desert, the haunts of the barbarous communes. Such are the words which suddenly voice the spirit of Blood-revenge in the speech of Ajax[1]—
"Ay, for a murdered brother or son have we taken the wehrgeld;
So in his commune stayeth the murderer, much having paid down;
So the avenger's passion is soothed by the gift of the wehrgeld."
And among the Christian associations of Beowulf the same feelings of old clanship break out in a curious mixture of the spiritual and material;
"Spake the son of Eegtheow,
'Clearly was our dread encounter,
Higelac, a time of strife,
On the plain where Grendel harried
Sige-Scyldings sick of life.
All their griefs have I avengèd
So that Grendel's kindred may
Ne'er on earth, however long-lived,
Boast about that twilight-fray.'"[2]
§ 39. Closely allied in spirit to these poems of Blood-revenge are the death-songs of clansmen; here, again, there is scope for the expression of such personal feelings as do not conflict with clan duties. Among the many examples of such poems we shall select two, which, as coming from the most distant parts of the world, and belonging to widely different conditions of climate and race, may be aptly compared—the death-song of the Arab ʿAbd Yaghûth,[3] and that of the famous Ragnar Lodbrok thrown by Ella into a dungeon full of vipers.
The song of Lodbrok partly sketches the hero's past victories, and partly describes the sentiments with which he meets his death; it is only with the latter part that we are at present concerned. The chant of death is put dramatically enough into the dying hero's mouth, and would no doubt have been wonderfully effective as delivered by the Scald. Some of the concluding stanzas
