UC-NRLF 
 
 ^B 3Dfi 3D7 
 
 mj^ O 
 
 mtih 
 
 1 
 
 
 BEOWULF AND THE OLD WIFE OF THE £Rf. 
 
 iiMfl{^i-A^ [RA<r'<c>^o/f^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON 
 1900 
 
BERKELEY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 «T>r7GiTi0i umi 
 
t^ ^x:>. /^^ // 
 
 ^ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/beowulfheroofangOOragorich 
 
Uales ot tbe Iberoic Uqcb 
 
 Siegfried, Hero of the North 
 
 Beowulf, Hero of the Anglo=Saxons 
 
 Frithjof, Viking of Norway 
 
 Roland, Paladin of France 
 
 121110, boards 
 
 WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON 
 New York 
 
XTales of tf3e Iberoic Uqcs 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 THE HERO OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS 
 
 BY 
 
 ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN 
 
 Member of the Societe Ethnologique and Athenee Oriental, Paris ; of the 
 
 American Oriental Society ; of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great 
 
 Britain and Ireland ; of the Anglo-Russian Literary Society, 
 
 London ; of the Historical Society of the University of Texas. 
 
 Author of "History of the World," "Story of Chaldea," "Story of 
 
 Assyria," "Story of Media, Babylon and Persia," "Story of Vedic 
 
 India," "Tales of Heroic Ages," "Siegfried, Hero of the 
 
 North and Kriemhilde's Great Revenge," " Frithjof, 
 
 Viking of Norway," "Roland, Paladin of France." 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE T. TOBIN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON 
 
 1900 
 
Copyright, 1898 
 
 BY 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 /r OMCaJ ^^-L 
 
 6-<-/w 
 
 Ube ftnicfterbocher press, flew J^orb 
 
Contents 
 
 BEOWULF 
 
 Prologue 
 
 LA V I.—GRENDEL 
 
 I. — Heorot 
 
 II. — Grendel 
 
 III. — A Friend in Need 
 IV. — The Warden .... 
 V. — The Arrival .... 
 VI. — The Reception and thk Pledge 
 VII.— The Feast .... 
 VIII.— The Combat .... 
 IX. — Rejoicings and Thanksgivings 
 X. — Heorot Restored — Feasting and Gifts 
 
 LAY II.— GRENDEL' S MOTHER 
 
 I. — The Avenger 
 II.— The Mere 
 III. — Under the Waters 
 IV.— The Return . 
 V. — Last Words . 
 Vr. — Homeward Bound 
 VII.— At Home 
 
 PAGE 
 213 
 
 219 
 222 
 226 
 228 
 231 
 234 
 237 
 244 
 249 
 253 
 
 259 
 263 
 267 
 272 
 275 
 283 
 287 
 
 LAY III— THE DRAGON 
 
 I. — The Treasure 294 
 
 II. — The Attack 299 
 
 III. — WiGLAF 304 
 
 IV, — Victory and Death 307 
 
 v.— Wiglaf's Rebuke— Dismay and Tears . 313 
 
 VI. — The Obsequies 318 
 
 Note on the " Beowulf " 323 
 
 806 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 AMONG the nations of the far North, 
 there was none braver, more hardy, 
 nobler, than the Danes — none whose deeds 
 in war were sung of more proudly at the 
 feasts of earl and thane. Many were the 
 kings whose names came from the in- 
 spired lips of Skalds, as their hands struck 
 the stringed harp, in warlike or in mourn- 
 ful chords ; but of these names none were 
 treasured more reverently than those of 
 the Skyldings, the oldest royal house 
 known to Danish tradition. It is a very 
 long time — over a thousand years — since 
 the Danes ruled in England. Yet even 
 then the deeds of the Skyldings were 
 tales of long ago. So long ago that they 
 had become mixed up with much fable ; 
 and especially the beginnings of the fa- 
 
 213 
 
214 Beowulf 
 
 mous race were so Intertwined with the 
 wonders of heathen Scandinavian anti- 
 quity that it has never been possible ta 
 decide exactly how much was history and 
 how much myth. 
 
 The father of the race, Skyld of the 
 Sheaf, was great in the memory of his 
 people. With his nobles — his ethelings — 
 he had wrested lands and glory from many 
 a neighbouring tribe — aye, and many a 
 distant one, too ; the dread of him fell on 
 the bravest warriors ; he waxed great un~ 
 der the sun, he flourished in peace, till 
 that every one of the neighbouring peo- 
 ples over the sea was constrained to obey^ 
 him and pay tribute ; and the world said 
 of him when he died, '' That was a good 
 king!" 
 
 Yet Skyld was not born to the crown. 
 In fact no one knew anything of his birtk 
 and parentage. He was sent, it was said, 
 just when the country had need of a de- 
 liverer and leader. He had come one 
 day, — so the story ran, — over the sea, in a 
 beautiful ship, a new-born infant, bedded 
 on sheaves of wheat, when the Danish. 
 
Prologue 215 
 
 people were in sore distress because of 
 the wickedness of the man who was, at: 
 the time, king over them. 
 
 This man's name, Heremod, went down,, 
 unforgotten, but unhonoured, through: 
 many a generation, a by-word for bad 
 monarchs. He was, in everything, the di- 
 rect contrary of what a good ruler ought 
 to be. He used his power, not for his 
 nobles' benefit or pleasure, but to deal 
 them wanton harm and even death. For 
 his ungovernable temper grew on him,, 
 until, in his furious fits, he would strike 
 and kill, though it were his closest follow- 
 ers, his companions at the board and in 
 the battle. In his soul there grew a 
 bloodthirsty passion, and he suffered the 
 penalty of his evil doings in the estrange- 
 ment of his friends, the settled dislike of 
 his people, until at last they would stand 
 his presence no longer, and he wandered 
 forth alone, away from all human society, 
 and was never heard of more. It was 
 then that Skyld, the mysterious found- 
 ling, the Heaven-sent, seized on the gov- 
 ernment, brought order and plenty into 
 
2i6 Beowulf 
 
 the land, and won love from his people^ 
 respect from his foes. 
 
 A son was born to King Skyld in 
 his prime, a beautiful child, whom God 
 sent for the people's comfort and solace — 
 Beowulf, sole heir to the throne. From 
 his earliest years he was full of promise, 
 a model of what a young chief should 
 be while still in his father's care — 
 always ready with gracious words and 
 open hand, so that in his riper age will- 
 ing comrades in return were ready to 
 stand by him in war, and men gladly 
 did his bidding. Then, surrounded and 
 assisted by devoted friends who grew 
 up with him, he was enabled to perform 
 deeds which filled the world with praise 
 of him. 
 
 As for Skyld, he departed, in the ful- 
 ness of time, ripe in honours and years, 
 to go into the Master's keeping. His 
 faithful comrades then carried him forth 
 to the shore of the sea, as he himself had 
 ordered. The black, heavy earth should 
 have no part in him ; the sea had brought 
 him, the ever-moving, many-hued ; the 
 
Prologue 217 
 
 sea should bear him hence, after his long 
 years of power. 
 
 There at anchor rode the ship, glisten- 
 ing fresh, outward bound, fit for a prince. 
 Down they laid their illustrious dead, the 
 dear chief of the land, dispenser of boun- 
 ties, on the lap of the ship, by the mast. 
 There was great store of precious things ; 
 ornaments from remote parts, weapons of 
 rare worth, mail armour finely wrought, 
 and harness glittering in silver and in 
 gold ; a multitude of treasures, which were 
 to pass with him far away into the watery 
 realm. Furthermore they set by him the 
 royal banner, gold-broidered, high over his 
 head. As its folds unfurled and glittered 
 in the breeze, it told the skies, and the 
 sun, and the stars of night, that a King 
 went forth into the world, on his last voy- 
 age. They set the helm, and gave him 
 over to the ocean, sad at heart, with tear- 
 dimmed eyes, and silent in their mourn- 
 ing. And Who received that burthen — 
 no man under heaven, be it priest or chief- 
 tain or wise seer, can ever tell or know. 
 
 Thus Skyld of the Sheaf was honoured 
 
2l8 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 in death after the manner of the mighty 
 dead of oldest times among the strong- 
 hearted sons of the North. From the 
 Unknown he came and into the Unknown 
 was borne away. 
 
LAY I 
 
 GRENDEL 
 
 HEOROT 
 
 THEN Beowulf of the Skyldings sat in 
 the seat of his father, loved of his 
 people, for a long time famous among the 
 nations, and was succeeded in turn by his 
 son. The royal race of the Skyldings 
 prospered greatly, and when the crown 
 came to his grandson Hrothgar, its great- 
 ness seemed assured for all time. Hroth- 
 gar was a youth of goodly parts ; brave 
 and ambitious in war, yet delighting in 
 the gentle works of peace, a born com- 
 mander always. So that his brothers and 
 cousins gladly took him for their leader, 
 219 
 
2 20 Beowulf 
 
 and a young brood of devoted clansmen 
 grew up around him, valiant in battle, 
 merry companions at the board. With 
 these he did some mighty deeds, winning 
 renown and riches, when they were young 
 together, and as together they grew old, 
 he loved to sit with them at the feast, en- 
 joying well-earned rest, rehearsing the 
 toils and joys of the brave old days, and 
 listening to sweet minstrelsy from the lips 
 of God-inspired bards. 
 
 Now Hrothgar was very wealthy and 
 his comrades were too many for an ordi- 
 nary hall, even that of a king's palace. 
 So he bethought him of having men build 
 for him a great banqueting-hall, greater 
 than the children of men had ever heard 
 tell of, that he might spend there happy, 
 careless days, dealing out freely to old 
 and young the goods that God had blessed 
 him with. 
 
 The fame of the work spread rapidly 
 and widely, and more than one tribe curi- 
 ously watched its progress. It came to 
 an end with a quickness which surprised 
 all men, and there the fair structure stood. 
 
Heorot 
 
 221 
 
 towering aloft into the blue air, the great- 
 est of all hall buildings, a gathering place 
 for happy men, defying destruction except 
 from the irresistible might of fire. It was 
 called Heorot — Hart-hall — because of the 
 noble crown of antlers which ran round 
 the eaves of the building, — and the open- 
 ing banquet was an event long remem- 
 bered in the land, from the bountiful 
 hospitality dispensed by the King and the 
 wealth of gifts, in rings and other precious 
 things, which he gave away with almost 
 reckless lavishness on this occasion. 
 
II 
 
 GRENDEL 
 
 BUT there was one apart from all this 
 joy who was consumed with malice 
 and with hatred, who vowed to turn the 
 joy into direst grief, the shouts of glad- 
 ness into moans and wails, ere many days 
 had come and gone. True, no human 
 wight was he, but one of the unholy brood 
 of monsters, accursed of God, who dwell 
 in moors, fens, and swamps, remote from 
 God-fearing men, ever bent on doing hell's 
 work of harm and destruction — the unblest 
 posterity (so wise men tell) of Cain, the 
 first shedder of innocent blood. 
 
 To this Grendel, this outcast creature, 
 dwelling in darkness, it was torture un- 
 bearable to hear the sounds of rejoicing 
 day by day, as they came, borne by the 
 
 222 
 
Grendel 223 
 
 wind to him, across the moor — the tender 
 sighing of the harp, the ringing song of 
 the minstrel. 
 
 Once, one skilled in holy song told of 
 the creation of the world : how the Al- 
 rnighty made the earth, radiant with 
 beauty, and the waters that encompass it, 
 delighting in His work ; and how He or^ 
 dained the siin and the moon, for light to 
 the dwellers on the earth, and made the 
 woods beautiful with boughs and leaves ; 
 and how He put life into all the things 
 that breathe and move. 
 
 Grimly the wicked one hearkened to the 
 strain, which fed his unholy fury until it 
 craved for slaughter, fell, immediate. 
 
 He set out that very night, as soon as 
 darkness descended, made straight for 
 the lofty hall. He did not much fear de- 
 tection, for he knew that after such a 
 carousal the warriors would be overcome 
 with sleep. And truly, there they lay, in 
 the hall itself, with their weapons by their 
 side, yet helpless as unarmed women. He 
 went, and, in their sleep, seized and killed 
 thirty of the thanes ; then hied him back 
 
224 Beowulf 
 
 to his moor with the war spoils, yelling 
 with fierce joy. 
 
 Then was there a great cry in the grey 
 morning. The voice of weeping was 
 raised where but now the song of gladness 
 had filled the air. Dazed and woe-begone, 
 the King sat in his high place, and wept 
 for his thanes. But when, the very next 
 night, Grendel returned and committed 
 even greater murder, and again and 
 again after that, terror seized on them all. 
 Men kept in close hiding from nightfall 
 to break of day, then gradually left their 
 own well-appointed homes, sleeping in 
 barns or in the open, away from dwell- 
 ings, wherever they thought they could 
 best bestow themselves for safety ; but 
 naught availed to save. For twelve win- 
 ters' space the baleful fiend warred single- 
 handed against the Skyldings and their 
 friends, till all the best houses stood de- 
 serted. Unbounded were the sorrows of 
 that dreadful time, unspeakable the dis- 
 tress, and the fame thereof was carried to 
 foreign lands in ballads and moving tales. 
 Men dared not go within miles of the 
 fated moor ; so travel was stopped, trib- 
 
Grendel 225 
 
 ute remained unpaid ; for the foul ruffian, 
 a dark shadow of death prowled about 
 and lay in wait. Of night he continually 
 held the misty moors ; and no one knew 
 what way the hellish birth moved in his 
 rounds, for never was the monster seen of 
 man. As to Heorot, the richly decorated 
 hall, Grendel made that his headquarters, 
 and occupied it every dark night. Only 
 he was never able to come near the throne, 
 because it stood on a consecrated spot, 
 and was hallowed by priestly benison. 
 
 A great affliction, heart-breaking, was 
 this that had come on the Skyldings and 
 their friends. Many a time and oft did 
 the best and wisest sit in council, seeking 
 what were best be done in these awful 
 straits. So sorely were they bested, that 
 they forgot at times that they were Christ- 
 ians, and more than once craved help 
 against the goblin visitant from the old 
 heathen gods, vowing sacrifices at their 
 secret shrines. 
 
 Thus was King Hrothgar perpetually 
 tossed with the trouble of that time, and 
 not all his wisdom availed to ward off the 
 evil. 
 
