This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
52
BEOWULF.

syþðan hē for wlencowēan āhsode,
fǣhðe tō Frȳsum.Hē þā frætwe wæg,
eorclan-stānas,ofer ȳða ful,
rīce þēoden;hē under rande gecranc.
1210Gehwearf þā in Francna fæþmfeorh cyninges,
brēost-gewǣduond se bēah somod;
wyrsan wīg-frecanwæl rēafedon[1]
æfter gūð-sceare;Gēata lēode
hrēa-wīc hēoldon.Heal swēge onfēng.
1215Wealhðēo maþelode,hēo fore þǣm. werede spræc:
“Brūc ðisses bēages,Bēowulf lēofa,
hyse, mid hǣle,*ond þisses hrægles nēot,Fol. 157a.
þēo[d]-gestrēona,[2]ond geþēoh tela;
cen þec mid cræfte,ond þyssum cnyhtum wes
1220lāra līðe;ic þē þǣs lēan geman.
Hafast þū gefēred,þæt ðē feor ond nēah
ealne wīde-ferhþweras ehtigað,
efne swā sīdeswā sǣ bebūgeð
windge [e]ard-weallas.[3]Wes, þenden þū lifige,
1225æþeling ēadig;[4]ic þē an tela
sinc-gestrēona.Bēo þū suna mīnum
dǣdum gedēfe,drēam healdende.
Hēr is ǣghwylc eorlōþrum getrȳwe,
mōdes milde,man-drihtne hol[d];[5]
1230þegnas syndon geþwǣre,þēod eal gearo.

  1. 1212. MS. ‘reafeden.’
  2. 1218. MS. ‘þeo ge streona.’
  3. 1224. MS. ‘wind geard weallas’; Ettmüller ‘windige weallas,’ cf. l. 572. The emendation in the text is Kemble’s.
  4. 1225. Wülcker puts a comma after æþeling, making it a vocative. It seems to me that such breaks in the half-line are to be avoided wherever possible. Cf. ll. 130, 2188, 2342.
  5. 1229. MS. ‘hol.’