The Oldest English Epic/Chapter 1/Beowulf 09

by unknown author

IX

Me thus often the evil monsters
560thronging threatened. With thrust of my sword,
the darling, I dealt them due return!
Nowise had they bliss from their booty then
to devour their victim, vengeful creatures,
seated to banquet at bottom of sea;
565but at break of day, by my brand sore hurt,
on the edge of ocean up they lay,
put to sleep by the sword. And since, by them
on.the fathomless sea-ways sailor-folk
are never molested.—Light from east,
570came bright God’s beacon; the billows sank,
so that I saw the sea-cliffs high,
windy walls. For Wyrd oft saveth
earl undoomed if he doughty be!^[1]
And so it came that I killed with my sword
575nine of the nicors. Of night-fought battles
ne’er heard I a harder ’neath heaven’s dome,
nor adrift on the deep a more desolate man!
Yet I came unharmed from that hostile clutch,
though spent with swimming. The sea upbore me,
580flood of the tide, on Finnish^[2] land,
the welling waters. No wise of thee^[3]
have I heard men tell such terror of falchions,
bitter battle. Breca ne’er yet,
not one of you pair, in the play of war
585such daring deed has done at all
with bloody brand,—I boast not of it!—
though thou wast the bane^[4] of thy brethren dear,
thy closest kin, whence curse of hell
awaits thee, well as thy wit may serve!
590For I say in sooth, thou son of Ecglaf,
never had Grendel these grim deeds wrought,
monster dire, on thy master dear,
in Heorot such havoc, if heart of thine
were as battle-bold as thy boast is loud!
595But he has found no feud will happen;
from sword-clash dread of your Danish clan
he vaunts him safe, from the Victor-Scyldings.
He forces pledges, favors none
of the land of Danes, but lustily murders,
600fights and feasts, nor feud he dreads
from Spear-Dane men. But speedily now
shall I prove him the prowess and pride of the Geats,
shall bid him battle. Blithe to mead
go he that listeth, when light of dawn
605this morrow morning o’er men of earth,
ether-robed sun from the south shall beam!”
Joyous then was the Jewel-giver,
hoar-haired, war-brave; help awaited
the Bright-Danes’ prince, from Beowulf hearing,
610folk’s good shepherd, such firm resolve.
Then was laughter of liegemen loud resounding
with winsome words. Came Wealhtheow forth,
queen of Hrothgar, heedful of courtesy,
gold-decked, greeting the guests in hall;
615and the high-born lady handed the cup
first to the East-Danes’ heir and warden,
bade him be blithe at the beer-carouse,
the land’s beloved one. Lustily took he
banquet and beaker, battle-famed king.
620Through the hall then went the Helmings’ Lady,
to younger and older everywhere
carried the cup,^[5] till came the moment
when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted,
to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead.
625She greeted the Geats’ lord, God she thanked,
in wisdom’s words, that her will was granted,
that at last on a hero her hope could lean
for comfort in terrors. The cup he took,
hardy-in-war, from Wealhtheow’s hand,
630and answer uttered the eager-for-combat.
Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:—
“This was my thought, when my thanes and I
bent to the ocean and entered our boat,
that I would work the will of your people
635fully, or fighting fall in death,
in fiend’s gripe fast. I am firm to do
an earl’s brave deed, or end the days
of this life of mine in the mead-hall here.”
Well these words to the woman seemed,
640Beowulf’s battle-boast. — Bright with gold
the stately dame by her spouse sat down.
Again, as erst, began in hall
warriors’ wassail and words of power,
the proud-band’s revel,^[6] till presently
645the son of Healfdene hastened to seek
rest for the night; he knew there waited
fight for the fiend in that festal hall,
when the sheen of the sun they saw no more,
and dusk of night sank darkling nigh,
650and shadowy shapes came striding on,
wan under welkin. The warriors rose.
Man to man, he made harangue,
Hrothgar to Beowulf, bade him hail,
let him wield the wine hall: a word he added:—
655“Never to any man erst I trusted,
since I could heave up hand and shield,
this noble Dane-Hall, till now to thee.
Have now and hold this house unpeered;
remember thy glory; thy might declare;
660watch for the foe! No wish shall fail thee
if thou bidest the battle with bold-won life.”

1. A Germanic commonplace. It occurs in the Andreas of Cynewulf, in part in the Hildebrand Lay, v. 55, and in sundry Norse poems. “Undoomed” is “one who is not fey.”—Da sterbent wan die veigen, Nibelungen, 149, “only the fey die,” may be compared with the ballad phrase in Archie o’ Cawfield, Child, III, 489:

   “There’ll no man die but him that’s fee. . . .”

   Schücking, in Englische Studien, 39, p. 104, insists on a different translation of this passage. “Undoomed,” he suggests, is proleptic; and the poet really says “fate often saves a hero—who then, of course, is not a doomed man,—if he be brave.” It is true that the proleptic construction is found in Anglo-Saxon; and the interpretation is possible. Practically the same case occurs when Horace tells Lydia (III, ix) that he would die for Chloe if the fates would but spare this love of his and let her live;—

   Si parcent animae fata superstiti.

   But the present passage hardly needs this subtle interpretation, and evidently means that fate often spares a man who is not doomed, really devoted to death, if he is a brave man, in a word, favors the brave if favor be possible. Weird sisters and fey folk survived long in Scottish tradition.
2. The Finnish folk, as Gering points out, we now call Laplanders.
3. This speech of Beowulf’s is admirable. He has defended his own reputation, shrugs his shoulders at the necessity of referring to his prowess, and makes a home-thrust at Unferth. The climax of his invective is imputation to Unferth of the two supreme sins in the Germanic list: murder of kin, and cowardice.—Below, v. 1167, Unferth is said to be courageous, but faithless to his kin.—Then the hero-orator proceeds to promise or “boast” what he himself will do; and with his cheerful “gab” the speech closes amid general applause.
4. Murderer.—

   “Though thou hast murdered thy mother’s sons,—

   would translate the passage less directly but without an archaism.—Beowulf is glad to think as he dies that he is free from murder of kin; see below, v. 2742. The kin-bond, of course, was or should be very strong. See Beda’s story of Imma, Eccl. Hist., iv, 22; and Schofield’s summary of Signy’s Lament for the Volsung case.
5. Literally, “jewelled-vessel”; but as Banning points out, this refers simply to the office of passing the cup, not, as in Widsith, 102, to the giving of “lordly gifts,” as some translate the phrase. The Gnomic Verses, preserved in the Exeter Book, are explicit about the duties of a noble dame in such cases. She must be (see Grein-Wülker, I, 346)—

   fond of her folk, and full of cheer,
   fast in a secret, and free of hand
   with steeds and treasure: serving the mead
   in the crowd of clansmen, constant alway
   Defence-of-Athelings first to greet,
   to carry the cup to the king’s hand first,
   quickly still, and counsel render
   ever to him and his heroes all.

   The Defence-of-Athelings is, of course, the king. “Steeds and treasure” is the usual phrase for “gifts.” Wealhtheow answers well to all these requirements.

6. Literally, “clamor of the victorious people.” The phrase is formal, as in so many cases; for just now, and in v. 597, any adjective would suit the Danes better than “victorious,” nor can this count as proleptic. So in the English Ballads there is a false “true love,” — i.e. “affianced,” — or other contradiction, vrith similar formal use. Compare the phrase “excellent iron,” v. 2586, below, for a sword that has just failed to “bite.”