Beowulf on Everything:
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Beowulf XXXI
"So held this king to the customs old,
that I wanted for nought in the wage I gained,
the meed of my might; he made me gifts,
Healfdene's heir, for my own disposal.
Now to thee, my prince, I proffer them all,
gladly give them. Thy grace alone
can find me favor. Few indeed
have I of
kinsmen, save,
Hygelac, thee!"
Then he bade them bear him the boar-head standard,
the battle-helm high, and breastplate gray,
the
splendid sword; then spake in form: --
"Me this war-gear the wise old prince,
Hrothgar, gave, and his hest he added,
that its story be straightway said to thee. --
A while it was held by
Heorogar king,
for long time lord of the land of Scyldings;
yet not to his son the sovran left it,
to daring
Heoroweard, -- dear as he was to him,
his harness of battle. -- Well hold thou it all!"
And I heard that soon passed o'er the path of this treasure,
all apple-fallow, four good steeds,
each like the others, arms and horses
he gave to the king. So should kinsmen be,
not weave one another the net of wiles,
or with deep-hid treachery death contrive
for neighbor and comrade. His nephew was ever
by hardy
Hygelac held full dear,
and each kept watch o'er the other's weal.
I heard, too, the necklace to
Hygd he presented,
wonder-wrought treasure, which
Wealhtheow gave him
sovran's daughter: three steeds he added,
slender and saddle-gay. Since such gift
the gem gleamed bright on the breast of the queen.
Thus showed his strain the son of Ecgtheow
as a man
remarked for mighty deeds
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and acts of honor. At ale he slew not
comrade or kin; nor cruel his mood,
though of sons of earth his strength was greatest,
a glorious gift that God had sent
the splendid leader. Long was he spurned,
and worthless by
Geatish warriors held;
him at mead the master-of-clans
failed full oft to favor at all.
Slack and shiftless the strong men deemed him,
profitless prince; but payment came,
to the warrior honored, for all his woes. --
Then the
bulwark-of-
earls (1) bade bring within,
hardy
chieftain, Hrethel's heirloom
garnished with gold: no Geat e'er knew
in shape of a sword a statelier prize.
The brand he laid in
Beowulf's lap;
and of hides assigned him seven thousand, (2)
with house and high-seat. They held in common
land alike by their line of birth,
inheritance, home: but higher the king
because of his rule o'er the realm itself.
Now further it fell with the flight of years,
with harryings horrid, that Hygelac perished, (3)
and Heardred, too, by hewing of swords
under the
shield-
wall slaughtered lay,
when him at the van of his
victor-
folk
sought hardy heroes,
Heatho-
Scilfings,
in arms o'erwhelming
Hereric's nephew.
Then
Beowulf came as king this broad
realm to wield; and he ruled it well
fifty winters, (4) a wise old prince,
warding his land, until One began
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in the dark of night, a
Dragon, to rage.
In the grave on the hill a hoard it guarded,
in the stone-barrow steep. A strait path reached it,
unknown to
mortals. Some man, however,
came by chance that cave within
to the heathen hoard. (5) In hand he took
a
golden goblet, nor gave he it back,
stole with it away, while the
watcher slept,
by
thievish wiles: for the warden's wrath
prince and people must pay
betimes!
(1)
Hygelac.
(2) This is generally assumed to mean
hides, though the text simply says "seven thousand." A hide in England meant about 120 acres, though "the size of the acre varied."
(3) On the historical raid into
Frankish territory between 512 and 520 A.D. The subsequent course of events, as gathered from hints of this epic, is partly told in
Scandinavian legend.
(4) The chronology of this epic, as scholars have worked it out, would make
Beowulf well over ninety years of age when he fights the dragon. But the fifty years of his reign need not be taken as
historical
fact.
(5) The text here is hopelessly illegible, and only the general drift of the meaning can be rescued. For one thing, we have the old myth of a
dragon who
guards hidden treasure. But with this runs the story of some noble, last of his race, who hides all his wealth within this barrow and there chants his farewell to life's glories. After his death the
dragon takes possession of the hoard and watches over it. A condemned or banished man, desperate, hides in the barrow, discovers the treasure, and while the
dragon sleeps, makes off with a golden beaker or the like, and carries it for propitiation to his master. The
dragon discovers the
loss and exacts
fearful penalty from the people round about.