Page:Gummere (1909) The Oldest English Epic.djvu/126

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110

THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC

2025gold-decked maid, to the glad son of Froda.
Sage this seems to the Scyldings’-friend,
kingdom’s-keeper: he counts it wise
the woman to wed so and ward off feud,
store of slaughter. But seldom ever
2030when men are slain, does the murder-spear sink
but briefest while, though the bride be fair!^[1]
“Nor haply will like it the Heathobard lord,
and as little each of his liegemen all,
when a thane of the Danes, in that doughty throng,
2035goes with the lady along their hall,
and on him the old-time heirlooms glisten
hard and ring-decked, Heathobard’s treasure,
weapons that once they wielded fair

until they lost at the linden-play^[2]

↑ Beowulf gives his uncle the king not mere gossip of his journey, hut a statesmanlike forecast of the outcome of certain policies at the Danish court. Talk of interpolation here is absurd. As both Beowulf and Hygelac know,—and the folk for whom the Beowulf was put together also knew,—Froda was king of the Heathobards (probably the Langobards, once near neighbors of Angle and Saxon tribes on the continent), and had fallen in fight with the Danes. Hrothgar will set aside this feud by giving his daughter as “peace-weaver” and wife to the young king Ingeld, son of the slain Froda. But Beowulf, on general principles and from his observation of the particular case, foretells trouble. He even goes into particulars; and here the poet not unskilfully uses the actual Ingeld story,—which he knew doubtless in song and saga, as Saxo Grammaticus knew it, though in another version—for the forecast of the hero. It is worth noting that in Saxo the old warrior stirs his master by a lay of battle and vengeance which he chants at a banquet.—From the Widsith we know that Ingeld attacked Hrothgar later in Heorot, and was defeated by uncle and nephew in a bloody battle.
↑ Play of shields, battle. A Danish warrior cuts down Froda in the fight, and takes his sword and armor, leaving them to a son. This son is selected to accompany his mistress, the young princess Freawaru, to her new home when she is Ingeld’s queen. Heedlessly he wears the sword of Froda in hall. An old warrior points it out to Ingeld, and eggs him

[1] Beowulf gives his uncle the king not mere gossip of his journey, hut a statesmanlike forecast of the outcome of certain policies at the Danish court. Talk of interpolation here is absurd. As both Beowulf and Hygelac know,—and the folk for whom the Beowulf was put together also knew,—Froda was king of the Heathobards (probably the Langobards, once near neighbors of Angle and Saxon tribes on the continent), and had fallen in fight with the Danes. Hrothgar will set aside this feud by giving his daughter as “peace-weaver” and wife to the young king Ingeld, son of the slain Froda. But Beowulf, on general principles and from his observation of the particular case, foretells trouble. He even goes into particulars; and here the poet not unskilfully uses the actual Ingeld story,—which he knew doubtless in song and saga, as Saxo Grammaticus knew it, though in another version—for the forecast of the hero. It is worth noting that in Saxo the old warrior stirs his master by a lay of battle and vengeance which he chants at a banquet.—From the Widsith we know that Ingeld attacked Hrothgar later in Heorot, and was defeated by uncle and nephew in a bloody battle.

[v2039-2] Play of shields, battle. A Danish warrior cuts down Froda in the fight, and takes his sword and armor, leaving them to a son. This son is selected to accompany his mistress, the young princess Freawaru, to her new home when she is Ingeld’s queen. Heedlessly he wears the sword of Froda in hall. An old warrior points it out to Ingeld, and eggs him

[1]

[2]