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87
BEOWULF.
87


on him gladiað  gomelra lāfe
heard ond hring-mǣl,  Heaðobear[d]na gestrēon,[1]
þenden hīe ðām wǣpnum  wealdan mōston,

[XXIX.]

oð ðæt hīe forlǣddan[2]  tō ðām lind-plegan
2040swǣse gesīðas  ond hyra sylfra feorh.
Þonne cwið aæt bēore,  sē ðe bēah *gesyhð,Fol. 175a.
eald æsc-wiga,  sē ðe eall gem[an],[3]
gār-cwealm gumena  (him bið grim sefa),
onginneð gēomor-mōd  geong[um] cempan
2045þurh hreðra gehygd  higes cunnian,
wīg-bealu weccean,  ond þæt word ācwyð:
‘Meaht ðū, mīn wine,  mēce gecnāwan,
þone þīn fæder  tō gefeohte bær
under here-grīman  hindeman sīðe,
2050dȳre īren,  þǣr hyne Dene slōgon,
wēoldon wæl-stōwe,  syððan Wiðergyld læg,[4]
æfter hæleþa hryre,  hwate Scyldungas?
Nū hēr þāra banena  byre nāt-hwylces
frætwum hrēmig  on flet gǣð,
2055morðres gylpe[ð],  ond þone māðþum byreð,
þone þe ðū mid rihte  rǣdan sceoldest.’
Manað swā ond myndgað  mǣla gehwylce

  1. 2037. MS. ‘heaða bearna.’
  2. 2039. The MS. has a large capital O at the beginning of this line, such as one finds elsewhere only at the beginning of a new fit. (Cf. l. 1740.) But the number xxix is wanting, and the next break is at l. 2144, where the number is xxxi. Wülcker makes the 29th fit begin with l. 2014, and the 30th with l. 2067. Heyne makes one break instead of two, and that after l. 2031.
  3. 2042. MS. defective at corner and edge, here and in ll. 2044, 2055.
  4. 2051. MS. ‘wiðer gyld.’ Heyne 5 ‘(syððan wiðer-gyld læg),’ when vengeance failed. But cf. Wīdsīð 124.