Ill 
 
 A FRIEND IN NEED 
 
 THERE lived at that time among the 
 Goths, at the right hand of their King, 
 Hygelac, a young thane, his cousin, of the 
 name of Beowulf. He was, as his name be- 
 tokened, one of the Skylding race, but only 
 in the female line. Young as he was, he 
 had won for himself a name of wide re- 
 nown as a hero of high achievement and 
 the mightiest among all the men of his time. 
 Now, this brave thane, in his distant 
 home, heard of the misdeeds of Grendel, 
 and his heart ached for the aged King, the 
 evening of whose days was clouded over 
 by such unheard-of tribulation. He made 
 up his mind to help, and sued to King 
 Hygelac for permission to undertake the 
 venture with a few picked comrades. His 
 friends of the King's council and board 
 226 
 
A Friend in Need 227 
 
 praised the gallant youth to the skies. 
 They egged on his daring spirit, they took 
 omens and consulted signs on his behalf; 
 but they did not begrudge him the advent- 
 ure, wise men that they were, even though 
 he was dear to them. 
 
 Beowulf ordered a good ship to be made 
 ready for him, to take him over the road 
 that swans travel.^ He selected fourteen 
 champions among the Goths, the keenest 
 he could find, and went to sea with them^ 
 having made sure ofa skilful, experienced 
 pilot, who knew the shallows and the 
 deeps. Like a bird the good ship, tight- 
 timbered, slender-necked, sped before the 
 wind, and made such way that on the next 
 day already the eager voyagers saw land, 
 gleaming cliffs, hills towering, headlands 
 stretching out to sea : the passage was 
 ended. Lightly the ethelings sprang 
 ashore, made fast the ship, shook out their 
 garments, saw to their arms, and gave 
 thanks to God for that their seafaring had 
 been easy. 
 
 ' Literally true : the North Sea is the " path of the swans" 
 and to this day wild swans abound on the coast of Norway. 
 
IV 
 
 THE WARDEN 
 
 WHILE Beowulf and his friends were 
 busy with their landing, thinking 
 only of the work before them, the Skyl- 
 dings warden, he whose duty it was to 
 guard the sea-cliffs and report any stran- 
 gers that hove in sight, espied them from 
 his high watch-place. Moved by curiosity 
 as much as by duty, he rode down to the 
 beach in great excitement, brandishing a 
 powerful, huge lance, and demanded, in no 
 gentle terms, to know the strangers' errand 
 and nationality, before they could be al- 
 lowed to proceed any farther into the land 
 of the Danes. 
 
 Beowulf at once stepped forth and spoke 
 up for all, with a dignity and courtesy which 
 shamed the rude officer into more manly 
 228 
 
The Warden 229 
 
 behaviour. He gave a full account of him- 
 self, then concluded : 
 
 *' We have come with friendly intent to 
 visit thy lord. We have a great message 
 to him ; nor is there, to my mind, any need 
 to keep it dark. For it is no secret that 
 the Skyldings are in great tribulation be- 
 cause of a mysterious fiend, who has been 
 vexing them for years with his nightly de- 
 predations. Now I can teach Hrothgar the 
 remedy, and bring back better times. This 
 I say in all sincerity of heart." 
 
 To this speech the warden replied in 
 greatly altered tones : 
 
 '* I gather from what I hear that this is 
 a friendly band come to visit the lord of 
 the Skyldings. But it is a faithful ser- 
 vant's part to question sharply and to gain 
 certainty on all points before he commits 
 his k)rd. Keep your arms and march on : 
 I will guide you. Likewise will I com- 
 mand my kinsmen thanes honourably to 
 keep against every foe your vessel here 
 on the beach." 
 
 Upon this invitation the troop gaily left 
 their ship riding safely at her anchor, and 
 
230 Beowulf 
 
 eagerly pressed forward, until their eyes 
 beheld the far-famed hall, Heorot the gold- 
 roofed, most renowned of all mansions un- 
 der the sky. Then the warden pointed 
 with his hand to the road which led straight 
 to it, wheeled round his horse, and spoke 
 a parting word : 
 
 '' It is time for me to go. May the all- 
 wielding Father graciously keep you safe 
 in adventures ! As for me, I must hie me 
 back to the shore, to keep my watch against 
 foes from the sea." 
 
THE ARRIVAL 
 
 THE road was stone-paven, and so 
 straight, there was no need of a guide. 
 Beowulf and his band marched up to the 
 Hall in grim, warlike guise, their burnished 
 corslets shining, the iron rings of their 
 mail shirts clanging loud. When they 
 reached the mansion, the weary men set 
 down their broad shields, leaning them 
 against the wall, and seated themselves in 
 silence on the bench before the entrance, 
 after stacking their spears together, ready 
 to their hand. Thus they waited in dig- 
 nified silence for somebody to come from 
 King Hrothgar and challenge them. 
 
 Very soon an officer appeared and put 
 the customary questions, to which he 
 added some respectful compliments : 
 231 
 
232 Beowulf 
 
 '' I am," he said, " Hrothgar's herald 
 and esquire. Never saw I foreigners of 
 loftier mien. I think that ye have come 
 to visit Hrothgar, not from desperate fort- 
 unes, but bound on some high undertak- 
 
 To which the proud leader replied with 
 gallant bearing : 
 
 *' We are Hygelac's own table-fellows. 
 My name is Beowulf. I will myself ex- 
 pound mine errand to thy lord, if so he 
 deign to admit us to his presence." 
 
 The officer, Wulfgar by name, hastened 
 forthwith to where Hrothgar sat, old and 
 hoary, and bent with grief, amid his de- 
 spondent warriors, and not only told of 
 the valiant guests from the land of the 
 Goths and their petition, but advised him 
 to give them a friendly reception. In the 
 deep distress of these sorry times, it 
 seemed as though any change must be for 
 the better, and every stranger must bring 
 hope. 
 
 The sad old King brightened at mention 
 of Beowulf's name, whose father he had 
 known in the dear departed days of golden 
 
The Arrival 
 
 233 
 
 youth, and whose own renown he pleasur- 
 ably recalled. . 
 
 '' This son," he said, " I mind him well. 
 I knew him when he was a page. He has 
 grown into a valiant campaigner. It is 
 said that he has thirty men's strength in 
 his handgrip. Surely God of His grace 
 hath sent him to us in our great need. 
 Bid him and his men, one and all, into my 
 presence straight, with every martial hon- 
 our. Say to them, moreover, in words, 
 that they are welcome." 
 
, 
 
 -^||V^^. 
 
 Sj$^?<*v5^i^<**? 
 
 
 /'VJ 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 l^^S^^Wi 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^W 
 
 ^r^SJj^ ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 •J 
 
 VI 
 
 THE RECEPTION AND THE PLEDGE 
 
 WULFGAR, nothing loth, took the 
 royal message to the waiting 
 guests and ushered them into the royal 
 presence in full warlike equipment, helm 
 on head, sword on hip. Beowulf, tall and 
 commanding, his corslet of cunningly link- 
 ed mail shining as a network of lights, 
 took his stand before the King, and, with 
 firm eye and becoming assurance, spoke 
 thus at length of what was nearest to his 
 and the Danes' hearts : 
 
 ''To Hrothgar hail ! I am King Hyge- 
 lac's cousin-thane. Many a deed of daring 
 was mine in youngsterhood. All that ye 
 suffer here from Grendel became known 
 to us in Gothland. Seafaring men told us 
 how that this hall, this most princely fabric, 
 23d 
 
The Reception and the Pledge 235 
 
 stands useless and empty each night, as 
 soon as the star of day is hidden from 
 view. Then did my people, the wisest 
 and best among them, urge me that I 
 should visit thee, O royal Hrothgar. Be- 
 cause they knew the strength of my arm 
 of their own knowledge : time and again 
 they had seen me return from the field 
 battered by foes, but never beaten ; five 
 monsters I bound on land, and in the 
 waves I slew many a nicor^ in the night- 
 time. And now I am bound to champion 
 thy quarrel, O King, single-handed, 
 against Grendel, the evil giant. But one 
 petition I have, which thou, O Shelter of 
 the Danes, wilt not refuse to one who is 
 come from far to serve thee : it is that I 
 may have the task alone— I and my band 
 of earls — to purge Heorot. And as I 
 have learnt that the terrible one, out of 
 sheer boastfulness, despises the use of 
 weapons, so I too will forego them, and 
 bear not sword, nor spear, nor broad 
 
 *" Nicors " are mischievous water-sprites, who delight in 
 making trouble for ships and sailors. The feminine in Ger- 
 man is " Nixe," the beautiful water-maiden who lures mortals 
 down into her watery abode. 
 
236 Beowulf 
 
 shield to my battle with him ; but with 
 handgrip alone will I meet him, foe to 
 foe, and him of the two whom the Lord 
 doometh, let grim Death take for his own. 
 
 " Should the doom fall upon me," Be- 
 owulf went on, " thou wilt not, O King, be 
 put to the trouble of building a mound 
 over my head. For if all tales of Grendel 
 be true, he will bear away the gory corpse, 
 to feast on it in his lonely moor. But this 
 do thou for love of me ; send to Hygelac 
 the matchless armour that protects my 
 breast — it is a work of Weland, cunning- 
 est of smiths, and such are not made now- 
 adays ; meet gift from a departing friend." 
 
 #- 
 

 
 ^m 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 S^p 
 
 ^^S 
 
 ^^^W 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 VII 
 THE FEAST 
 
 TO this speech, manly and heroic, H roth- 
 gar made reply in many words — for 
 age is not sparing of its breath in words. 
 He gave thanks to the God-sent young 
 champion ; he went back to the deeds of 
 his youth, in company with his brothers 
 and many brave comrades long dead ; he 
 dwelt on the horrors of these latter years. 
 Then, at length bethinking himself that 
 the wayfarers must be a-weary and a- 
 hungered, he said to the chief : 
 
 *' But now sit thee down to the banquet 
 with thy fellows, and merrily share the 
 feast as the spirit moves thee." 
 
 A table was promptly cleared for the 
 Goths. Thither they went, and sat in the 
 pride of their strength. A thane at- 
 237 
 
238 Beowulf 
 
 tended to their wants, going from one to 
 the other with a mighty ale-can of hand- 
 some workmanship. Again and again he 
 poured out the golden ale. At times a 
 minstrel's voice rose in Heorot, ringing 
 and clear, and there was right brave merri- 
 ment and good-will in this mixed company 
 of Goths and Danes. 
 
 Yet was there one eye that gleamed 
 not with merriment and good-will, one head 
 that hatched no friendly thoughts, because 
 the heart swelled with malice and envy. 
 Unferth it was, the King's own story-teller, 
 who sat at his feet, to be ready at all times 
 to amuse him. He broached a quarrel- 
 some theme — an adventure in Beowulf's 
 early youth, the only contest in his record 
 the issue of which, though hard fought, 
 might be called doubtful. For this Un- 
 ferth was an envious wight, whose soul 
 grudged that any man should achieve 
 greater things than himself. 
 
 " Art thou not," he began tauntingly, 
 " that same Beowulf who strove with Breca 
 on open sea in a swimming match, in which 
 ye both wantonly exposed your lives, and 
 
The Feast ' 239 
 
 no man, either friend or foe, could turn 
 you from the foohsh venture ? A se'n- 
 night ye twain toiled .in the realm of the 
 waters, and, if I err not, he outdid thee 
 in swimming, for he had greater strength. 
 Wherefore I fear me much thou mayest 
 meet with sorry luck if thou darest to 
 bide here for Grendel for the space of a 
 whole night." 
 
 Beowulf, though angered, controlled his 
 temper and replied with great coolness : 
 
 " Big things are these, friend Unferth, 
 which thou hast spoken ; evidently, good 
 ale has loosened thy wits. Yes, — Breca 
 and I used to talk between ourselves when 
 we were pages, and brag each of his prow- 
 ess, being but youngsters, and so we made 
 up the foolish match between us, and hav- 
 ing made it, we stuck to it. Drawn sword 
 in hand we went into the water : we meant 
 to guard ourselves against sea-monsters 
 and water-sprites. Five nights we kept 
 close together, then the flood parted us. 
 It was a dark night, freezing cold, and a 
 fierce wind from the north came dead 
 against us, the waves running rough and 
 
240 ' Beowulf 
 
 high. One spotty monster dragged me 
 to the bottom ; but I did not lose my grip 
 on my sword and despatched the mighty 
 sea-brute. I know not how many more I 
 fought and killed : it was a grewsome 
 night. At last, light broke in the east, 
 and the waves grew calmer, so I could see 
 the headlands, and the sea cast me up on 
 the shore. I escaped with my life, though 
 worn and spent, and never heard I of 
 harder fight, or of man sorer distressed. 
 Anyhow, it was my good luck that I slew 
 with the sword nine nicors. So many 
 less were left to play havoc with seafaring 
 ships. Therefore, methinks I may rightly 
 claim that I have proved more sea-prow- 
 ess, endured more buffetings from waves^ 
 than any other man." 
 
 Thus Beowulf told of his youthful prank. 
 Then turning upon Unferth with flashing 
 eye and clouded brow — 
 
 *' Of a sooth," he cried, " I say to thee, 
 Unferth, that never had Grendel, the foul 
 ruffian, made up such a tale of horrors, 
 wrought such disgrace in Heorot, if thy 
 spirit were as high as thou wouldst claim 
 
The Feast 241 
 
 for thyself. But he has found out that 
 he has not much to fear from the mighty 
 Danes ; so he takes blackmail, and slaugh- 
 ters and feasts at his ease. But now the 
 Goth shall ere long show him another kind 
 of spirit, and when the light of another 
 day rises over the world, then shall all 
 who choose walk proudly into the hall^ 
 with head erect." 
 
 This speech, so brave and cheery, glad- 
 dened the old King's heart, and even the 
 Danes applauded it, although it held a 
 bitter sting : they took it as a well-de- 
 served hit at the unmannerly Unferth. 
 So laughter greeted Beowulf's words, 
 music sounded again, jolly drinking-songs 
 filled the hall ; and none seemed to re- 
 member — although at heart none forgot 
 it — that night was coming on, and what 
 it was to bring. 
 
