Then I heard that at need of the king of the people

The upstanding earlman exhibited prowess,

Vigor and courage, as suited his nature;

He his head did not guard, but the high-minded liegeman’s

Hand was consumed, when he succored his kinsman,

So he struck the strife-bringing strange-comer lower,

Earl-thane in armor, that in went the weapon

Gleaming and plated, that ’gan then the fire

Later to lessen. The liegelord himself then

Retained his consciousness, brandished his war-knife,

Battle-sharp, bitter, that he bare on his armor:

The Weder-lord cut the worm in the middle.

They had felled the enemy (life drove out then

Puissant prowess), the pair had destroyed him,

Land-chiefs related: so a liegeman should prove him,

A thaneman when needed. To the prince ’twas the last of

His era of conquest by his own great achievements,

The latest of world-deeds. The wound then began

Which the earth-dwelling dragon erstwhile had wrought him

To burn and to swell. He soon then discovered

That bitterest bale-woe in his bosom was raging,

Poison within. The atheling advanced then,

That along by the wall, he prudent of spirit

Might sit on a settle; he saw the giant-work,

How arches of stone strengthened with pillars

The earth-hall eternal inward supported.

Then the long-worthy liegeman laved with his hand the

Far-famous chieftain, gory from sword-edge,

Refreshing the face of his friend-lord and ruler,

Sated with battle, unbinding his helmet.

Beowulf answered, of his injury spake he,

His wound that was fatal (he was fully aware

He had lived his allotted life-days enjoying

The pleasures of earth; then past was entirely

His measure of days, death very near):

“My son I would give now my battle-equipments,

Had any of heirs been after me granted,

Along of my body. This people I governed

Fifty of winters: no king ’mong my neighbors

Dared to encounter me with comrades-in-battle,

Try me with terror. The time to me ordered

I bided at home, mine own kept fitly,

Sought me no snares, swore me not many

Oaths in injustice. Joy over all this

I’m able to have, though ill with my death-wounds;

Hence the Ruler of Earthmen need not charge me

With the killing of kinsmen, when cometh my life out

Forth from my body. Fare thou with haste now

To behold the hoard ’neath the hoar-grayish stone,

Well-lovèd Wiglaf, now the worm is a-lying,

Sore-wounded sleepeth, disseized of his treasure.

Go thou in haste that treasures of old I,

Gold-wealth may gaze on, together see lying

The ether-bright jewels, be easier able,

Having the heap of hoard-gems, to yield my

Life and the land-folk whom long I have governed.”

[1] B. renders: He (W.) did not regard his (the dragon’s) head (since Beowulf had struck it without effect), but struck the dragon a little lower down.—One crux is to find out whose head is meant; another is to bring out the antithesis between ‘head’ and ‘hand.’

[2] ‘Þæt þæt fýr’ (2702), S. emends to ‘þá þæt fýr’ = when the fire began to grow less intense afterward. This emendation relieves the passage of a plethora of conjunctive þæt’s.

[3] For ‘gefyldan’ (2707), S. proposes ‘gefylde.’ The passage would read: He felled the foe (life drove out strength), and they then both had destroyed him, chieftains related. This gives Beowulf the credit of having felled the dragon; then they combine to annihilate him.—For ‘ellen’ (2707), Kl. suggests ‘e(a)llne.’—The reading ‘life drove out strength’ is very unsatisfactory and very peculiar. I would suggest as follows: Adopt S.’s emendation, remove H.’s parenthesis, read ‘ferh-ellen wræc,’ and translate: He felled the foe, drove out his life-strength (that is, made him hors de combat), and then they both, etc.