg niman,
flōd fæðmian,  frætwa hyrde.
Þǣr[2] wæs wunden gold  on wǣn hladen,
3135ǣghwæs unrīm;  æþeling[3] boren,
hār hilde[-rinc],[4]  to Hrones næsse.

XLIII.

Him ðā gegiredan  Gēata lēode
ād on eorðan  unwāclīcne,
helm[um][5] behongen,  hilde-bordum,
3140beorhtum byrnum,  swā hā bēna wæs;
ālegdon ðā tōmiddes  mǣrne þēoden
hæleð hīofende,  hlāford lēofne.
Ongunnon þā on beorge  bǣl-fȳra mǣst
wīgend weccan;  wud[u]-rēc[6] āstāh
3145sweart ofer swioðole,[7]  swōgende lēg[8]
wōpe bewunden   (wind-blond gelæg),

  1. 3130. MS. defective at edge.
  2. 3134. MS. ‘ꝥ.’ Thorpe ‘Þǣr.’
  3. 3135. MS. ‘æþelinge.’
  4. 3136. MS. ‘hilde to.’ “I am unable to decide whether there is an erasure of one letter after hilde or an original blank.”—Z. Thorpe’s emendation.
  5. 3139. MS. ‘helm.’ Grein’s emendation.
  6. 3144. Hole in MS.
  7. 3145. MS. ‘swicðole.’ A difficult word. Toller gives two or three instances of swice, swicc (?), “scent, smell.” Skeat suggests “smelling fir-wood,” from O.E. ðol(l), Icel. þollr, “a thole, a peg,” originally “fir-tree.” Grein connects with swaðul (l. 782). See glossary.
  8. MS. ‘let’; Thorpe ‘lēg.’