 And now, behold ! Hrothgar's royal 
 consort, Queen Wealhtheow, well versed 
 in ceremonies and courtly lore, entered 
 the hall, resplendent in cloth of gold, to 
 honour her husband's guests with a 
 
 gracious word and a draught of sweet 
 
 16 
 
242 Beowulf 
 
 mead from her own royal hands. Her 
 stately greeting took in all the men in the 
 hall ; then she presented the beaker with 
 graceful obeisance to her lord, wishing 
 him blithe at the banquet, and happy in 
 his liegemen's love. Then she went the 
 round of the hall, to elder and younger, 
 and to each she handed the jewelled cup, 
 until she came to where Beowulf was 
 sitting among the young ethelings. With 
 befitting dignity she greeted the leader of 
 the Goths, as he stood before her, thank- 
 ing God with wise choice of words that her 
 heart's desire had come to pass. He, 
 the hero of many battles, took the beaker 
 from her hand, and, ere he drained it, 
 repeated his solemn pledge : 
 
 '' When I went on board and sat in my 
 ship, as she sped over the waters, with 
 this my chosen band, I vowed I would 
 work out the deliverance of your people. 
 I am bound as an earl to fulfil my vow, or 
 in this hall to meet my death to-night." 
 
 He quaffed the mead, and she, the 
 noble lady, inclined her diademed head 
 as she took from him the cup, for his 
 
^^*»' 
 
The Feast 243 
 
 words were, well to her liking. Then 
 slowly, with trailing robes, she walked to 
 the head of the hall, to sit by her lord. 
 
 For some time yet the banqueting went 
 on as merrily as ever, — until the daylight 
 began to wane, when suddenly song and 
 laughter died on the revellers' lips, and 
 King Hrothgar bethought himself that it 
 was time to retire, for he knew that the 
 monster came forth when shrouding night 
 decends and the creatures of darkness go 
 stalking abroad. In silence all the com- 
 pany arose. 
 
 Hrothgar greeted Beowulf and spoke 
 solemn words : 
 
 '' Never before, since my hand lifted 
 shield, did I entrust the Guard-house of 
 the Danes to any man, — never but now 
 to thee. Have and hold the sacred house 
 against the foe. Be watchful, valiant, and 
 may victory wait on thee ! No wish of 
 thine shall go unfulfilled if thou dost per- 
 form the great work and livest to tell it." 
 
 Thus spoke Hrothgar the Skylding, 
 and gravely departed from the hall, with 
 his Queen, followed by his men. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE COMBAT 
 
 SILENTLY Beowulf looked after the 
 Danes ; silently he began to divest 
 himself of his armour, mindful of his vow 
 to fight the goblin bare-handed. He 
 laid off his shining mail, his helmet and 
 his sword of choicest steel, and gave them 
 in charge to his esquire ; then he stretched 
 himself on the floor and laid his cheek on 
 a pillow. For the hall had meanwhile 
 been promptly cleared of tables and 
 benches, which were pushed against the 
 walls, and couches of soft pelts and rugs 
 were spread on the floor. His comrades 
 did likewise. Not that rest came to any 
 of them at first ; for not one thought in 
 his heart he should ever again see his 
 own folk, his native land, the castle where 
 244 
 
The Combat 245 
 
 he was nurtured. But even as they kept 
 turning these things over in their minds^ 
 their Hmbs relaxed, their Hds grew heavy 
 with very weariness, and — they slept. All 
 slept, but one, — and he lay quite still,, 
 straining his ear to listen and his eye to 
 peer through the dim night. 
 
 And hark ! tramp, tramp, he came 
 marching from the moor, — Grendel, the 
 God-sent scourge. Straight for the hall 
 he made through the gloom : it was not 
 the first time he visited Hrothgar's home- 
 stead ; but never had he met such a 
 welcome as now awaited him there. 
 
 He came carelessly along, as one assured 
 of his entertainment. The door, though 
 fastened with bars of wrought iron, sprang 
 open at his touch. Quickly he stepped 
 across the flagged floor, big with rage, 
 with eyes ablaze. Suddenly he perceived 
 the troop of strange warriors, lying close 
 together, asleep. He laughed aloud. He 
 gloated as he stood over them, and thought 
 that, ere day came, the life of each of them 
 should have been wrenched from the body, 
 since luck had sent him such a treat. 
 
246 Beowulf 
 
 Beowulf curbed his rage to watch the 
 fell ruffian and see how he meant to pro- 
 ceed. The delay was not long : Grendel 
 quickly, at one grab, seized a sleeping 
 warrior, tore him up, crunched the bony 
 frame, drank the blood from the veins, 
 swallowed the flesh in huge morsels ; in 
 a trice he had devoured the lifeless body, 
 feet, hands, and all. Then he stepped 
 forward to where the hero lay, and reached 
 out a hand to seize him on his bed — but 
 suddenly felt his arm held tight in such 
 a grip as he had never met with from any 
 man in all the world. He knew at once 
 that he was in an evil plight — in mortal 
 fear he strove to wrench himself free and 
 flee. This was not the entertainment he 
 had been wont to meet there in bygone 
 days. 
 
 Now all were awake, and the hall was 
 in an uproar. And over at the castle, a 
 deadly panic came over all the Danes, 
 noble or simple, brave men as they were. 
 Furious were both the maddened champ- 
 ions ; the hall resounded with their wrest- 
 ling. It was a great wonder the building 
 
The Combat 247 
 
 did not fall to the ground ; only that it 
 was inwardly and outwardly made strong 
 with iron stanchions, with such masterly 
 skill. In this night of terror it made good 
 the Danes' boast that no mortal force short 
 of fire would ever be able to wreck it. 
 
 The noise rose high, with increasing 
 violence. The Danes outside were numb 
 with horror at the unearthly shrieks and 
 dismal bowlings of the God -forsaken 
 fiend. Many an earl of Beowulf's un- 
 sheathed and plunged into the fight ; they 
 knew not that they could not help their 
 leader, much as they desired it, for that 
 no choicest blade on earth could touch 
 that destroyer, because he had secured 
 himself by spells and incantations against 
 weapons of all kinds. But he was not 
 proof against human heroic might, and 
 from that he now got his death-wound, 
 as Beowulf, with a desperate grip and tug, 
 wrenched his arm off from the shoulder. 
 With a terrific yell, which told the listen- 
 ing Danes that the dire struggle was 
 ended, and victory won by their champ- 
 ion, Grendel fled to the coverts of the 
 
248 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 fen : v/ell he knew that the number of 
 his days was full. 
 
 Thus was the valiant champion's pledge 
 redeemed ; thus was Heorot purged. The 
 leader of the Goths had made good his 
 vaunt, and, in token thereof, he hung up 
 Grendel's hand, arm, and shoulder — grim 
 trophy ! — under the gabled roof. 
 
IX 
 
 REJOICINGS AND THANKSGIVINGS 
 
 EA R L Y in the morning there was a great 
 gathering about the hall. Chieftains 
 came from far and near, to hear the mar- 
 vellous tale, to gaze at the loathsome pro- 
 digy. Then they took up the vanquished 
 monster's bloody trail, and followed it to 
 the Nicors' Mere, whither, death-doomed 
 and fugitive, he had betaken himself to 
 die. There was the face of the lake surg- 
 ing with blood, the gruesome plash of 
 waves all turbid with reeking gore. There 
 he had yielded up his heathen soul, there 
 pale-faced Hela, the dread queen and 
 guardian of the heathen dead, received it. 
 After surveying the uncanny spot, they 
 rode home from the Mere in high glee, as 
 from a pleasure-trip. Now and then one 
 249 
 
250 Beowulf 
 
 and the other loosened their nags for a 
 gallop, to run a match where the turf 
 looked smooth and inviting. Then again 
 a thane of the King's, his mind full of 
 ballads, stored with old-world tales, began 
 to compose Beowulf's adventure into a 
 story on the spot, to be sung later at the 
 feast, to the sweet-stringed harp. Or yet 
 another compared him to Siegfried, the 
 Dragon-slayer, the greatest hero of all 
 North countries. 
 
 Thus, alternately racing and talking and 
 singing, they rode joyously back to the 
 hall, and when they reached there, the sun 
 was already high in the sky, and crowds 
 were still flocking to Heorot ; and the King 
 himself, with the Queen and with a gor- 
 geous following of lords and ladies, was 
 coming the short way from his palace to 
 view his enemy's monstrous arm and hand 
 hanging from the gold-glittering roof. 
 
 Hrothgar was very different this sunny 
 morning from the bent and sorrow- 
 stricken old man who greeted Beowulf 
 the night before as his last hope on earth. 
 Right royal he looked now in his rich 
 
Rejoicings and Thanksgivings 251 
 
 robes as he walked along with head erect 
 and firm step, and clear, glad eye. He 
 stood awhile, gazing silently on the horri- 
 ble hand, with fiendish fingers, and nails 
 straight and sharp like steel spikes, — then 
 devoutly raised his voice : 
 
 '* For this sight thanks be given the 
 Almighty ! It was but now that I 
 thought I should never see an end of all 
 my woes — and now a lad, through the 
 might of God, has achieved the deed 
 which we, with all our wisdom, were un- 
 able to accomplish. Now I will heartily 
 love thee, Beowulf, thou most excellent 
 youth ! From this day forth shalt thou 
 be to me as my son ; thou shalt have 
 nothing to wish for in the world so far as 
 I have power. Full oft have I, for far 
 less service, decreed great guerdons from 
 my treasury. May the Almighty reward 
 thee always, as He hath just done ! " 
 
 Beowulf accepted these thanks and 
 praises with most becoming modesty. 
 Indeed, he rather apologised for having 
 let the enemy escape him ; '' for," he said, 
 *' I would have liked vastly better to show 
 
252 Beowulf 
 
 thee his very self, instead of only his arm 
 and hand." 
 
 Men, in those days, were not, as a rule, 
 shy of boasting of their valorous deeds 
 and making the most of them. Therefore 
 the young hero's quiet bearing won him 
 still heartier admiration and louder ap- 
 plause. One man alone in all that joy- 
 ous crowd kept silent and to himself — and 
 that was Unferth, the story-teller, who had 
 given vent so freely to his envious malice 
 at the feast. He dared not now either 
 brag of his own doings, or belittle Beo- 
 wulf's exploit, and so held his peace. 
 But in his heart, alone of all men, he 
 grudged him his triumph. 
 
X 
 
 HEOROT RESTORED— FEASTING AND 
 GIFTS 
 
 AND now orders were given that 
 Heorot should be promptly swept, 
 cleansed, and decorated ; men and women 
 trooped in in great numbers to do the 
 work. No light work it was, for the 
 whole interior of the building was nearly 
 demolished ; in fact, the roof alone es- 
 caped quite unhurt. Substantial repairs, 
 of course, would take time ; but the hall 
 must, be garnished and made ready for 
 that day's banquet. So they hid the 
 walls with brocaded tapestries which de- 
 lighted the eye with their pictured 
 stories. 
 
 When the time came, King Hrothgar 
 walked to the Hall, for he intended to 
 253 
 
254 Beowulf 
 
 share the entire feast from beginning to 
 end. And never did a braver throng of 
 revellers muster more merrily around the 
 feast-giver. 
 
 The first beaker of sweet mead the 
 King drank to Beowulf, and at the same 
 time presented him with a complete suit 
 of preciously-wrought, gold-adorned, ar- 
 mour — helmet, coat of mail, and heavy 
 battle-sword, all from the royal treasury. 
 Then, at a sign from the King, eight beauti- 
 ful horses, with cheekplates of gold, were 
 led into the hall. One of them was gaily 
 caparisoned and bore the King's own fa- 
 vourite saddle, all decorated with silver. 
 Horse and saddle were well known to all 
 present, having been seen often and often 
 both at knightly games and in the field, 
 where foemen fell before the royal rider 
 both in play and in deadly earnest. Arms 
 and horses the King bade the young hero 
 have for his own, and enjoy them well. 
 
 Moreover, each one of those who had 
 made the voyage with Beowulf received 
 some precious gift, some old heirloom. 
 As for the comrade whom Grendel had 
 
Heorot Restored 255 
 
 so atrociously killed and devoured, King- 
 Hrothgar gave order that gold should be 
 brought from his treasury, to make good 
 his loss to his people. 
 
 And now the King called aloud for 
 music and song. The harp was struck 
 and Hrothgar's minstrel recited a ballad, 
 often heard, but always a favourite, a lay 
 of an old feud and vengeance, which made 
 the revellers realise the more joyfully their 
 deliverance from the tribute of blood 
 which, through so many years, they had 
 unwillingly paid. 
 
 The merriment ran high, and high rose 
 the sounds of revelry as the attendants 
 served the wine out of curious flagons. 
 When suddenly there was a pause : Queen 
 Wealhtheow came forward, wearing right 
 nobly her golden diadem, and, as the day 
 before, stood before her lord, and spoke : 
 
 " Receive this beaker, King of the 
 Danes ! Be merry thyself, and gladden 
 those around thee with gifts and gracious 
 words. For now, far and near, thou hast 
 peace. Heorot is purged and is once 
 more the most splendid of banqueting- 
 
256 Beowulf 
 
 halls. Dispense, then, thy bounties while 
 thou mayest, and to thy children peace- 
 fully leave folk and realm when thy time 
 comes to pass into eternity." 
 
 She turned then towards the bench 
 where her young sons sat. And there, 
 by the two brothers, Beowulf modestly 
 sat among the youth of the land, separ- 
 ate from the elders and mighty men. 
 To him the Queen offered the beaker, 
 with friendly words, inviting him to drink, 
 then presented him with her own special 
 gifts : a rich mantle, armlets of twisted 
 gold, and rings, and — crowning gift of all 
 — a jewelled carcanet, the most gorgeous 
 piece of jeweller's work ever seen under 
 the sun. 
 
 *' Wear this collar, Beowulf, beloved 
 youth," the Queen said, " and make use 
 of this mantle — stately possessions both — 
 Prosper well, win more and more fame by 
 thy valour, and to these my boys be true 
 friend and kind adviser. Thou hast done 
 that which will make thee the theme of 
 minstrels' song, far and near, for all 
 time. Be then, whilst thou livest, a happy 
 
Heorot Restored 257 
 
 prince, and loyal to my sons In word and 
 deed. For such is the manner of our 
 land : here is each warrior to other true,, 
 loyal to their chief ; the thanes obedient, 
 the people willing. And now, I bid ye 
 all — be merry ! " 
 
 With that she walked to her chair, and 
 music once more filled the hall, and wine 
 flowed freely. No thought was there of 
 evil to come, only of the evil from which 
 they deemed that they were freed for- 
 ever : for who ever hears the fiat of des- 
 tiny as it goes forth ? . . . And so the 
 evening came, and Hrothgar betook him 
 to his rest. 
 
