# Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 23

XXIII.
Geseah ðā on searwumsige-ēadig bil, eald sweord eotenisc,ecgum þyhtig, wigena weorð-mynd;þæt [wæs] wǣpna cyst, 1560būton hit wæs māreðonne ǣnig mon ōðer tō beadu-lāceætberan meahte, gōd ond geatolīc,gīganta geweorc. Hē gefēng þā fetel-hilt,freca Scyldinga hrēoh ond heoro-grimhring-mǣl gebrægd, 1565aldres orwēnayrringa *slōh,Fol. 164b. þæt hire wið halseheard grāpode, bān-hringas bræc;bil eal ðurhwōd fǣgne flǣsc-homan;hēo on flet gecrong. Sweord wæs swātig;secg weorce gefeh. 1570Līxte se lēoma,lēoht inne stōd, efne swā of hefenehādre scīneð rodores candel.Hē æfter recede wlāt, hwearf þā be wealle;wǣpen hafenade heard be hiltumHigelāces ðegn 1575yrre ond ān-rǣd.Næs sēo ecg fracod hilde-rince,ac hē hraþe wolde Grendle forgyldangūð-rǣsa fela, ðāra þe hē geworhtetō West-Denum oftor micleðonne on ǣnne sīð, 1580þonne he Hrōðgāresheorð-genēatas slōh on sweofote,slǣpende fræt folces Denigeafȳf-tȳne men, ond ōðer swylcūt offerede, lāðlicu lāc.Hē him þæs lēan forgeald, ​1585rēþe cempa, tō ðæs þe hē on ræste geseah gūð-wērigne Grendel licgan, aldor-lēasne, swā him ǣr gescōd hild æt Heorote. Hrā wīde sprong, syþðan hē æfter dēaðe drepe þrōwade, 1590heoro-sweng heardne; ond hine þā hēafde becearf. Sōna þæt gesāwon snottre *ceorlas,Fol. 165a. þā ðe mid Hrōðgāre on holm wliton, þæt wæs ȳð-geblond eal gemenged, brim blōde fāh. Blonden-feaxe 1595gomele ymb gōdne on geador sprǣcon, þæt hig þæs æðelinges eft ne wēndon, þæt hē sige-hrēðig sēcean cōme mǣrne þēoden, þā ðæs monige gewearð, þæt hine sēo brim-wylf ābroten hæfde. 1600Ðā cōm nōn dæges; næs ofgēafon hwate Scyldingas; gewāt him hām þonon gold-wine gumena. Gistas sētan mōdes sēoce, ond on mere staredon; wiston ond ne wēndon, þæt hīe heora wine-drihten 1605selfne gesāwon. Ðā þæt sweord ongan æfter heaþo-swāte hilde-gicelum, wīg-bil wanian; þæt wæs wundra sum, þæt hit eal gemealt īse gelīcost, }} ​ðonne forstes bend Fæder onlǣteð, 1610onwindeð wǣl-rāpas, sē geweald hafað
sǣla ond mǣla; þæt is sōð Metod. Ne nōm hē in þǣm wicum, Weder-Gēata lēod, māðm-ǣhta mā, þēh hē þǣr monige geseah, būton þone hafelan ond þā hilt somod, 1615since fāge; sweord ǣr gemealt, forbarn brōden mǣl; wæs þæt blōd *tō þæs hāt,Fol. 165b. ǣttren ellor-gǣst, sē þǣr inne swealt. Sōna wæs on sunde, sē þe ǣr æt sæcce gebād wīg-hryre wrāðra, wæter ūp þurhdēaf; 1620wǣron ȳð-gebland eal gefǣlsod, ēacne eardas, þā se ellor-gāst oflēt līf-dagas ond þās lǣnan gesceaft. Cōm þā tō lande lid-manna helm swīð-mōd swymman, sǣ-lāce gefeah, 1625mægen-byrþenne þāra þe hē him mid hæfde. Eodon him þā tōgēanes Gode þancodon, ðrȳðlīc þegna hēap, þēodnes gefēgon, þæs þe hī hyne gesundne gesēon mōston. ​Ðā wæs of þǣm hrōran helm ond byrne 1630lungre ālȳsed. Lagu drūsade, wæter under wolcnum, wæl-drēore fāg. Fērdon forð þonon fēþe-lāstum ferhþum fægne, fold-weg mæton, cūþe strǣte, cyning-balde men; 1635from þǣm holm-clife hafelan bǣron earfoðlīce heora ǣghwæþrum fela-mōdigra; fēower scoldon on þǣm wæl-stenge weorcum geferian tō þǣm gold-sele Grendles hēafod, 1640oþ ðæt *semninga tō sele cōmonFol. 166a. frome, fyrd-hwate, fēower-tȳne Gēata gongan; gum-dryhten mid, mōdig on gemonge, meodo-wongas træd. Ðā cōm in gān ealdor ðegna, 1645dǣd-cēne mon dōme gewurþad, hæle hilde-dēor, Hrōðgār grētan. Þā wæs be feaxe on flet boren Grendles hēafod, þǣr guman druncon, egeslīc for eorlum ond þǣre idese mid; 1650wlite-sēon wrætlīc weras onsāwon.
* ↑ 1559. Kemble’s emendation.
* ↑ 1599. MS. ‘abreoten.’
* ↑ 1602. MS. ‘secan.’
* ↑ 1604. Kemble ‘wīscton’; Sweet ‘wȳscton’; Cosijn (followed by Heyne and Socin) ‘wīston’ = wīscton, wished. This last hypothesis lacks authority. Probably it is merely a case of the blending of two constructions; wiston, “knew,” would require ne gesāwon; ne wēndon, “did not expect,” requires gesāwon only; the latter construction prevails. It is possible, however, that ne has dropped out after the -ne of selfne; in that case the meaning would be: “they knew, and did not merely expect, that they should not see their lord himself again.”
* ↑ 1610. Sweet adopts Kemble’s emendation, wǣg-rāpas. Heyne has wæl-rāpas, and in his glossary: “cf. wæll, wel, wyll, Quelle, Flut;—leax sceal on wæle mid scēote scrīðan, Gnom. Cott. 39.” Sweet gives the same passage, in his “A.S. Reader” xxviii. 39, marked wǣle, and there is no doubt he is right (more’s the pity he departs from the MS. reading here). Heyne identifies wæl with well, “a well” (more common as a weak noun). It is clear that he has confounded two words. In the Wright-Wülcker Glossaries we find: “Fons, well, 178. 8; Gurges, wæl, 178. 13.” The vowel of the latter word is long, as shown by the common Lancashire weel, noted by Somner in 1659, and still in use; so also in all the cognate languages, e.g. in modern Plattdeutsch Weel, and Heyne himself, in the glossary to his Kleinere and. Denkmäler (1867) has: “uuāl (A.S. wǣl, gurges), Abgrund.”