# Beowulf (Wyatt)/Beowulf 04

IV.
Him se yldestaondswarode, werodes wīsa,word-hord onlēac: 260“Wē synt gum-cynnesGēata lēode ond Higelācesheoið-genēatas. Wæs mīn fæderfolcum gecȳþed, æþele ord-frumaEcgþēow hāten; gebād wintra worn,ǣr hē on weg hwurfe 265gamol of geardum;hine gearwe geman witena wel-hwylcwīde geond eorþan. Wē þurh holdne higehlāford þīnne, sunu Healfdenes,sēcean cwōmon, lēod-gebyrgean;wes þū ūs lārena gōd. 270Habbað wē tō þǣm mǣranmicel ǣrende Deniga frēan;ne sceal þǣr dyrne sum wesan, þæs ic wēne.Þū wāst gif hit is, swā wē sōþlīce*secgan hȳrdon,Fol. 136a. þæt mid Scyldingumsceaðona ic nāt hwylc, 275dēogol dǣd-hata,deorcum nihtum ēaweð þurh egsanuncūðne nīð, hȳnðu ond hrā-fyl.Ic þæs Hrōðgār mæg þurh rūmne sefanrǣd gelǣran, hū hē frōd ond gōdfēond oferswȳðeþ, 280gyf him ed-wendanǣfre scolde bealuwa bisigu,bōt eft cuman, ond þā cear-wylmascōlran wurðaþ; oððe ā syþðanearfoð-þrāge, ​þrēa-nȳd þolað,þenden þǣr wunað 285on hēah-stedehūsa sēlest.” Weard maþelode,ðǣr on wicge saet, ombeht unforht:“Ǣghwaþres sceal scearp scyld-wigagescād witan, worda ond worca,sē þe wel þenceð. 290Ic þæt gehȳre,þæt þis is hold weorod frēan Scyldinga.Gewītaþ forð beran wǣpen ond gewǣdu,ic ēow wīsige;
swylce ic magu-þegnasmīne hāte wið fēonda gehwoneflotan ēowerne, 295nīw-tyrwydnenacan on sande, ārum healdan,oþ þæt eft byreð ofer lagu-strēa*maslēofne mannanFol. 136b. wudu wunden-halstō Weder-mearce. Gōd-fremmendraswylcum gifeþe bið, 300þæt þone hilde-rǣshāl gedīgeð.” Gewiton him þā fēran;flota stille bād, seomode on sālesīd-fæþmed scip, on ancre fæst.Eofor-līc scionon ​ ofer hlēor-ber[g]an,gehroden golde, 305fāh ond fȳr-heard;ferh wearde hēold. Gūþmōd grummon,guman ōnetton, sigon ætsomne,oþ þæt hȳ [s]æl timbred, geatolīc ond gold-fāh,ongyton mihton; þæt wæs fore-mǣrostfold-būendum 310receda underroderum, on þǣm se rīca bād; līxte se lēomaofer landa fela. Him þā hilde-dēor[h]of mōdigra torht getǣhte,þæt hīe him tō mihton gegnum gangan;gūð-beorna sum 315wicg gewende,word æfter cwæð: “Mǣl is mē tō fēran;Fæder al-walda mid ār-stafumēowic gehealde sīða gesunde!Ic tō sǣ wille wið *wrāð werodwearde healdan.”Fol. 137a.
* ↑ 274. Zupitza says: “now only scea left.” Only Thorkelin’s first transcript has sceaðona.
* ↑ 275. Grein’s Glossary gives: “dǣd-hata m. der durch Thaten hasst oder verfolgt? oder dǣd-hāta facinora spondens vel moliens?” Earle adopts the latter reading, and translates ‘author of deeds.’
* ↑ 299. Grundtvig’s needless emendation gūð-fremmendra is followed by some editors and by Earle.
* ↑ 301—3. Heyne puts “flota……faest” in a parenthesis, with a semi-colon at the close.
* ↑ 302. MS. ‘sole.’ For the emendation cf. ll. 226, 1906, and 1917, and mod. “riding on a hawser.” The MS. reading is not impossible. It is from sol, mod. Kent, sole, a muddy pool.
* ↑ 303—5. These lines have given rise to much discussion and many suggestions. Bugge takes eofor as the subject of hēold, ferh- (for feorh-) wearde, “life-guard,” as the object, and līc-scīonon, “of handsome form,” as the dat. sing, of an adj. referring to Beowulf.
* ↑ 303. Grein’s Glossary gives scionon as a second form of scinon, pret. pi. of scīnan, “shine,” but adds: “wenn letzteres nicht zu einem redupl. Verbum scānan scēon gehört.” This supposition is quite needless; in l. 3170 we find a pret. pi. riodan = ridon, “rode,” of the same ablaut-class, showing the same effect of u-umlaut. Sievers § 376.
* ↑ 304. MS. ‘hleor beran’; Grein ‘hlēor-beran,’ dat. sg., visor?; Gering ‘hlēor-ber[g]an,’ acc. pl., cheek-guards.
* ↑ 306. Kemble ‘gūð-mōd[e].
* ↑ 307. MS. ‘æltimbred’; Grein ‘sæl timbred.’
* ↑ 312. MS. ‘of,’ in spite of the alliteration.