 Silence fell upon Heorot ; the festive 
 sounds died out. For the first time in 
 many years, the hall was not deserted for 
 the night ; the ethelings stayed to guard 
 it as they had often done in earlier times. 
 The benches were cleared away against 
 the walls ; beds and bolsters were laid in 
 rows upon the floor, and the revellers laid 
 themselves down to rest, happy and at 
 peace. Yet did one among them lie down 
 that night a doomed man, and knew it not. 
 
258 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 At their heads they set up their bright 
 bucklers ; on the benches, plain in sight, 
 lay each etheling's helmet and mail-shirt, 
 and against them stood the strong-shafted 
 lances. For such was their custom — to 
 be at all times ready for war, whether at 
 home or in the field, wherever their liege 
 lord might have need of their services. 
 Truly a brave and noble people ! 
 
LAY II 
 
 GRENDEL'S MOTHER 
 
 I 
 
 THE AVENGER 
 
 SO they sank down to sleep. One there 
 was who sorely paid for that night's 
 rest. For ere morning it was found that 
 Grendel had left an avenger — his mother, 
 the Mere-wife, loathsome beldame, a creat- 
 ure that had to dwell in the dreariness of 
 marshes and cold streams, like all the rest 
 of Cain's murderous, outlawed brood. 
 That very night the hag, on bloody ven- 
 geance bent, betook herself to Heorot, 
 where the Danes slept careless, all un- 
 conscious. Who shall paint their horror 
 and dismay when the goblin-wife suddenly 
 burst into their midst? Swords were 
 259 
 
26o Beowulf 
 
 drawn and bucklers raised, but there was 
 no time to think of helmet or mail-shirt. 
 
 The hag was in a hurry ; finding herself 
 discovered, all she thought of was to 
 get away with her life. So she quickly 
 snatched up one of the ethelings at ran- 
 dom, and gripping him tight, made for 
 the fen. That man was Hrothgar s dear- 
 est comrade, most constant companion — 
 sad end for an illustrious warrior ! But 
 hurried as she was, the hag managed to 
 carry away with her Grendel's arm and 
 hand. A great cry went up from Heorot, 
 and reached the aged King, who was 
 startled out of his sleep by the news that 
 the old horror was revived, and that the 
 man dearest to his heart was dead. 
 
 Beowulf was not there. No one thought 
 that his prowess should be needed again ; 
 so, as he was in want of rest after his last 
 night's exertions, he and his companions 
 had been assigned a lodging at some dis- 
 tance, and they knew nothing of what had 
 happened. Bright and early, he and his 
 little band, rested, cheery, marched to the 
 palace, straight to the King's apartment, 
 
The Avenger 261 
 
 the floor-timbers resounding under their 
 tread, and, courteously accosting him, en- 
 quired if, according to their sincere wish, 
 he had had a restful night. 
 
 Great was their astonishment to find the 
 King more deeply dejected than ever, the 
 tears coursing down his withered cheeks, 
 and to hear his heart-broken answer : 
 
 '' Speak not of rest to me ! New grief 
 has come over the Danes, ^schere is 
 dead, my friend and counsellor, my trusty 
 body-squire, who has stood with me, 
 shoulder to shoulder, in battle, a hundred 
 times. In Heorot has he met his death 
 at the hands of another raging fiend. 
 Yesternight didst thou overcome Grendel 
 in deadly fight, and now his mother comes 
 to avenge her kin ! I know not in what 
 direction she took her way, but her tracks 
 will show. I will be bound they lead us 
 no farther than the Mere, a few miles 
 from here — an uncanny water — wolf-crags, 
 windy bluffs, woods with gnarled, inter- 
 twined roots overhang it. A precipitous 
 mountain waterfall vanishes into the earth, 
 and flows on, an underground river. And 
 
262 Beowulf 
 
 on the Mere itself, every night, a fearful 
 portent may be seen : fire playing on the 
 water. The man liveth not who knows 
 the depth of that mere. The antlered 
 hart, as he makes for the wood coverts, 
 harried by hounds, will sooner give up 
 life on the bank, than plunge his head 
 into the unhallowed flood. Now it is 
 once more to thee alone that we look 
 for counsel ! Thou knowest not yet the 
 dreadful haunt — go seek it if thou dare ! 
 I will reward thee with treasure to thy 
 heart's content, if so thou comest away 
 alive." 
 
 Beowulf answered straightway, and his 
 brave words fell like balm on Hrothgar s 
 dejected spirits : 
 
 '' Cease sorrowing, wise sire ! Aveng- 
 ing a friend is better than mourning for 
 him. Arouse thee ! let us promptly set 
 out to find the trail of this new terror. I 
 vow to thee she shall not escape ; neither 
 in the bowels of the earth, nor in the 
 haunted woods, nor in ocean's depth — go 
 where she will ! Have patience but this 
 one day, and all thy woes shall end." 
 

 II 
 
 THE MERE 
 
 UP sprang then the aged King, thank- 
 ing God for the hero's words, which 
 filled him with new vigour. He mounted 
 his charger, a stately high-stepper with 
 wavy, flowing mane, and rode forth with 
 Beowulf and the mixed band of Danes and 
 Goths, the foot-force of shield-bearing men 
 marching behind. The track lay broad 
 and plain over the ground, down the 
 slope — straight across the murky moor. 
 
 Lightly did Beowulf step over steep 
 stone-banks, narrow gullies, lonesome, 
 untravelled paths, sheer bluffs, under many 
 of which were deep caverns, the dwelling- 
 place of nicors. With a few tried men 
 he went forward, exploring the ground, 
 until all of a sudden he perceived the 
 263 
 
264 Beowulf 
 
 gloomy trees overhanging the grisly rock 
 of which Hrothgar had spoken — a cheer- 
 less wood ; beneath it a standing water, 
 dreary and troubled. The whole scene 
 was so desolate and eerie that it made 
 the Danes shudder ; horror seized them 
 as they looked, for on that cliff they came 
 on the head of ^schere in a pool of 
 blood. 
 
 The horn sounded from time to time 
 a spirited blast to keep them together. 
 But they had little wish to stray. They 
 all sat down on the ground, terrified, yet 
 curious for the weird sights of the Mere : 
 they saw gliding along the water many 
 shapes of serpent kind, monstrous sea- 
 snakes at their swimming gambols ; like- 
 wise nicors lying lazily on the jutting 
 slopes, — the water-goblins which often, of 
 an early morning, churn up the waves to 
 make disastrous sailing for voyagers,— 
 dragons, and other strange beasts tumbled 
 about, then hurried away with eye of spite 
 and body swelling with rage at being dis- 
 turbed by the clarion's clang and the 
 intrusion of men. Beowulf, with an arrow 
 
The Mere 265 
 
 from his bow, picked off one of the mon- 
 sters, which was swiftly pulled out on 
 land ; his swimming days were over, his 
 tricks ended. 
 
 But this was play. The business of the 
 day was now to come, and Beowulf be- 
 gan to prepare for it. Piece by piece he 
 donned his princely armour, which was 
 to stand the novel test of deadly battle 
 in the waters of the unholy lake. Most 
 anxiously did his friends, both Danes and 
 Goths, watch and assist him as he silently 
 armed, with brow and mouth firmly set 
 under the helmet, for well they knew that 
 the contest he was now going to engage 
 in was far more dangerous than that in 
 which he had but lately ventured life and 
 limb. Even Unferth, the unmannerly, 
 forgot what he had recently uttered when 
 flushed with ale — or perchance he wished 
 to atone for past ill-will by present service. 
 Enough, he pressed to Beowulf's side, 
 and placed in his hand a wonderful sword, 
 an old heirloom of his house, most highly 
 prized of all his possessions. That precious 
 blade, like other famed swords belong- 
 
266 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 ing to mighty heroes, had a name of its 
 own, Hke a human friend : it was called 
 Hrunting. The edge of the blade was 
 iron, welded onto the brass, mottled with 
 poison, and hardened in the gore of many- 
 battles. Never had it proved false to him 
 who wielded it ; this was not the first time 
 that heroic work had been required of it. 
 
Ill 
 
 UNDER THE WATERS 
 
 AND now Beowulf stood armed, and 
 ready for the fray. But before he 
 went whence he might not come back, he 
 turned to King Hrothgar and once again 
 repeated the request he had made before 
 he remained in Heorot to await the com- 
 ing of Grendel : 
 
 ** See now, O wise King, I am ready to 
 start. Bethink thee of what we lately 
 talked of : that, should I lose my life in 
 thy service, thou shouldst, after my death, 
 fulfil my wishes even as my own father 
 would. They are but few and easily re- 
 membered : be thou friend and protector 
 to my thanes when I am gone, and send 
 the presents thou hast given me to Hyge- 
 lac ; so will he see for himself that I had 
 267 
 
268 Beowulf 
 
 found a bountiful friend. And let Unferth 
 keep my own heirloom, my curiously 
 damaskeened sword, Hardedge. With 
 Hrunting I will either achieve renown or 
 find my death." 
 
 He said, and, waiting for no answer, 
 leaped from the bluff — the eddying flood 
 engulfed him. So deep was the mere, 
 that it took some time before, sinking, he 
 reached the bottom. 
 
 Soon the grim creature that for a hund- 
 red seasons had kept house in the watery 
 realm perceived that one of the children 
 of men was coming from above, exploring 
 the goblins' home. She made a grab at 
 him and clutched him in her grisly talons, 
 but could not pierce the well-knit ring 
 mail which fenced him around. But she 
 bore him to her mansion at the bottom of 
 the lake, so swiftly that, although his 
 heart did not fail, he was powerless to use 
 his weapons, the more that countless 
 water-beasts harassed him in swimming, 
 battering at him with tusk and claw. 
 
 At length the earl felt the grip loosened 
 on him, and as he hurriedly cast his eye 
 

 y i 
 
Under the Waters 269 
 
 around, he perceived that he was in a vast 
 hall, high-roofed, and protected from the 
 water on all sides ; it was light, too, with 
 an eerie, bright lustre, something like fire- 
 light. But the hero had no time for won- 
 der or exploring ; for before him stood 
 the grim she-wolf of the abyss, and it be- 
 hoved him to be quick in attack. Grasp- 
 ing Hrunting, he whirled it around her 
 head ; but when it descended to strike, 
 he found, to his dismay, that the edge did 
 not bite ; for the first time the costly 
 blade failed the master at his need. With 
 prompt decision he angrily flung it away, 
 and once again trusting wholly to his 
 own strength, seized the hag by the 
 shoulder, and swayed her so violently in 
 his rage that she sank to the pavement. 
 She swiftly repaid him and closed in upon 
 him, crushing the wind out of his body, 
 so that he, fearless as he was, staggered 
 from sheer breathlessness and fell pro- 
 strate. Then the hag sat upon his back 
 and drew her broad knife, and her goblin 
 son would have been avenged then and 
 there, but that Beowulf's mail-shirt was 
 
270 Beowulf 
 
 proof against point and edge, which gave 
 him time for a last mighty effort to throw 
 off the hindering weight, — and presently 
 he stood once more erect on his feet. 
 
 Still, even then his life might have been 
 forfeit in the unequal combat, had he not 
 chanced to espy among the armour lying 
 scattered about the hall, an old cutlass of 
 huge size and strength of blade, larger 
 than an ordinary man could have carried, 
 let alone used in battle, — the handiwork of 
 giants. On this Beowulf blindly seized — 
 beside himself, despairing of his life — and 
 struck in his fury ; the blow caught the 
 beldame in the neck, severed the bone, 
 she dropped on the pavement, — the work 
 was done. 
 
 He was alone. He now had leisure to 
 scan the apartment with his eye ; he slowly 
 walked all round ' it, along by the wall, 
 the magic weapon swung aloft by the hilt, 
 for fear of surprises. Suddenly, he came 
 upon a hideous object — Grendel, bereft 
 of life, lying where he fell, as he reached 
 his lake home on that fatal night. The 
 hero's blood boiled at the sight; he at 
 
Under the Waters 271 
 
 once decided he would bring back to the 
 upper world a better trophy than a hand 
 and arm : so, raising high the cutlass, he 
 struck off the head. 
 
 Then, before his eyes, there came to 
 pass a thing whereat he marvelled much ; 
 no sooner had the blade touched the mon- 
 ster's black gore, than it began to melt 
 away, even as ice when the spring 
 breathes upon it, dissolving the fetters of 
 the torrent ; and even as he looked, it 
 melted all to naught, down to the hilt in 
 his hand — so venomous and consuming 
 had been the goblin's life-blood ! 
 
 There were many rare arms and trinkets 
 in that wondrous water hall ; but Beowulf 
 only glanced at them and would not bur- 
 den himself with aught save the head, and 
 the hilt of the burned-up cutlass, which he 
 wanted to show and keep as a curiosity. 
 Nor would he leave Hrunting below, since 
 the good sword did not belong to him. 
 
IV 
 
 THE RETURN 
 
 MEANWHILE the hours waxed long 
 to the watchers above. Hrothgar 
 and his men sat in the same spot still, in- 
 tently gazing on the water. The old men 
 with grizzled locks spoke together in low 
 tones about the brave etheling, how they 
 did not expect that he should ever come 
 back to them ; and when they saw the 
 waves splashing turbid and tinged with 
 blood, most of them decided that the she- 
 wolf of the Mere had torn him to pieces. 
 
 It was the ninth hour of the day. The 
 impetuous Danes gave him up for lost and 
 quitted the bluff ; King Hrothgar followed 
 them with heavy heart. They did not 
 doubt but that they had lost their hero- 
 friend, and the nightly ravages would 
 272 
 
The Return 273 
 
 commence again. But the Goths would 
 not go. Sick at heart they sat on, and 
 gazed upon the dreadful pool. They did 
 not expect to ever again get sight of their 
 lord and captain in the body, yet they 
 kept on wishing, and secretly hoping : for 
 was he not o^reater and braver than all 
 other men ? No other would have even 
 dreamed of plunging into such an ad- 
 venture. 
 
 And lo ! what was that ? something in 
 the distance, moving on the water ! Water- 
 beast it could not be, for they had all 
 slunk away when man and goblin-wife met, 
 and kept in hiding, waiting for the end. 
 It was — yes, it was the leader ! Soon they 
 could see him plainly, as he came swim- 
 ming bravely along. He shouted to them. 
 They answered with a cry which must have 
 been heard half-way to Heorot. Then 
 he came to land, exulting in his lake 
 spoils. His faithful thanes ran to meet 
 him, thanking God that they had him 
 back, whole and sound. They pressed 
 around, vieing who should relieve him of 
 his helmet, his mail-shirt. From the mo- 
 
2 74 Beowulf 
 
 ment he stepped on land, the Mere sul- 
 lenly subsided, grey and heavy, leaden 
 water under leaden sky. 
 
