Beowulf - Delphi Poets Series
Page 6
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
605 this 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,
610 folk’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;
615 and 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.
620 Through 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.
625 She 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,
630 and 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
635 fully, 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,
640 Beowulf’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
645 the 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,
650 and 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;
660 watch for the foe! No wish shall fail thee
if thou bidest the battle with bold-won life.”
Footnotes
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, , 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 ahout 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.”
X
Then Hrothgar went with his hero-train,
defence-of-Scyldings, forth from hall;
fain would the war-lord Wealhtheow seek,
665 couch of his queen. The King-of-Glory
against this Grendel a guard had set,
so heroes heard, a hall-defender,
who warded the monarch and watched for the monster.
In truth, the Geats’ prince gladly trusted
670 his mettle, his might, the mercy of God!1
Cast off then his corselet of iron,
helmet from head; to his henchman gave, —
choicest of weapons, — the well-chased sword,
bidding him guard the gear of battle.
675 Spake then his Vaunt2 the valiant man,
Beowulf Geat, ere the bed he sought: —
“Of force in fight no feebler I count me,
in grim war-deeds, than Grendel deems him.
Not with the sword, then, to sleep of death
680 his life will I give, though it lie in my power.
No skill is his to strike against me,
my shield to hew though he hardy be,
shall spurn the sword, if he seek me here,
685 unweaponed, for war. Let wisest God,
sacred Lord, on which side soever
doom decree as he deemeth right.”
Reclined then the chieftain, and cheek-pillows held
the head of the earl, while all about him
690 seamen hardy on hall-beds sank.
None of them thought that thence their steps
to the folk and fastness that fostered them,
to the land they loved, would lead them back!
Full well they wist that on warriors many
695 battle-death seized, in the banquet-hall,
of Danish clan. But comfort and help,
war-weal weaving, to Weder folk
the Master gave,3 that, by might of one,
over their enemy all prevailed,
700 by single strength. In sooth ’tis told
that highest God o’er human kind
hath wielded ever! — Thro’ wan night striding,
came the walker-in-shadow. Warriors slept
whose best was to guard the gabled hall, —
705 all save one. ’Twas widely known
that against God’s will the ghostly ravager
him4 could not hurl to haunts of darkness;
wakeful, ready, with warrior’s wrath,
bold he bided the battle’s issue.
Footnotes
1 See above, vv. 572 f.
2 This Vaunt, or Boast, spoken to the hero’s few comrades on the eve of the vigil and fight, is different from the Vaunt at the banquet, and in its sentimental turn has some distant resemblance to the later “Good-Nights,” particularly the type of Lord Maxwell’s Last Good-Night.
3 The usual mingling of pagan tradition and Christian doctrine. The weaving, as in classical myths, is work of the Norns, or fates, but God disposes it as he will. Often, however, the Germanic fates stand alone at their loom. “Wyrd wove me this.”
4 Beowulf, — the “one.” Ms. has “them.”
XI
710 Then from the moorland, by misty crags,
with God’s wrath laden, Grendel came.
The monster was minded of mankind now
sundry to seize in the stately house.
Under welkin he walked, till the wine-palace there,
715 gold-hall of men, he gladly discerned,
flashing with fretwork.1 Not first time, this,
that he the home of Hrothgar sought, —
yet ne’er in his life-day, late or early,
such hardy heroes, such hall-thanes, found!
720 To the house the warrior walked apace,2
parted from peace;3 the portal opened,
though with forged bolts fast, when his fists had struck it,
and baleful he burst in his blatant rage,
the house’s mouth. All hastily, then,
725 o’er fair-paved floor the fiend trod on,
ireful he strode; there streamed from his eyes
fearful flashes, like flame to see.
He spied in hall the hero-band,
kin and clansmen clustered asleep,
730 hardy liegemen. Then laughed his heart;
for the monster was minded, ere morn should dawn,
savage, to sever the soul of each,
life from body, since lusty banquet
waited his will! But Wyrd forbade him
735 to seize any more of men on earth
after that evening.4 Eagerly watched
Hygelac’s kinsman his cursed foe,
how he would fare in fell attack.
Not that the monster was minded to pause!
740 Straightway he seized a sleeping warrior5
for the first, and tore him fiercely asunder,
the bone-frame bit, drank blood in streams,
swallowed him piecemeal: swiftly thus
the lifeless corse was clear devoured,
745 e’en feet and hands. Then farther he hied;
for the hardy hero with hand he grasped,
felt for the foe with fiendish claw,
for the hero reclining, — who clutched it boldly,
prompt to answer, propped on his arm.6
750 Soon then saw that shepherd-of-evils
that never he met in this middle-world,
in the ways of earth, another wight
with heavier hand-gripe; at heart he feared,
sorrowed in soul, — none the sooner escaped!
