Beowulf

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beowulf
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Title: Beowulf
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: July, 1997 [EBook #981]?[This file was first posted on March 12, 2003]?[Most recently updated: March 12, 2003]
Edition: 11
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BEOWULF ***
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BEOWULF?Translated by Gummere
BEOWULF?PRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSE
LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings?of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,?we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!?Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,?from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,?awing the earls. Since erst he lay?friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:?for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,?till before him the folk, both far and near,?who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,?gave him gifts: a good king he!?To him an heir was afterward born,?a son in his halls, whom heaven sent?to favor the folk, feeling their woe?that erst they had lacked an earl for leader?so long a while; the Lord endowed him,?the Wielder of Wonder, with world's renown.?Famed was this Beowulf: {0a} far flew the boast of him,?son of Scyld, in the Scandian lands.?So becomes it a youth to quit him well?with his father's friends, by fee and gift,?that to aid him, aged, in after days,?come warriors willing, should war draw nigh,?liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds?shall an earl have honor in every clan.
Forth he fared at the fated moment,?sturdy Scyld to the shelter of God.?Then they bore him over to ocean's billow,?loving clansmen, as late he charged them,?while wielded words the winsome Scyld,?the leader beloved who long had ruled....?In the roadstead rocked a ring-dight vessel,?ice-flecked, outbound, atheling's barge:?there laid they down their darling lord?on the breast of the boat, the breaker-of-rings, {0b}?by the mast the mighty one. Many a treasure?fetched from far was freighted with him.?No ship have I known so nobly dight?with weapons of war and weeds of battle,?with breastplate and blade: on his bosom lay?a heaped hoard that hence should go?far o'er the flood with him floating away.?No less these loaded the lordly gifts,?thanes' huge treasure, than those had done?who in former time forth had sent him?sole on the seas, a suckling child.?High o'er his head they hoist the standard,?a gold-wove banner; let billows take him,?gave him to ocean. Grave were their spirits,?mournful their mood. No man is able?to say in sooth, no son of the halls,?no hero 'neath heaven, -- who harbored that freight!
I
Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,?leader beloved, and long he ruled?in fame with all folk, since his father had gone?away from the world, till awoke an heir,?haughty Healfdene, who held through life,?sage and sturdy, the Scyldings glad.?Then, one after one, there woke to him,?to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:?Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;?and I heard that -- was -- 's queen,?the Heathoscylfing's helpmate dear.?To Hrothgar was given such glory of war,?such honor of combat, that all his kin?obeyed him gladly till great grew his band?of youthful comrades. It came in his mind?to bid his henchmen a hall uprear,?ia master mead-house, mightier far?than ever was seen by the sons of earth,?and within it, then, to old and young?he would all allot that the Lord had sent him,?save only the land and the lives of his men.?Wide, I heard, was the work commanded,?for many a tribe this mid-earth round,?to fashion the folkstead. It fell, as he ordered,?in rapid achievement that ready it stood there,?of halls the noblest: Heorot {1a} he named it?whose message had might in many a land.?Not reckless of promise, the rings he dealt,?treasure at banquet: there towered the hall,?high, gabled wide, the hot surge waiting?of furious flame. {1b} Nor far was that day?when father and son-in-law stood in feud?for warfare and hatred that woke again. {1c}?With envy and anger an evil spirit?endured the dole in his dark abode,?that he heard each day the din of revel?high in the hall: there harps rang out,?clear song of the singer. He sang who knew {1d}?tales of the early time of man,?how