 And now Beowulf and his band pre- 
 pared to retrace their steps, for they had 
 quite a long way to march across country 
 and along the public highways. So they 
 formed into a triumphal procession, to 
 bear away Grendel's head from the Mere- 
 cliff : it took four of the lusty and stal- 
 wart fellows to carry it on a pole, and the 
 burden taxed their strength to the ut- 
 most ; so that, when they reached the 
 great hall, gold-glittering in the sunshine, 
 they were glad to lay it down on the 
 ground. Then others of their comrades 
 took it up and carried it by the hair into 
 the midst of the assembled Danes. Their 
 captain was just greeting the King, but 
 all sprang to their feet ; even to Hrothgar 
 and the Queen, startled out of ceremony 
 by the unexpected sight of the horrible 
 object. 
 
LAST WORDS 
 
 WHEN some sort of order had been 
 restored, Beowulf, with his wonted 
 modest dignity, gave the King a brief 
 account of his last and most deadly en- 
 counter : 
 
 " Lo and behold ! to thee, O Lord of 
 the Skyldings, we have joyfully brought 
 these Mere-spoils that thou lookest on, 
 in token that what we came to do is done. 
 Not easily did I come out of it with life. 
 In the battle under water well-nigh had 
 the struggle gone against me, only that 
 God shielded me. I could not, in the 
 final test, accomplish aught with Hrunt- 
 ing, though it be a good weapon, too. 
 But the Ruler of men directed my eye 
 .to the wall, where it was caught by the 
 
 275 
 
276 Beowulf 
 
 gleam of an old sword of huge size, 
 whereat I grasped, blindly. Thus oftenest 
 hath He guided men when they have no 
 other friend. With that sword — occasion 
 favouring me, — I smote the keepers of the 
 Mere-house, the living and the dead. So 
 hot and poisonous was that accursed 
 blood, that it consumed the blade, as thou 
 canst see. I brought away the hilt as a 
 trophy. And now that I have avenged 
 the long agonies of the Danes as was 
 meet, I promise thee that thou mayest 
 sleep henceforth in Heorot free from care ; 
 and so may every one of the thanes, old 
 and young, and thou needest not fear for 
 them any kind of danger, as thou didst so 
 long." 
 
 The oldest and wisest among the war- 
 riors marvelled much to hear so wise a 
 speech from lips so young. That in the 
 heat of victory, hard-won, single-handed^ 
 the noble champion should remember to 
 give thanks where alone man's thanks 
 are due, and should generously share the 
 credit with his comrades, pleased King 
 Hrothgar greatly. With kindly smile he 
 
Last Words 277 
 
 took the gilded, bladeless hilt into his 
 hand and examined it intently. It was 
 well worth the study, this relic of heathen 
 times immemorial, the workmanship of 
 giants. The mystic smiths had graven 
 much ancient lore on it in quaint old 
 characters, looking like small staves oddly 
 thrown together, and long held sacred by 
 learned men, who called them " Runes." 
 Hrothgar, who, though himself a fervent 
 Christian, was well versed in the ancient 
 heathen lore of his people, easily read the 
 storied gold of the hilt. Upon it was 
 written the history of the primeval quar- 
 rel between the bright, beneficent gods 
 and the perverse race of giants, and of 
 the war between them, in which the wicked 
 giants did their worst, by force and wile, 
 to destroy the beautiful world, the creation 
 of the gods, until the latter sent a great 
 flood, and the giant's brood perished. 
 Likewise was it set down in runes on a 
 part of the mounting, for whom that sword 
 had first been worked with its dragon 
 ornament. 
 
 When he had examined the curious relic 
 
278 Beowulf 
 
 at his leisure, King Hrothgar returned it 
 to the youth, and bending on him his 
 kindest glance, he spoke to him, — while 
 all around respectfully held their peace, — 
 out of the fulness of his heart and of his 
 long-hoarded wisdom, such words as only 
 a father speaks to a well-beloved son, when 
 he sends him forth to fare for himself in 
 the wide and dangerous world. For well 
 he knew that the hero, his mission done, 
 would leave him very soon, to continue 
 his adventurous career, wherever it might 
 call him, and his heart ached to let him 
 go ; he would fain have warned him of all 
 that might befall him on his way, and 
 given him his own treasure of experience 
 to guide and to shield him, — above all 
 against the dangers and snares of his own 
 untamed nature. 
 
 ** Thy fame, friend Beowulf," the King 
 began, ''will spread after this to every 
 land, over every nation. Thou dost withal 
 carry thy prowess modestly, with discre- 
 tion of mind. Thou art fated to prove 
 a comfort sure and lasting to thy men, a 
 help to mankind." 
 
Last Words 279 
 
 Here the King recalled, as a warning 
 example, the fate of Heremod, the bad 
 king, who had lost the people's hearts 
 through his arrogance and cruelty, and 
 whom his (Hrothgar's), own ancestor, 
 Skyld of the Sheaf, had displaced. 
 
 ** Do thou take warning by that ! " he 
 continued. '* It is for thy benefit that I, 
 being old in years and experience, have 
 told this tale. For, how many a time do 
 we not see a man of noble race who 
 dwelleth in prosperity, with nothing to 
 annoy him, no care nor quarrel on any 
 side, but all the world seems to move to 
 his mind. Until, at length, within the 
 man himself something of arrogancy grows 
 and develops. Then sleepeth the heavenly 
 guardian, the soul's keeper ; the foe is 
 very near, and the man yields to the 
 crooked counsels of the accursed spirit ; 
 he fancies that all is too little that he has 
 so long enjoyed ; he grows covetous and 
 malignant, and grudges to share his wealth 
 with his friends. He too lightly considers 
 how that it was God the Dispenser who 
 placed him in his post of dignity. And 
 
28o Beowulf 
 
 then the end comes ; another fills his room 
 who makes better use of his wealth — he 
 is forgotten. Beware of such a fall, Beo- 
 wulf, beloved youth, and choose for thyself 
 the better course. Now is thy strength 
 in full bloom for a while. Soon it may 
 betide that sickness or the sword will be- 
 reave thee of it; fire or flood, stab of 
 knife, or flight of spear — anything at any 
 time may mar and darken all, and Death 
 subdue thee, leader of men though thou 
 art ! Look at me : did I not for fifty 
 years reign prosperously over the Danes, 
 and by valour make them secure against 
 many a nation, insomuch that I dreaded 
 no rival under the circuit of the sky ? 
 Yet how suddenly a change came over all 
 that ; here in my own hall, the abominable 
 Grendel bearded and despoiled me, and 
 for years my heart carried its load of grief. 
 Thanks, therefore, be to the Eternal Ruler 
 for what I have lived to see — that I, the 
 old tribulation past, with mine own eyes 
 should gaze upon yon severed head ! — And 
 now go, sit thee down, share the festive 
 joy, crowned with the honours of war. 
 
Last Words 281 
 
 To-morrow we must yet have many deal- 
 ings together." 
 
 Beowulf had listened, with beseeming 
 earnestness and reverence, nor did the 
 aged king's wise instruction fall on barren 
 soil. But he was very tired : so he moved 
 briskly off and sat down, nothing loth, on 
 one of the benches. Then the tables were 
 cleared and re-spread, and a fair, fresh 
 banquet served. 
 
 Not till the night's dim covering began 
 to descend over the light-hearted revellers 
 did the venerable Skylding arise and give 
 the signal for bed. After him the elders. 
 Vastly well did the hero of the day like 
 the thought of repose — he had enough of 
 adventure for a while ! He was mar- 
 shalled to his room with much ceremony 
 by a chamberlain, who supplied him with 
 all things needful for a luxurious night's 
 rest. And he slept ! slept till the black ra- 
 ven announced heaven's glory with blithe 
 heart, and the light drove the shadow^s 
 away, and fiends that prowl of nights 
 scampered off and hid. 
 
 When he came forth from his sleeping- 
 
282 Beowulf 
 
 chamber, he found his comrades all ready 
 for the voyage. They were impatient to 
 take ship for home. 
 
 Beowulf bade courteous farewell to his 
 Danish friends, and when the turn of Un- 
 ferth came, he returned Hrunting to him 
 with hearty thanks for the loan ; with 
 never a word did he blame the blade that 
 had played him false, but on the contrary 
 praised it for a good sword, a good friend 
 in war. Thus are high-souled men ever 
 courteous and mindful of other men's 
 feelings. 
 
VI 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 ONLY when the departing warriors 
 were fully equipped and ready to 
 start, did Beowulf approach the raised 
 platform where Hrothgar sat, to take lov- 
 ing leave of him. 
 
 '* Now," he began, **we sea-voyagers 
 have come to say that we purpose this 
 very day to return to^ Hygelac. Here we 
 have been well entertained, and thou hast 
 been to us very generous. If I therefore 
 may in any way be of use to thee, even 
 though it require labour beyond what I 
 have yet done, I shall be forthwith on 
 hand. If they bring me word across the 
 seas that thou art hard pressed by neigh- 
 bours, I will at once bring thee a thousand 
 thanes to help. And Hygelac, I know. 
 283 
 
284 Beowulf 
 
 albeit young in years, will bear me out in 
 this, and send me over with a forest of 
 spears, shouldst thou have need of them." 
 
 The old King was deeply moved as he 
 made answer : 
 
 " The All-wise Lord himself, puts such 
 thoughts into thy mind. Never have I 
 heard one so young in years discourse such 
 sweet and reasonable speech. I think it 
 very likely that^ should sickness or iron 
 take thy chief from this life, the seafaring 
 Goths will find no better man than thy- 
 self to be their king. Thou hast my best 
 wishes, beloved Beowulf, for I like thee 
 more and more. Thou hast done that 
 which will make the Danes and the Goths 
 friends forevermore. While I rule this 
 realm, the two nations shall have all things 
 in common, and ships shall bring back and 
 forward, not men armed for war, but pres- 
 ents and tokens of love." 
 
 King Hrothgar rose from his chair of 
 state and pressed on his young friend 
 twelve more priceless jewels, bidding him 
 go with God and visit his people, but 
 come back again soon. He clasped him 
 
Homeward Bound 285 
 
 by the neck, tears coursing down his 
 cheeks into his long grey beard. To him 
 the youth was so dear that he could not 
 restrain the passion of his sorrow at part- 
 ing from him, for, in spite of his cheery 
 words, there was that in his breast which 
 warned him that they two were not to 
 meet again. 
 
 Beowulf, being young, was not much 
 disturbed by forebodings, and when he left 
 the hall, his foot trod the grassy earth 
 with the firm step of conscious power. 
 As he and his gallant troop neared the 
 water, where their well-guarded ship 
 awaited them, the coast-warden marked 
 their approach, as he had done at their 
 coming ; but there was no suspicion now 
 in his mind or manner, as he hailed them 
 from his high peak and rode down swiftly 
 towards them. The beach was all alive as 
 the Goths proceeded, with right good will, 
 to load the good ship with the war har- 
 ness, the horses, and all the treasures from 
 Hrothgar's hoard. Winds and waves 
 seemed to favour their impatience, and 
 sail and oars carried them smoothly over 
 
286 Beowulf 
 
 the foamy swell, till they were able to 
 espy the familiar cliffs and headlands of 
 the Gothic shore. And now the keel 
 grated on the sand, the wind pushing from 
 behind — she was on land. 
 
 The warden was ready to receive the 
 seafarers at the landing ; he had hardly 
 left the water s edge, so anxiously had he 
 been looking for the dear friends who 
 had left him on so perilous, uncertain a 
 venture. And now he helped to bind the 
 ship fast with strong anchor cables, lest a 
 sudden storm might snatch her away, and 
 hastened to give orders to carry ashore 
 the princely cargo. 
 
VII 
 
 AT HOME 
 
 THEY had not far to go, for King Hy- 
 gelac, son of Hrethel, had his palace, 
 where he held court with his peers, within 
 sight of the sea. There he dwelt happily 
 with his Queen, fair Hygd, who, though 
 she was very young, and had lived but few 
 winters in her lord's castle, was wise and 
 of excellent discretion, yet not mean-spir- 
 ited, nor grudging of gifts to the thanes 
 and ethelings — very different in all her 
 ways from another young princess of the 
 Goths, Thrytho, the moody and the proud, 
 even to savagery ; so arrogant and fierce 
 that no man, not even her favourites 
 among the courtiers, durst look in her 
 eyes, but he was sure to be taken and 
 2S7 
 
288 Beowulf 
 
 bound by her order, and the knife was 
 quick to follow arrest. Well did nobles 
 and people murmur, and whisper among 
 themselves that such manner was not 
 queenly, nor womanly, for any lady to 
 practise, although peerless of form and 
 feature ; for woman should ever be a peace- 
 maker, and not a taker of men's lives — on 
 false pretences too. But no one dared to 
 speak aloud what all thought in their se- 
 cret hearts. So everybody was glad ex- 
 ceedingly w^hen Thrytho was sent off to 
 Angle-land, there to wed the great Offa, 
 King of Mercia, the most powerful of the 
 seven kingdoms. Soon after, however, 
 those who drink at the ale-benches began 
 to tell a different tale, how that she had 
 left off her evil ways from the moment 
 that she reached Offa's hall after her long 
 sea-voyage and been given, gold-adorned, 
 into the noble and brave king's keeping ; 
 and ever since, as long as she lived in her 
 royal state, she was famed for her kindness 
 and gentleness ; she w^on and kept the 
 love of that most excellent ruler between 
 the seas — for minstrels tell us that Offa 
 
At Home 289 
 
 was as famous for his courtly grace and 
 knightly accomplishments as for his feats 
 of war.^ 
 
 Beowulf's arrival was promptly made 
 known to Hygelac. Good news in truth, 
 he thought, that his dear companion, his 
 playfellow of yore, was coming back to 
 him alive and unhurt. Quickly, at his 
 command, the interior of the hall was 
 cleared for the home-coming travellers. 
 
 Beowulf sat by the King's side, while 
 his comrades were greeted by their friends, 
 and the gentle Queen moved about the 
 hall with beakers of sweet mead ; for she 
 loved her folk and gladly ministered to 
 them. 
 
