Beowulf: Lines 1687–2311

They suffered a terrible severance from the Lord;
the Almighty made the waters rise,
drowned them in the deluge for retribution.

They suffered a terrible severance from the Lord;
the Almighty made the waters rise,
drowned them in the deluge for retribution.

In pure gold inlay on the sword-guards
there were rune-markings correctly incised,
stating and recording for whom the sword
had been first made and ornamented
with its scrollworked hilt.

So I stand firm by the promise of
friendship
we exchanged before. Forever you will be
your people's mainstay and your own warriors'
helping hand.

He vented his rage on men he caroused with,
killed his own comrades, a pariah king who
cut himself off from his own kind,
even though Almighty God had made him
eminent and powerful and marked him from the start
for a happy life.

He vented his rage on men he caroused with,
killed his own comrades, a pariah king who
cut himself off from his own kind,
even though Almighty God had made him
eminent and powerful and marked him from the start
for a happy life.

He vented his rage on men he caroused with,
killed his own comrades, a pariah king who
cut himself off from his own kind,
even though Almighty God had made him
eminent and powerful and marked him from the start
for a happy life.

Sometimes He allows the mind of a man
of distinguished birth to follow its bent,
grants him fulfilment and felicity on earth
and forts to command in his own country.

Sometimes He allows the mind of a man
of distinguished birth to follow its bent,
grants him fulfilment and felicity on earth
and forts to command in his own country.

The whole world
conforms to his will, he is kept from the worst
until an element of overweening
enters him and takes hold
while the soul's guard, its sentry, drowses,
grown too distracted.

His old possessions seem paltry to him now.

He covets and resents; dishonours custom
and bestows no gold; and because of good things
that the Heavenly Powers gave him in the past
he ignores the shape of things to come.

If there is any favour on earth I can perform
beyond deeds of arms I have done already,
anything that would merit your affections more,
I shall act, my lord, with alacrity.

I know your people
are beyond reproach in every respect,
steadfast in the old way with friend or foe.

Two forebodings
disturbed him in his wisdom, but one was stronger:
nevermore would they meet each other
face to face.

The embrace ended
and Beowulf, glorious in his gold regalia,
stepped the green earth.

He was a peerless king
until old age sapped his strength and did him
mortal harm, as it has done so many.

He was a peerless king
until old age sapped his strength and did him
mortal harm, as it has done so many.

Then the keel plunged
and shook in the sea; and they sailed from Denmark.

The building was magnificent, the king majestic,
ensconced in his hall; and although Hygd, his queen,
was young, a few short years at court,
her mind was thoughtful and her manners sure.

Haereth's daughter behaved generously
and stinted nothing when she distributed
bounty to the Geats.

But Hemming's kinsman put a halt to her ways
and drinkers round the table had another tale:
she was less of a bane to people's lives,
less cruel-minded, after she was married
to the brave Offa, a bride arrayed
in her gold finery, given away
by a caring father, ferried to her young prince
over dim seas.

Beowulf's return
was reported to Hygelac as soon as possible,
news that the captain was now in the enclosure,
his battle-brother back from the fray
alive and well, walking to the hall.

After Hygelac had offered greetings
to his loyal thane in lofty speech,
he and his kinsman, that hale survivor,
sat face to face.

Sometimes the queen
herself appeared, peace-pledge between nations,
to hearten the young ones and hand out
a torque to a warrior, then take her place.

The friend of the Shieldings favours her betrothal:
the guardian of the kingdom sees good in it
and hopes this woman will heal old wounds
and grievous feuds.

Danes are at the table, being entertained,
honoured guests in glittering regalia,
burnished ring-mail that was their hosts' birthright,
looted when the Heathobards could no longer wield
their weapons in the shield-clash, when they went down
with their beloved comrades and forfeited their lives.

Then on both sides the oath-bound lords
will break the peace, a passionate hate
will build up in Ingeld and love for his bride
will falter in him as the feud rankles.

A comrade from our ranks
had come to grief in Grendel's maw:
he ate up the entire body.

He had this roomy pouch,
a strange accoutrement, intricately strung
and hung at the ready, a rare patchwork
of devilishly fitted dragon-skins.

Then suddenly
the vehement mother avenged her son
and wreaked destruction.

And so the heartsore king beseeched me
in your royal name to take my chances
underwater, to win glory
and prove my worth.

Hence, as is well known, I went to my encounter
with the terror-monger at the bottom of the tarn.

"When Hrothgar presented this war-gear to me
he instructed me, my lord, to give you some account
of why it signifies his special favour.
He said it had belonged to his older brother,
King Heorogar, who had long kept it,
but that Heorogar had never bequeathed it
to his son Heoroweard, that worthy scion,
loyal as he was. Enjoy it well."

I heard he presented Hygd with a gorget,
the priceless torque that the prince's daughter,
Wealhtheow, had given him; and three horses,
supple creatures, brilliantly saddled.

They firmly believed that he lacked force,
that the prince was a weakling; but presently
every affront to his deserving was reversed.

He ruled it well
for fifty winters, grew old and wise
as warden of the land
until one began
to dominate the dark, a dragon on the prowl
from the steep vaults of a stone-roofed barrow
where he guarded a hoard; there was a hidden passage,
unknown to men, but someone managed
to enter by it and interfere
with the heathen trove.

He is driven to hunt out
hoards under ground, to guard heathen gold
through age-long vigils, though to little avail.

For three centuries, this scourge of the people
had stood guard on that stoutly protected
underground treasury, until the intruder
unleashed its fury; he hurried to his lord
with the gold-plated cup and made his plea
to be reinstated.

So the guardian of the mound,
the hoard-watcher, waited for the gloaming
with fierce impatience; his pent-up fury
at the loss of the vessel made him long to hit back
and lash out in flames.