755 Fain would he flee, his fastness seek,
the den of devils: no doings now
such as oft he had done in days of old!
Then bethought him the hardy Hygelac-thane
of his boast at evening: up he bounded,
760 grasped firm his foe, whose fingers cracked.
The fiend made off, but the earl close followed.
The monster meant — if he might at all —
to fling himself free, and far away
fly to the fens, — knew his fingers’ power
765 in the gripe of the grim one. Gruesome march
to Heorot this monster of harm had made!
Din filled the room; the Danes were bereft,
castle-dwellers and clansmen all,
earls, of their ale.7 Angry were both8
770 those savage hall-guards: the house resounded.
Wonder it was the wine-hall firm
in the strain of their struggle stood, to earth
the fair house fell not; too fast it was
within and without by its iron bands
775 craftily clamped; though there crashed from sill
many a mead-bench — men have told me —
gay with gold, where the grim foes wrestled.
So well had weened the wisest Scyldings
that not ever at all might any man
780 that bone-decked, brave house break asunder,
crush by craft, — unless clasp of fire
in smoke engulfed it. — Again uprose
din redoubled. Danes of the North
with fear and frenzy were filled, each one,
785 who from the wall that wailing heard,
God’s foe sounding his grisly song,
cry of the conquered, clamorous pain
from captive of hell. Too closely held him
he who of men in might was strongest
790 in that same day of this our life.
Footnotes
1 Whether the hall “flashed” or “glittered” to the monster’s vision as he came near, in this nocturnal raid, does not concern the poet, who uses a conventional description.
2 This is the third announcement of the arrival, and it is such seemingly vain repetitions that caused Müllenhoff, ten Brink, Möller, and others to assume interpolations by several hands and to regard the poem as a series of “editions,” on the basis of a general accretion from short lays to the present conglomerate of adaptations, interpolations, and inconsistencies. The accretion theory is not ridiculous by any means; but it does not explain the Beowulf half so well as the assumption of a single author who wrote the present poem on the basis of old lays, and applied in its general construction the same methods of variation and repetition which obtain for every rhythmic period and almost for every sentence in Anglo-Saxon poetry at large. The first announcement of Grendel’s coming emphasizes the fact that it is by night; the second lays stress on the start from the moor; the third brings him to the hall, and to the action. See the same sort of repetition for an arrival, vv. 1640, 1644, below. If we will only apply to the whole web of narrative what we know of the web of sentence and period, much of the supposed awkwardness, “poor mendings,” “patchwork,” and so on, will prove simply the habit of all that national epic. — See also Hart, Ballad and Epic, p ff.
3 That is, he was a “lost soul,” doomed to hell.
4 It is a trait of the national epic, partly explained by the familiar nature of the
stories which it told, to anticipate in this way the issue of an adventure and then go back to the details.
5 His name was Hondscio. See below, v. 2076.
6 Some read: “prompt to answer, opposed the arm.” The text is not too clear; but the situation is what one would expect, and the awkwardness of the translation does not cloud the facts.
7 This rendering, backed by Bugge, Holthausen, and Heyne, is quite as good as the mere “terrified” of translators who balk at the undignified notion of spilt beer. But “the ale-bench” is too familiar in the epic for such scruples; and the hall was primarily intended for the Germanic dream, which meant the revel of drinking men. “The ale was all upset” is as much as to say “men feared there would be no more joy in Heorot,” so rocked and tottered the great building. It is a phrase parallel to the “bulging breast” for anger, and such survivals of the primitive methods of speech; and, as has been suggested, may well have seemed archaic to the poet who copied traditional lines.
8 Yet Grendel has shown the white feather from the start. This “angry” is also conventional; “desperate with fear” is the word for the fiend. — Beowulf’s easy victory here should be compared to his far more hazardous fight with Grendel’s mother, when his strength seems not to help, and he has to use a weapon.
XII
Not in any wise would the earls’-defence1
suffer that slaughterous stranger to live,
useless2 deeming his days and years
to men on earth. Now many an earl
795 of Beowulf brandished blade ancestral,
fain the life of their lord to shield,
their praiséd prince, if power were theirs;
never they knew, — as they neared the foe,
hardy-hearted heroes of war,
800 aiming their swords on every side
the accursed to kill, — no keenest blade,
no fairest of falchions fashioned on earth,
could harm or hurt that hideous fiend!
He was safe,3 by his spells, from sword of battle,
805 from edge of iron. Yet his end and parting
on that same day of this our life
woful should be, and his wandering soul
far off flit to the fiends’ domain.
Soon he found, who in former days,
810 harmful in heart and hated of God,
on many a man such murder wrought,
that the frame of his body failed him now.
For him the keen-souled kinsman of Hygelac
held in hand; hateful alive