 With eager, affectionate words Hygelac 
 questioned his kinsman about his voyage, 
 his reception by Hrothgar, the battle for 
 Heorot. Beowulf satisfied him fully on 
 
 ^ That these two queens with their contrasting characters 
 were introduced by the Christian writer of the poem to convey 
 a moral lesson, is evident from the allegorical names he gives 
 them: " Hygd," in Anglo-Saxon, means " discretion," and 
 " Thrytho," "haughtiness, superciliousness." At the same 
 time it is not improbable that the name of Thrytho may have 
 been suggested by the actual name of Offa's queen, which was 
 " Cynethryth." 
 19 
 
290 Beowulf 
 
 all points, and gave him a most detailed 
 account of all that had befallen him, good 
 and evil, during his brief but eventful ab- 
 sence — speaking of his deeds, as was his 
 wont, with heroic simpHcity, and dwelHng 
 more on Hrothgar's loving-kindness and 
 generosity than upon his own prowess. 
 
 When he had told his tale, to which all 
 who were in the hall listened spell-bound, 
 he ordered all Hrothgar's gifts, including 
 four of the beautiful horses, matched to 
 perfection, to be brought into the hall, and 
 then and there presented all to his kins- 
 man and liege lord, bidding him use and 
 enjoy the treasures. As to the carcanet, the 
 curiously wrought, wonderful jewel, which 
 Hrothgar's queen had bestowed on him, 
 he presented that to Queen Hygd, as also 
 three palfreys, keeping only one of the 
 eight horses for his own use, in memory 
 of "Hrothgar's friendship. A shining ex- 
 ample, truly, of a loyal kinsman's fealty 
 and love, which it were well if all royal 
 kinsmen took to heart. But how many, 
 alack, are there who will, instead, spread 
 the deceitful snare for their trusting com- 
 
At Home 291 
 
 rade's feet and secretly, with wicked guile, 
 contrive his death ! 
 
 From this time on,. Beowulf steadily 
 grew in honours and in his sovereign's 
 confidence. He conducted himself on all 
 occasions wisely and with discretion. 
 Never did he smite his hearth-fellows in 
 their cups. For his was no ruffian soul ; 
 but of all mankind he most wisely con- 
 trolled the great talents which God had 
 given him. Men saw and wondered at 
 him. For they had held him in little es- 
 teem for a long time, because of his mod- 
 est, reserved ways, which did not court 
 attention ; and when he was a lad, he had 
 often been called slack and unpromising. 
 Now, however, every rash judgment was 
 reversed, as the mature man stood radiant 
 in his glory, the very next to the King, 
 who girded him. with his own father's gold- 
 mounted battle-sword. King Hrethel's heir- 
 loom, than which there was no more 
 renowned weapon among the Goths. At 
 the same time he conferred on him seven 
 thousand hides of land, a princely mansion, 
 and a seat of authority in the Council. 
 
292 Beowulf 
 
 Not many years passed thus peacefully. 
 There was war once more and Hygelac 
 fell in battle in the distant land of the 
 sea-going Frisians. Beowulf saved him- 
 self by a feat of swimming which no man 
 but he could have performed, and reached 
 Gothland unharmed. There he found 
 the young widowed Queen, Hygd, beside 
 herself with grief and alarm. She prof- 
 fered him treasure and realm, jewels and 
 throne ; for she had no confidence in her 
 young son Heardred, who was scarcely 
 more than a child, that he would be able 
 to hold the ancestral seats against the 
 Frisians, whose invasion was expected 
 from day to day. But neither she nor 
 the bereaved people could prevail with 
 the loyal kinsman and chieftain to break 
 faith with his dead cousin ; he upheld 
 young Heardred in the public assembly, 
 respectfully and with friendly guidance, 
 until the time that he was of full age, when 
 he resigned to him the power which he 
 had wielded only so long as duty bade. 
 But fortune soon after proved fatal to 
 young Heardred. He, too, was killed in 
 
At Home 293 
 
 war. Then ancient Hrothgar's prophecy 
 came true, and Beowulf found himself 
 King of the Goths. He had not sought 
 or coveted the dignity, giving the elder 
 line always his whole-hearted, undivided 
 service. But when the broad realm came 
 to his hand, he took it as a trust placed 
 in his charge by God, and governed it 
 well for fifty winters, a true ethel-warden 
 — noble guardian of the people. But en- 
 vious fate, which is ever on the lurk, would 
 not suffer the venerable King to end his 
 days in undisturbed prosperity. 
 
LAY III 
 
 THE DRAGON 
 
 I 
 THE TREASURE 
 
 IN the land of the Goths, high on a 
 rocky steep above the sea, there stood 
 a lonely stronghold, built of stone. A 
 narrow path led to it from the beach be- 
 neath, but it was unfrequented by people, 
 because the castle was tenanted by a 
 Dragon, who had, for three hundred years, 
 kept guard over a treasure of gold and 
 silver — rings, bracelets, jewelled drinking- 
 cups, daggers and swords, and armour of 
 all kinds. This treasure was the legacy of 
 an ancient band of men, war-companions 
 long forgotten. Death took them all off, 
 294 
 
The Treasure 295 
 
 one after another, and left one solitary 
 survivor, to mourn for lost friends and 
 enjoy for a short while the accumulated 
 wealth. 
 
 There was a forsaken barrow on the 
 down near by, where a huge cliff hung 
 sheer over the water. Thither the soli- 
 tary man carried all the beaten gold and 
 silver, and having buried it all, spoke a 
 few farewell words : 
 
 " Hold thou now, O Earth, the wealth 
 of mighty heroes, who cannot guard it 
 any longer. Death in battle has carried 
 them all away, my friends, my peers ; they 
 share the bliss of Woden's heavenly hall, 
 where only brave warriors slain in the 
 field are admitted. No one henceforth 
 will furbish the embossed tankard, the pre- 
 cious sword, or the helmet damaskeened 
 with gold ; the armour will moulder by the 
 side of the warrior who wore it ! " 
 
 Thus the sole survivor of a brave com- 
 pany lamented his unhappiness, by day 
 and by night, until the finger of Death 
 touched his heart also, and it stood still. 
 
 The dazzling hoard, now unguarded 
 
296 Beowulf 
 
 was found by the old pest of twilight, 
 that haunteth barrows, the scaly spiteful 
 Dragon, that flieth by night, enwrapt in 
 fire, whom country-folk hold in awe and 
 dread. His great delight is to sit on un- 
 derground hoards and gloat there. Thus 
 it happened that, having discovered this 
 enormous treasure-house, he held it for 
 three hundred years, until something oc- 
 curred which angered him and let him 
 loose on the unhappy land. 
 
 Some unknown man was fleeing in a 
 feud, houseless and pursued, and in his 
 flight he stumbled on the barrow and on 
 the Dragon asleep therein upon the gHtter- 
 ing hoard. Horror-struck, he was turning 
 to escape while he might, but a jewelled 
 tankard caught his eye and he just 
 snatched it before he ran, his heart mis- 
 giving him at the time that he was bring- 
 ing woe on many by the deed. But 
 something impelled him, stronger than 
 reason — so he snatched and ran, hugging 
 the precious bauble, which he carried to 
 his liege lord, who pursued him, as a 
 pledge of peace, and bought his lord's 
 
The Treasure 297 
 
 friendship and his own safety therewith. 
 He also revealed the hiding-place of the 
 hoard ; the chieftain hastened thither with- 
 out delay, the barrow was rifled of many 
 of its jewels, while the Dragon still slept 
 his long, heavy sleep — and the mischief 
 was done ! 
 
 When the Worm woke and found him- 
 self despoiled, his fury was intense ; but he 
 mastered it at first, to make his vengeance 
 more complete and sure. First of all he 
 sniffed at the scent along the rock, and at 
 once came upon the track of the enemy, 
 whose foot had stepped unawares by his 
 very head as he lay asleep. He sought dili- 
 gently for the man, going over the ground 
 w^hither the scent took him ; in more and 
 more fiery and raging mood he kept swing- 
 ing around and around the barrow. There 
 was not any man there in all that desert 
 waste. All the while he matured in his 
 breast his purpose of dire and bloody 
 work. Every now and then he would 
 dash back into the barrow, as though to 
 satisfy himself once more of what he knew 
 already : that there had been plunder 
 
298 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 done, — then he would dash out again. 
 He could hardly wait for the night to 
 come. But presently the day waned at 
 last, and the Worm had his will : no longer 
 would he bide in fenced walls, but issue 
 forth, equipped with fire, to do havoc all 
 over the land. Thus it was that the 
 Dragon's vengeance had a sore beginning 
 for the people ; soon it was to have a 
 sorer ending for their ruler and benefactor. 
 
II 
 
 THE ATTACK 
 
 ONCE the monster had begun his fiery 
 raids, he did not stop them again. 
 Far into each night blazed the farmsteads, 
 late so cheerful. The flying pest would fain 
 have left nothing alive where his vast form 
 hovered in the air on broad black pinions, 
 like to a huge smoke-cloud, with live-coal 
 eyes and flame squirting and snorting from 
 open maw and distended nostrils. It was 
 only just before the break of day that he 
 shot back again to his dark mansion for 
 protection ; for he trusted his rocky keep ; 
 only that trust deceived him in the end. 
 
 Soon it was reported to Beowulf (for 
 
 evil tidings travel swift and sure), that his 
 
 own mansion, noblest of buildings, even 
 
 his own royal seat, the gift of the Goths, 
 
 299 
 
300 Beowulf 
 
 was melting away in fiery waves. So 
 sorely was the venerable King smitten to 
 the heart at this great outrage, that he 
 was tempted to break out into revilings 
 against Providence, much against his wont, 
 for never was man gentler in his valour, 
 more pious in his power. 
 
 Deeply did Beowulf revolve in his 
 thoughts how he should deliver himself 
 and his people from this new pest, after 
 the many, many years of peace and happi- 
 ness. The memories of his youth, of the 
 time when he, a victorious boy, had purged 
 Hrothgar's hall, single-handed, of Grendel 
 and his loathsome brood, were still green 
 with him, and the thought of going forth 
 to seek the Dragon with a host, or even 
 a band of men, was abhorrent to him. He 
 decided to go and look about him with 
 only eleven companions, led by the finder 
 of the first jewelled tankard, the cause of 
 the baleful feud, who went as the thir- 
 teenth of the party. Then the aged King 
 sat him down on the headland, and began 
 to bid farewell to his hearth-fellows. For 
 his heart was heavy within him and full of 
 
The Attack 301 
 
 boding sadness, and his thoughts travelled 
 back, as aged men's thoughts are apt to 
 do when they feel the hour of the last 
 separation drawing nigh — back across the 
 entire field of life's achievements, dwelling 
 longest on what looms remotest. Thus 
 now the ancient warrior, while going over 
 the days of his youth in rather rambling 
 speech, dwelt most lovingly on the time 
 when, as a stripling, he did page's service 
 at the court of Hygelac's father, Hrethel, 
 to whom his own father gave him when 
 only seven years old, and who had raised 
 and fostered him, and held him as dear as 
 his own sons. Then, turning back to the 
 present and its stern necessities, he ad- 
 dressed an affectionate word to each of 
 his more familiar comrades, still harping 
 on his dislike to fight the monster with 
 any but naked hands : 
 
 " I would not willingly bear sword or 
 weapon to meet this Worm, as I formerly 
 did not against Grendel. I expect to meet 
 scorching fire, deadly venom ; therefore 
 shall I carry a strong shield and wear a 
 fine mail-shirt. As for you, my men-at- 
 
302 Beowulf 
 
 arms, wait ye here on the mountain to see 
 which of us twain falls, deadly stricken 
 there on the rock." 
 
 As he spoke, the brave old warrior rose 
 by the brink of the down and sternly 
 scanned the place around, when, not far 
 from where they stood, he beheld a rocky 
 arch, and out of it a stream breaking from 
 the barrow, steaming hot, so no man 
 might come nigh the hoard unscorched 
 and survive the Dragon's flame. 
 
 Then did the Prince of the Goths let 
 forth out of his breast a mighty battle- 
 shout, which stirred the keeper of the 
 hoard under his hoary rock. There was 
 now no time for reflection or for parley- 
 ing, for from out the rock there came the 
 hot reeking breath of the monster, like a 
 cloud of steam ; and hardly had the hero 
 swung his shield and taken his stand well 
 up by it, when the ringy Worm suddenly 
 rolled forth and buckled himself into a 
 bow, and thus, curved like an arch, emit- 
 ting flame, advanced upon his human foe 
 in a rapid, gliding shuffle. The shield, 
 indeed, protected awhile the glorious 
 
The Attack 
 
 303 
 
 'chieftain, but when he raised his arm to 
 smite with the sword, which he had been 
 persuaded to take, the stroke, though 
 hard, proved inefficient, and only roused 
 the furious Dragon to greater rage, so 
 that now it cast forth devouring fire in 
 volumes and the deadly sparks sprang 
 every way. 
 
 And now, when the combatants closed 
 again, the monster's breast shot steam in 
 scalding jets, and the man stood at bay, 
 unseen for the fire which encompassed 
 him. And of his own band of eleven com- 
 rades, sons of ethelings all, not one stood 
 his ground, but all, horror stricken, slunk 
 away to the woods for shelter. 
 
Ill 
 
 WIGLAF 
 
 NO, not all. One among them proved 
 a faithful follower, — Wiglaf, Weoh- 
 stan's son, Beowulf's youngest comrade 
 and his much-loved kinsman. When he 
 beheld his liege lord in such sore distress, 
 his heart smote him, as he thought of the 
 lands and honours the King had so lately 
 bestowed on him, and of the justice he 
 had publicly rendered him and his father 
 in a just feud — and gratitude moved him 
 deeply. 
 
 This was the first adventure on which 
 the young etheling had embarked with 
 his liege lord. When he saw his fellows 
 shamefully scurrying off, mindful only of 
 their own safety, he turned on them and 
 upbraided them with hottest words of 
 noble anger. 
 
 304 
 
Wiglaf 305 
 
 '* What ! " he cried, '' and shall we thus 
 forsake our lord, with whom we were fain to 
 revel in the festive hall, drinking his mead, 
 taking his golden rings and well-tempered 
 swords ? He chose us out of all his host 
 for this adventure because he counted us 
 stout warriors and loyal friends. Now 
 the day is come when he needs the 
 strength of his followers. No matter that 
 he intended to achieve this great deed 
 single-handed — let us stand by him ! God 
 knows that I for one had liefer the flame 
 would swallow me up with him than stand 
 away now ! I think it shame that we 
 should bear our shields safe home unless 
 we rescue the life of our lord. Is this 
 acting according to our old customs, that 
 we leave him, alone of noble Goths, to 
 bear the brunt and fall in an unequal 
 fight?" 
 
