TWELVE CENTURIES OF ENGLISH POETRY AND PROSE

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD

BEOWULF (c. 700)*

I. THE PASSING OF SCYLD

Lo, we have heard of the fame in old time
of the great kings of the Spear-Danes,
how these princes valor displayed.
Oft Scyld, Scef's son, from robber-bands,
from many tribes, their mead-seats took,
filled earls with fear, since first he was
found all forlorn. Howe 'er, he won comfort,
waxed great 'neath the welkin, in dignities
throve,

until every one of those dwelling near
over the whale-road, was bound to obey him
and pay him tribute: that was a good king.
To him a son was afterward born,

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a child in his courts whom God sent
to comfort the people; He felt the dire need
they erst had suffered, how they had princeless
been a long while. Therefore the Lord of Life,
Glory-prince, gave to him worldly honor.
Renowned was Beowulf, widely the
spread

glory

the land's loved chief that long had possessed it.

There at the hithe stood the ring-prowed ship, icy and eager, the prince's vessel.

Then they laid down the beloved chief,

the dispenser of rings, on the ship's bosom,by the mast laid him. There were treasures many

from far ways, ornaments brought.

I have heard of no comelier keel adorned with weapons of war and martial weeds, with glaves and byrnies. On his bosom lay 40 many treasures which were to go with him, far depart into the flood's possession. Not less with gifts, with lordly treasures, did they provide him, than did those others who at the beginning sent him forth alone o'er the wave, a little child. 20 They set moreover a golden ensign high o'er his head; let the sea bear him, gave him to ocean. Their mind was sad, mournful their mood. No man of men, counsellors in hall, heroes 'neath heaven, can say for sooth who that lading received.

of Scyld's offspring in the Scanian lands.
So shall a prudent man do good works
with bountiful gifts in his father's hall,
that in his old age still may surround him
willing companions, and when war comes
the people may follow him. By praiseworthy
deeds

Of the_three large sections into which the story of Beowulf falls-the fight with Grendel in Denmark, the fight with Grendel's mother, and the subsequent deeds of Beowulf in Geatland (Sweden)-the first is here given practically entire, and the second in part. It should be noted that the Beowulf mentioned in the opening canto is a Scylding, or Dane: Beowulf the Geat, or Weder-Geat, for whom the poem is named, is not introduced until the fourth canto. The translation is virtually the literal one of Benjamin Thorpe (1855), relieved of some of its harsher inversions and obscurities and made more consistently rhythmical, also occasionally altered to conform to a more

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