Siððan Heremōdeshild sweðrode,
eafoð[1] ond ellen;hē mid eotenum wearð
on fēonda gewealdforð forlācen,
snūde forsended.Hine sorh-wylmas
905lemede tō lange;hē his lēodum wearð,
eallum æþelingnm,[2]to aldor-ceare.
Swylce oft bemearnǣrran mǣlum
swið-ferhþes sīðsnotor ceorl monig,
sē þe him bealwatō bōte gelȳfde,
910þæt þæt ðēodnes bearngeþēon scolde,
fæder æþelum[3] onfōn,folc gehealdan,
hord ond hlēo-burh,hæleþa rīce,
ēðel Scyldinga.Hē þǣr eallum wearð,
mǣg Higelācesmanna cynne,
915frēondum gefægra;hine fyren onwōd.[4]
Hwīlum flītendefealwe strǣte
mēarum mǣton.Ðā wæs morgen-lēoht
scofen ond scynded.*Eode scealc monig Fol. 150a.
switð-hicgendetō sele þām hēan
920searo-wundor sēon;swylce self cyning
of brȳd-būre,bēah-horda weard,
tryddode tīr-fæstgetrume micle,
cystum gecȳþed,ond his cwēn mid him
medo-stīg gemætmægþa hōse.
- ↑ 902. MS. ‘earfoð,’ retained by Wülcker; cf. l. 534. On the other hand, see ll. 602, 2349.
- ↑ 906. MS. ‘æþellingum.’
- ↑ 911. There appears to be no sufficient reason for making a compound, fæder-æþelum, here, as the editors do. Cf. ll. 21, 1479.
- ↑ 915. Some editors mark the close of this episode by a space between this line and the next. There is nothing more than a dot in the MS., not a fresh line, nor even a capital to hwīlum.
don l. 1242, and for the phrase cf. weorð-myndum þāh l. 8. Nevertheless I cannot bring myself to abandon the clear reading of the MS., which makes at least as good sense as many another passage.
