VII. HROTHGAR AND BEOWULF.
VII.
HROTHGAR AND BEOWULF.
Hrothgar remembers Beowulf as a youth, and also remembers his father.Hrothgar answered, helm of the Scyldings:
“I remember this man as the merest of striplings.
His father long dead now was Ecgtheow titled,
Him Hrethel the Geatman granted at home his
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One only daughter; his battle-brave son
Is come but now, sought a trustworthy friend.
Seafaring sailors asserted it then,
Beowulf is reported
to have the
strength of thirty
men.
Who valuable gift-gems of the Geatmen1 carried
As peace-offering thither, that he thirty men’s grapple
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Has in his hand, the hero-in-battle.
God hath sent him
to our rescue.
The holy Creator usward sent him,
To West-Dane warriors, I ween, for to render
’Gainst Grendel’s grimness gracious assistance:
I shall give to the good one gift-gems for courage.
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Hasten to bid them hither to speed them,2
To see assembled this circle of kinsmen;
Tell them expressly they’re welcome in sooth to
The men of the Danes.” To the door of the building
Wulfgar invites the
strangers in.
Wulfgar went then, this word-message shouted:
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“My victorious liegelord bade me to tell you,
The East-Danes’ atheling, that your origin knows he,
And o’er wave-billows wafted ye welcome are hither,
Valiant of spirit. Ye straightway may enter
Clad in corslets, cased in your helmets,
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To see King Hrothgar. Here let your battle-boards,
Wood-spears and war-shafts, await your conferring.”
The mighty one rose then, with many a liegeman,
An excellent thane-group; some there did await them,
And as bid of the brave one the battle-gear guarded.
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Together they hied them, while the hero did guide them,
’Neath Heorot’s roof; the high-minded went then
Sturdy ’neath helmet till he stood in the building.
Beowulf spake (his burnie did glisten,
His armor seamed over by the art of the craftsman):
Beowulf salutes
Hrothgar, and
then proceeds to
boast of his youthful
achievements.
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“Hail thou, Hrothgar! I am Higelac’s kinsman
And vassal forsooth; many a wonder
I dared as a stripling. The doings of Grendel,
In far-off fatherland I fully did know of:
Sea-farers tell us, this hall-building standeth,
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Excellent edifice, empty and useless
To all the earlmen after evenlight’s glimmer
’Neath heaven’s bright hues hath hidden its glory.
This my earls then urged me, the most excellent of them,
Carles very clever, to come and assist thee,
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Folk-leader Hrothgar; fully they knew of
His fight with the
nickers.
The strength of my body. Themselves they beheld me
When I came from the contest, when covered with gore
Foes I escaped from, where five3 I had bound,
The giant-race wasted, in the waters destroying
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The nickers by night, bore numberless sorrows,
The Weders avenged (woes had they suffered)
Enemies ravaged; alone now with Grendel
He intends to fight
Grendel unaided.
I shall manage the matter, with the monster of evil,
The giant, decide it. Thee I would therefore
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Beg of thy bounty, Bright-Danish chieftain,
Lord of the Scyldings, this single petition:
Not to refuse me, defender of warriors,
Friend-lord of folks, so far have I sought thee,
That I may unaided, my earlmen assisting me,
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This brave-mooded war-band, purify Heorot.
I have heard on inquiry, the horrible creature
Since the monster
uses no weapons,
From veriest rashness recks not for weapons;
I this do scorn then, so be Higelac gracious,
My liegelord belovèd, lenient of spirit,
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To bear a blade or a broad-fashioned target,
A shield to the onset; only with hand-grip
I, too, shall disdain
to use any.
The foe I must grapple, fight for my life then,
Foeman with foeman; he fain must rely on
The doom of the Lord whom death layeth hold of.
Should he crush
me, he will eat my
companions as he
has eaten thy
thanes.
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I ween he will wish, if he win in the struggle,
To eat in the war-hall earls of the Geat-folk,
Boldly to swallow4 them, as of yore he did often
The best of the Hrethmen! Thou needest not trouble
A head-watch to give me;5 he will have me dripping
In case of my defeat,
thou wilt not
have the trouble of
burying me.
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And dreary with gore, if death overtake me,6
Will bear me off bleeding, biting and mouthing me,
The hermit will eat me, heedless of pity,
Marking the moor-fens; no more wilt thou need then
Should I fall, send
my armor to my
lord, King Higelac.
Find me my food.7 If I fall in the battle,
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Send to Higelac the armor that serveth
To shield my bosom, the best of equipments,
Richest of ring-mails; ’tis the relic of Hrethla,
Weird is supreme
The work of Wayland. Goes Weird as she must go!”