 Thus speaking, young Wiglaf boldly 
 plunged into steam and smoke, with his 
 helmet on his head, shouting loud : 
 
 *' My liege Beowulf ! now make good 
 the boast of thy youth, that never in thy 
 lifetime wouldst thou suffer thy glory to 
 
3o6 Beowulf 
 
 decline, — and I shall stand by thee and 
 support thee to the uttermost." 
 
 The fell, malignant monster heard the 
 cheering words and came on with re- 
 doubled fury, to engage his hated enemies. 
 In an instant the wooden lining of Wig- 
 laf s shield was consumed by the flame ; 
 but he went forward under shelter of his 
 elder kinsman's shield when his own was 
 reduced to ashes. Then the old fire of 
 battle burned high in the valiant King's 
 breast, and he smote the Worm so desper- 
 ate a blow, that the weapon stood in his 
 head, deep stuck ; but Naegling, the good 
 sword, flew in splinters as it struck, be- 
 traying its master as other blades had 
 done before ; for it was not given him 
 that steel should help him in a fight. 
 
 And now, enraged even unto death, the 
 Dragon, after yielding ground somewhat, 
 made a rush at the hero, whose strength 
 was giving way apace, and, opening wide 
 his reeking jaws, enclosed his foe's neck 
 with his sharp, long fangs, till the blood 
 flowed in streams. 
 
IV 
 VICTORY AND DEATH 
 
 LOUD is the minstrels' song in praise 
 of Wiglaf, the fearless young ethel- 
 ing, and the prowess he displayed in his 
 aged kinsman's behalf, giving him time 
 to recover his senses, so that at the mon- 
 ster's third onslaught, he could draw the 
 knife from his belt and gash the Worm 
 from below, in the middle, with deadly 
 stab. This was the supreme hour of tri- 
 umph in the hero's career, when his winged, 
 scaly foe fell off writhing and gasping out 
 his life. 
 
 But in the wound which those cruel 
 fangs had inflicted, the venom began its 
 deadly work. In vain young Wiglaf, sit- 
 ting down on a stone by the mound where 
 his liege lord lay exhausted, applied all the 
 307 
 
3o8 Beowulf 
 
 remedies taught him by the leech-lore of 
 cunning dwarfs, — unloosened the helmet, 
 cooled the swelling neck with water which 
 he ladled on it with his hand, and laid 
 on healing herbs which grew in plenty 
 out of the bountiful earth : the hurt was 
 mortal, with each moment life was burn- 
 ing away, with the fiery poison spreading 
 through all the vital parts. Beowulf knew 
 that the tale of his days was told, and he 
 was spending his last hours on earth. But 
 the hero's brave soul did not quail. He 
 looked death in the face, now that it bent 
 close over him, as calmly as he was wont 
 in the days when it was but a distant 
 shadow on the battle-field. The one re- 
 gret which he expressed was at having no 
 son to whom he could bequeath his royal 
 armour. But he took comfort in the con- 
 sciousness of having been a just ruler. 
 
 *' I have ruled this people fifty winters," 
 he said ; " there was not a king who dared 
 threaten them with war. Yet did I hold 
 my own by justice. I have not sought 
 unjust quarrels nor have I sworn many 
 false oaths. Thinking of all this, I am 
 
Victory and Death 309 
 
 able, though sick unto death with many 
 wounds, to take comfort, for the Ruler of 
 men cannot charge me with murder of 
 kinsmen, when my life quitteth the body." 
 
 Yet the dying hero had one wish which 
 he begged his young kinsman to satisfy 
 ere his sight and senses failed him ; he 
 fain would have a glimpse of the treasure 
 which he ha4 bought with his life : '' Now 
 quickly go thou, beloved Wiglaf," he said 
 to his faithful comrade, *' and examine the 
 treasure under the hoary rock, now the 
 Worm lieth dead. I would have a look 
 at the curious gems, the hoarded store ; 
 then would I more contentedly resign my 
 life and the lordship I have held so long." 
 
 Not a moment did the devoted youth 
 lose in obeying his beloved lord's behest. 
 He hurried to the lair of the Worm and 
 gazed with amazement on the numberless 
 and wondrous things of value which filled 
 the barrow, heaped and crushed together, 
 indenting the ground where the Dragon 
 had lain on them. The gold was losing 
 its burnish, the precious stones were fall- 
 ing out, bracelets and helmets were eaten 
 
3IO Beowulf 
 
 by rust, losing their value day by day. 
 Thus can treasure, buried idly in the 
 earth, make fools of men ! One great 
 marvel of cunningest handicraft Wiglaf 
 beheld looming high above the hoard ; it 
 was a banner, all golden, which gave forth 
 a gleam of light so bright that it illumined 
 the darkest recesses of the hollow barrow 
 and made it easy to examine all the hid- 
 den curiosities. 
 
 In great haste, hardly pausing to glance 
 at the uncovered treasure, Wiglaf gath- 
 ered into his bosom and arms cups and 
 platters, bracelets and rings, and snatch- 
 ing also the magic banner, eagerly re- 
 turned to the mound with his spoils, 
 anxiously wondering in his faithful heart 
 whether he should find his lord alive still 
 where he left him painfully breathing. 
 Dropping the riches on the ground with- 
 out a thought of them, he quickly knelt by 
 the side of his King, and again began to 
 sprinkle him with water, till he had re- 
 stored him to consciousness and speech. 
 As Beowulf opened his eyes and beheld 
 the gold for a glimpse of which he had 
 
Victory and Death 311 
 
 longed, his brow cleared, and he spoke in 
 feeble, but cheerful tones : 
 
 ** I do give thanks to the Lord of all, 
 the Giver of all things, for those spoils 
 upon which I here do gaze ; to think that 
 I have been permitted to acquire such 
 great wealth for my earls and thanes to 
 enjoy and to remember me by after my 
 death ! I have sold my life for this treas- 
 ure — do thou now provide for my men, 
 for I shall be with them no more. Order 
 my brave warriors to erect a lofty cairn — 
 a mound of stones, after the death-fire has 
 burned out, here on the headland above 
 the sea. It shall tower aloft for a memo- 
 rial to my friends, and seafaring men shall 
 call it Beowulf's Barrow, as they drive 
 their foamy barks over the dangerous 
 waters." 
 
 Then the dying hero took off his gold 
 collar and with feeble hands gave it to the 
 young thane ; also bade him take his coro- 
 neted helmet and his mail-shirt, and wear 
 them and do honour to his chieftain's 
 armour. 
 
 Once more the King spoke, with failing 
 
312 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 breath : ** Thou art the last remnant of 
 our race. *' Fate has swept all my kins- 
 men into eternity, princes in chivalry ; and 
 now I must follow them." 
 
 This was the aged monarch's last speech ; 
 with the words his soul fled from his bosom, 
 to enter into the everlasting rest of the 
 righteous. 
 
WIGLAF'S REBUKE— DISMAY AND TEARS 
 
 A SAD, agonizing hour it was for the 
 warm-hearted youth, new to the 
 world and its trials, when he sat upon 
 the ground taking in the first great grief of 
 his life, as he gazed on the body of the man 
 who had been dearest to him on earth. 
 Small comfort he took from the sight of 
 his dead foe, the horrible Dragon, as he 
 lay at a little distance, uncoiled and harm- 
 less for evermore. Weary of heart, but 
 still nursing some sort of stubborn, una- 
 vailing hope, he sat by his lord's shoulder 
 and still kept sprinkling him with water, 
 till he saw his ten faint-hearted comrades, 
 as they came sneaking shamefacedly from 
 the woods, slowly trailing their shields 
 along to the place where the King lay dead. 
 313 
 
314 " Beowulf 
 
 Grief gave way to righteous anger at 
 the sight. Sternly did young Wiglaf look 
 upon the men he no longer loved, and bit- 
 ter rebuke flowed unchecked from his lips. 
 
 '* Now, look you," he cried ; '* well may a 
 man who is minded to speak the truth, 
 say that the chieftain who gave you those 
 costly gewgaws, that warlike apparel in 
 which you stand there before me, who at 
 the ale-bench so often presented his thanes 
 with helmet and mail-shirt, utterly and 
 wretchedly threw his gifts away. For, 
 verily, little cause had he to boast of his 
 companions-in-arms in the hour of danger ! 
 Nevertheless, it was given him by God, the 
 Ordainer of victories, to avenge himself 
 single-handed when his valour was put to 
 the proof. For little protection could I 
 afford him, though I attempted what was 
 beyond my strength, in trying to help my 
 kinsman. Now go, ye cravens ! No 
 share of the treasure is there for you or 
 yours. And may every man of your kin 
 be sent forth into life-long exile, deprived 
 of lands and rights, as soon as the ethelings 
 now at a distance come together and are 
 
Wiglaf s Rebuke 3^5 
 
 told of yoiir disloyalty, your shameful 
 desertion. Go — and learn from experi- 
 ence that, to a warrior,, death is better far 
 than a life of shame ! " 
 
 When he had relieved his feelings by 
 this thundering outburst, Wiglaf gave 
 orders to make the woful issue of the con- 
 flict known to the host of thanes and earls 
 who, by the master's command, had been 
 encamped over the sea-cliff and had sat 
 there all day long by their shields, their 
 souls divided betwixt hope and fear. One 
 young thane rode up the bluff, sent by the 
 rest, to view the fatal scene and report to 
 them, which he did faithfully, in words 
 pregnant with grief for the present and 
 foreboding for the near future. 
 
 ** Now we may soon look for war," he 
 concluded his report ; " as soon as the 
 King's death is made known among the 
 Franks and Frisians. For never, since 
 Hygelac fell, have we enjoyed the good- 
 will of the Merovingian Kings of the 
 Franks, nor do I count upon peace or 
 good understanding on the side of the 
 Swedes — such is the feud and grudge of 
 
3i6 Beowulf 
 
 all these nations ever since the fall of 
 Hygelac on Frisian land. They will surely 
 attack us as soon as they learn that our 
 Prince is dead, he who has so long upheld 
 against all foes our treasure and our realm, 
 winning ever greater respect in public 
 counsel, and ever greater fame in war. 
 Now methinks that quickness were best; 
 so let us look our last upon the mighty 
 King, and bring him without delay to the 
 funeral pyre. And yonder is a hoard of 
 precious things, gold untold, jewels pur- 
 chased with our hero's own life-blood. 
 Never a warrior shall wear any of those 
 ornaments ; never a maiden have on her 
 neck one of those collars. Sorrowful and 
 stripped of gold ornaments shall all come 
 to the funeral procession, while many a 
 hand shall swing the spear in the cold of 
 the morning ; music of the harp shall not 
 waken the warriors on the fateful day ; but 
 the ominous raven, fluttering and chatter- 
 ing of slaughter, will tell the eagle of his 
 luck, while, alongside of the grim and 
 hungry wolf, he stripped the slain." 
 
 Upon hearing the grief-stricken youth's 
 
Wiglaf s Rebuke 3^7 
 
 discourse, all the troop arose and sadly, 
 under gushing tears, wended their way 
 under the crag, to behold the gruesome 
 sight. There they found, stretched life- 
 less on the sand, the man who had given 
 them so many rings in bygone times, and, 
 at but a short distance from him, the car- 
 case of the loathsome beast, all scorched 
 with its own flames — never saw they more 
 frightful object. It was fifty feet long 
 where it lay. No more through the re- 
 gions of air would he sportively whirl at 
 midnight, then down again pounce to re- 
 joice in his lair — he would have no use 
 for caverns any more. And there, un- 
 watched, open to all men's eyes, lay bowls 
 and dishes and swords of price, all rusty 
 and corroded, as though they had lain in 
 the earth's lap a thousand winters ; for this 
 treasure had been bound by a magic spell, 
 so that it might never be touched of man, 
 unless God Himself granted to one of His 
 choice to open the enchanted hoard ; and 
 that man was to leave his life as ransom — 
 such was Beowulf's lot. 
 
VI 
 
 THE OBSEQUIES 
 
 AND now Wiglaf once more lifted up 
 his voice : 
 " Alas ! we were not able to convince our 
 beloved master that he should not chal- 
 lenge yonder monster, but should leave 
 him to dwell unmolested in his haunts to 
 the end of the world. But it is done — 
 the hoard lies open before us, purchased 
 at a fearful price. I was inside the cham- 
 ber of the barrow and explored the whole 
 of it, and all the stores it held ; for, once 
 the price was paid, the spell was broken, 
 and the passage open to all. Hurriedly I 
 grabbed with my hands a huge burden of 
 treasure and carried it hither to the feet 
 of my King. He was still alive then, wise 
 and sensible ; freely did he talk, although 
 318 
 
The Obsequies 319 
 
 the death-pang was upon him. And he 
 bade me give you all his greeting and 
 tell you his will : that ye should build up, 
 in memory of your chieftain's deeds, on 
 the very place of the funeral pyre, a stone- 
 cairn of the highest, forasmuch as he was 
 of all men the most famous warrior, as 
 long as it was given him to dwell in his 
 royal castle. And now let us go, all to- 
 gether, and visit the fatal hoard. I will 
 be your guide, and ye shall have your fill 
 of gazing on gold and jewels. After that, 
 let us make ready the bier, and promptly 
 equip it, and so let us convey our beloved 
 master to the place where he shall tarry 
 long in the keeping of the Almighty." 
 
 Then, by Wiglafs orders, commands 
 were sent round to many householders, 
 that they should haul timber, stout and 
 sound, to do the last service to the ruler 
 of men. 
 
 While this was being done, Wiglaf 
 called out of the band seven of the King's 
 thanes, the choicest ; led by him, the eighth, 
 they went under the dangerous roof, one 
 warrior walking in front, bearing in his 
 
320 Beowulf 
 
 hand a flaming torch. When they had 
 taken a view of the treasure, lying there 
 keeperless and undefended, they did not 
 stand upon the order of casting lots as to 
 who should loot the hoard, but went to 
 work with all despatch to empty the cham- 
 ber. Then, taking hold of the dead 
 Dragon, they haled him away and shoved 
 him over the precipitous cliff. With a 
 great splash the waves engulfed him, and 
 that was the last of him. In the mean- 
 time, the gold was laden on waggons, which 
 followed the bier whereon the hero was 
 borne to the high, jutting headland which 
 he had chosen for his resting-place. 
 
