Page:Beowulf (Wyatt).djvu/39

325Setton sǣ-mēþe⁠sīde scyldas,
rondas regn-hearde,⁠wið þæs recedes weal,
bugon þā tō bence;⁠byrnan hringdon,
gūð-searo gumena;⁠gāras stōdon,
sǣ-manna searo,⁠samod ætgædere,
330æsc-holt ufan grǣg;⁠wæs se īren-þrēat
wǣpnum gewurþad.⁠Þā ðǣr wlonc hæleð
ōret-mecgas⁠æfter æþelum^[1] frægn:
“Hwanon ferigeað gē⁠fǣtte scyldas,
grǣge syrcan⁠ond grīm-helmas,
335here-sceafta hēap?⁠Ic eom Hrōðgāres
ār ond ombiht.⁠Ne seah ic el-þēodige
þus manige men⁠mōdiglīcran.
Wēn^[2] ic þæt gē for wlenco,⁠nalles for wræc-sīðum
ac for hige-*þrymmum,⁠Hrōðgār sōhton.”Fol. 137b.
340Him þā ellen-rōf⁠andswarode,
wlanc Wedera lēod⁠word æfter spræc,
heard under helme:⁠“Wē synt Higelāces
bēod-genēatas;⁠Bēowulf is mīn nama.
Wille ic āsecgan⁠sunu^[3] Healfdenes,
345mǣrum þēodne,⁠mīn ǣrende,
aldre þīnum,⁠gif hē ūs geunnan wile,
þæt wē hine swā gōdne⁠grētan mōton.”
Wulfgār maþelode⁠(þæt wæs Wendla lēod,
wæs his mōd-sefa⁠manegum gecȳðed,
350wīg ond wīs-dōm):⁠“Ic þæs wine Deniga,
frēan Scildinga,⁠frinan wille,

1. 332. MS. ‘hæleþum’—evidently a scribal blunder due to the hæleð of the previous line. Grein ‘æþelum’; cf. l. 392, and for the sense ll. 251—2. For ōret- see Sievers § 43, N. 4.
2. 338. Heyne reads Wēn’ for Wene. Cf. ll. 442 and 525.
3. 344. The editors from Kemble downwards have adopted the more usual form of the dat., suna; but see Sievers § 270.