 There they constructed for him a huge 
 pyre, which they hung all round with hel- 
 mets, battle-shields, bright mail-shirts ; and 
 in the midst of the pyre, heaving deep 
 sighs, they laid their beloved lord. Then 
 the warriors set fire to the pile in several 
 places ; the smoke, heavy and black, 
 mounted up to the sky, the ruddy flames 
 shot aloft, their roaring mingling with the 
 howling of the winds, until the house of 
 flesh and bone was utterly consumed. 
 
The Obsequies 321 
 
 With sore hearts and care-laden minds, 
 the warriors stood around and silently 
 mourned their liege lord, the while a dirge 
 of sorrow was sung by an aged dame, 
 whose dishevelled hair streamed in the 
 wind. The blue heavens swallowed up 
 the black smoke. 
 
 Then did the people go to work and 
 construct a barrow and a cairn of stones on 
 the hill. It was high and broad, and sea- 
 faring men would behold it from a great 
 distance. Ten days they laboured. With 
 great skill they surrounded the ashes of 
 the pyre with a noble embankment, and 
 the pile rose like a beacon for all coming 
 ages, even as the memory of the hero's 
 deeds and noble character. 
 
 As to the fated hoard, they buried the 
 whole in the barrow under the cairn, and 
 left it there, where it remains to this day 
 as useless to mankind as it has been ever 
 since the last of a company of unknown 
 earls consigned it to the earth's keeping. 
 
 Last of all funeral ceremonies, twelve 
 youths, sons of ethelings, rode around 
 the barrow. From time to time they 
 
322 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 stopped in the race, to bewail their loss, and 
 bemoan their King, to recite an elegy in his 
 honour, to celebrate his name and re- 
 hearse his deeds, extolling his manhood 
 with admiring words. 
 
 Thus did the nobles of the Goths, the 
 companions of his hearth, lament the fall 
 of Beowulf, their lord. They said that he 
 was of all kings in the world the mildest 
 and most affable to his men, most genial 
 to his nobles, and most desirous of glory. 
 
NOTE ON THE "BEOWULF" 
 
 NO monument of ancient national liter- 
 ature has been — and to a great ex- 
 tent still is — so overlooked and underrated 
 as the Anglo-Saxon epic of '' Beowulf." It 
 has, indeed, been edited and re-edited, and 
 duly commented on, and it is entered in 
 the university curriculum of Anglo-Saxon. 
 But how great a proportion of even inter- 
 ested students pursue their English studies 
 as far back as Anglo-Saxon ? A cultured 
 general reader would vainly ask for a 
 readable translation, even in prose, of the 
 " Beowulf ; " nor would he be likely to 
 ask for one, as there is nothing in even 
 the best histories of English literature, 
 native or foreign, to awaken a feeling 
 of sympathetic curiosity — nothing more 
 than either a bare mention, or at best, 
 a brief account, always insufficient and fre- 
 323 
 
324 Beowulf 
 
 quently misleading. And — proof positive 
 of the poem's total lack of popularity — it 
 has never yet been illustrated. 
 
 An untoward fate seemed to pursue the 
 '' Beowulf" even before it came into the 
 hands of the scholars. There is only one 
 manuscript of it in existence, which is hid 
 away among nine others, comparatively 
 unimportant, in a folio volume labelled 
 Vitellius A, XV,, and belonging to the 
 Cottonian Library in the British Museum. 
 It was noticed for the first time, in 1705, 
 in a catalogue of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts 
 (Wanley's), in which it is described as 
 containing an account of certain wars 
 between Sweden and Denmark. Need- 
 less to say it is nothing of the kind. The 
 notice was not inviting, and nobody paid 
 much attention to it. One hundred years 
 later, in 1807, Sharon Turner mentioned 
 the poem in his History of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, and even attempted a translation 
 of a few extracts, with but indifferent 
 success, owing to the then still very imper- 
 fect knowledge of Anglo-Saxon versifica- 
 tion and poetic language. Still, the poem 
 
Note on the '^Beowulf" 325 
 
 was now treated with respect, and the 
 study of it was taken up conscientiously, 
 by some even enthusiastically. 
 
 But the students encountered difficulties 
 which they would have been spared a hun- 
 dred or even eighty years before : the 
 original manuscript — the only one — was 
 no longer intact. It had been badly in- 
 jured in a fire which broke out in the Cot- 
 tonian Library in 1731, destroying 114 
 volumes and damaging 98 others, ** so as to 
 make them defective," in the words of the 
 report ; and among these '' defective " ones 
 was our folio. Numerous leaves were 
 scorched, and of these, again, many chip- 
 ped off in the course of time, doing away 
 with many ends of lines. The loss, of 
 course, is irretrievable, but fortunately not 
 so great as to impair materially the sense 
 and the value of the whole. Strangely 
 enough, the same fate, only worse, over- 
 took the first attempt at an edition of the 
 poem. The Danish scholar, Thorkelin, 
 had brought home two complete copies of 
 it, for purposes of study and translation. 
 During twenty years he gave the work 
 
326 Beowulf 
 
 much time, off and on, and had the poem 
 ahnost ready for the press when, in 1807, 
 his house was burned down during the 
 bombardment of Copenhagen by the 
 Enghsh, and his edition of the " Beowulf 
 perished, with most of his books How- 
 ever, the two manuscript copies having 
 fortunately escaped destruction, Thorkelin 
 had the extraordinary courage to do the 
 work over again, and in 181 5 came out the 
 first edition of the " Beowulf," — the first 
 printed text, with a parallel Latin transla- 
 tion and indices. Since then scholars have 
 done their duty by this noble monument — 
 in every way except making it popular. 
 
 Coming now to the discussion of the 
 poem itself, the peculiarity which strikes 
 us most at the first reading is that, while 
 it is avowedly the national epic of the 
 Anglo-Saxons and one of the oldest mon- 
 uments of the Anglo-Saxon language, the 
 hero is a Goth, and the action takes place 
 
 ' A very complete survey of the critical and philological work 
 done on the " Beowulf " up to date will be found in the Intro- 
 duction to Professor John Earle's literal prose translation (with 
 notes) published at Oxford in 1892. 
 
Note on the ''Beowulf" 327 
 
 in Denmark and in Sweden. Yet the 
 scenery described is that of a part of 
 Northumbria, in England, which can be 
 identified to this day, and some of the 
 names of the locality are said to tally with 
 those in the poem. It would seem, there- 
 fore, that the Angles and Saxons, who 
 were near neighbours of the Danes in the 
 German mother-country, brought the story 
 over to the British Island and it was re- 
 told in literary poetic form before the 
 Danes came over as pirates and conquer- 
 ors. Had the poem been written after 
 this event, a Swedo-Danish hero could 
 hardly have been adopted by the subju- 
 gated Anglo-Saxons, nor could the Danes 
 have been mentioned with such absolute 
 absence of animosity. 
 
 Another not only peculiar but highly 
 puzzling feature is that there are two 
 Beowulfs : the second king of the Skyld- 
 ing dynasty (also called Beow), Beowulf 
 the Dane ; and the hero of the poem, Beo- 
 wulf the Goth, who comes over the sea, 
 with a picked band of Goths, to deliver the 
 Skyldings from a most untoward visitation. 
 
328 Beowulf 
 
 What makes this thing stranger still, is 
 that the poem begins with a glorification 
 of the warlike Danes, leading us to expect 
 that it is their national hero whose exploits 
 we are to be called upon to admire. In- 
 stead of which, the Danes appear only in 
 the not very admirable rdle of people who 
 endure an intolerable nuisance passively 
 for twelve years, unable to rid themselves 
 of it — a fact which is duly brought home 
 to them by their deliverer in a moment of 
 legitimate irritation. The reason for this 
 curious incongruity lies almost certainly in 
 the alterations which the old story under- 
 went, — as all epic stories did in the pro- 
 gress of oral transmission, and even in the 
 first written attempts, which were often 
 cast and re-cast before they reached their 
 final form. Originally, the second Beo- 
 wulf was certainly a Dane and a Skylding. 
 As such, he would quite naturally and 
 properly be named after the ancestor who 
 is held up as a model prince in the pro- 
 logue. The latest criticism detects in the 
 poem itself traces amounting to intrinsic 
 proof that such was the case. It was nat- 
 
Note on the '* Beowulf" 329 
 
 ural that Beowulf, himself a Skylding, 
 should be the champion and deliverer of' 
 his people and house, and, after the death 
 of the aged king, should be called to the 
 throne by the country for which he had 
 laboured and fought. Gothland is evi- 
 dently, to use the clever French phrase, 
 " dragged in by the hair " ; by whom and 
 for what reason, is immaterial to the mere 
 reading of the story, But a genealogical 
 connection between the two Beowulfs is 
 felt as an imperious necessity, and the ab- 
 sence of it is a glaring inconsistency which 
 it would be hopeless to attempt to smooth 
 over or explain away for the benefit of 
 youthful readers, whose exacting logic in 
 such things is proverbial. Wherefore the 
 expedient has been resorted to in the 
 present volume of making the second Beo- 
 wulf a Skylding by his mother— din expe- 
 dient innocent enough, since we are not 
 told who was his mother ; and why could 
 not a royal daughter of Denmark be mar- 
 ried to a royal thane of Gothland ? 
 
 As to the authorship of the poem, it is 
 of course obscure. But the latest criticism 
 
33^ Beowulf 
 
 shows good reason to ascribe it to a high 
 Church dignitary — possibly Hygeberht, 
 Bishop of Litchfield — statesman and 
 courtier at the time of the great Offa II., 
 King of Mercia (mentioned with great, but 
 not servile praise in Lay II.), who in the 
 second half of the eighth century gathered 
 the entire Heptarchy under his overlord- 
 ship. The few historical touches betray 
 the man versed in the affairs of more 
 countries than his own.^ 
 
 ' For the very interesting development of this hypothesis, as 
 well as for other points of exhaustive research and criticism, 
 see J. Earle's Introduction, already alluded to. 
 
 Professor Earle's version has been fully utilised in the present 
 volume, even to the extent of frequently making use of its 
 wording, where it was not too archaic or literal for ordinary 
 reading purposes. 
 
KEY TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF 
 PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Aeschere 
 
 Alberich 
 
 Balmung 
 
 Bechlaren 
 
 Beowulf 
 
 Breca . 
 
 Brunhilde 
 
 Dankwart 
 
 Eckewart 
 
 Etzel . 
 
 Folker 
 
 Gemot 
 
 Giselher 
 
 Grendel 
 
 Gunther 
 
 Hagen 
 
 Hela . 
 
 Helferich 
 
 Helke 
 
 Heorot 
 
 Heremod 
 
 Hildebrand 
 
 Es'-ka-ra. 
 
 Ar-ber-ic. 
 
 BalK-mung. 
 
 Bec-la^-ren. 
 
 Bi'-o-wulf. 
 
 Bra'-ka. 
 
 Brun-hir-da. 
 
 Dank^-vart. 
 
 lEck^-e-vart. 
 
 Et'-sel. 
 
 Foir-ker. 
 
 Ger'-n6t. 
 
 Gf-zel-har. 
 
 Gren^-del. 
 
 Gun'-ter. 
 
 Hag'-en. 
 
 HaMa. 
 
 Her.fer-ic. 
 
 Her-ka 
 
 Hi'-o-rot. 
 
 Ha'-re-m6d. 
 
 Hir-de-brand, 
 
 331 
 
332 Key to Pronunciation 
 
 * Hrethel 
 ^ Hrothgar 
 ^ Hrunting 
 Hygd. 
 Hygeberht 
 Hygelac 
 Isenstein 
 Kriemhilde 
 Ludegast 
 Naegling 
 Nibelungs 
 Ortewein 
 Rudiger 
 Siegfried 
 Sieglinde 
 Siegmund 
 Skyldings 
 Thrytho 
 Tronje 
 Unferth 
 Ute . 
 Valkyrie 
 Wealhtheow 
 Weohstan 
 Wiglaf 
 Wolfhart 
 Worms 
 Wulfgar 
 Xante 
 
 Hra'-thel. 
 
 Hroth^-gar. 
 
 Hrunt'-ing. 
 
 Higd. 
 
 Hig'-e-bert. 
 
 Hig'-e-lac. 
 
 r-sen-stlne. 
 
 Krim-hir-da. 
 
 Lu^-de-gast. 
 
 Nag'-ling. 
 
 Ni^-be-lungs. 
 
 Orr'-te-vTne. 
 
 Ru'-di-ger. 
 
 Sig^-frid. 
 
 Sig-lin'-da. 
 
 Sig'-mund. 
 
 Skrld'-ings. 
 
 Thri'-tho. 
 
 Tron'-y^. 
 
 Un^-ferth. 
 
 U'-ta. 
 
 Val-kir'-ya. 
 
 Wer-the-o. 
 
 W'l'-o-stan. 
 
 WigMaf. 
 
 Volf-hart. 
 
 Vorrms. 
 
 Wulf'-gar. 
 
 Kzan'-ta. 
 
 * The H to be aspirated. 
 
WORKS BY 
 
 ZENAIDE A. RACOZIN. 
 
 I. The Story of Chaldea. From the earliest times 
 to the rise of Assyria. (Treated as a general in- 
 troduction to the study of ancient history.) With 
 maps and 80 illustrations. 8vo, cloth . $1 50 
 
 II. The Story of Assyria. From the rise of the 
 empire to the fall of Nineveh. With maps and 89 
 illustrations. 8vo, cloth . . . . $1 50 
 
 III. The Story of Media, Babylonia, and Persia. 
 
 From the fall of Nineveh to the beginning of the 
 Persian war. With a study of the Eranian religion 
 and the life and influence of Zoroaster. 8vo, 
 cloth $1 50 
 
 IV. The Story of Vedic India. As embodied prin- 
 
 cipally in the Rig-Veda. 8vo, cloth . $1 50 
 
 V. The Story of Brahmanic India. A study of 
 the Atharva-Veda, the Brahmanas, the Upani- 
 shads, the laws, and a synopsis at least of the 
 great epics. (In preparation.) 
 
 VI. The Story of Ancient China. Presenting the 
 affinities of the writing-system, the language, and 
 the earliest culture of the Chinese with those of 
 the Shumiro-Accads of Chaldea, together with an 
 analysis of the teachings of Confucius and Men- 
 cius. (In preparation.) 
 
r 
 
 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 
 University of California Library 
 
 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 BIdg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 2- month loans may be renewed by calling 
 
 (510)642-6753 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books 
 
 to NRLF 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days 
 
 prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 20,000 (4/94) 
 
YB 37092