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91
BEOWULF.
Þǣr unc hwīle wæs  hand-gemǣne;[1]

holm heolfre wēoll,  ond ic hēafde becearf
in ðām [grund-]sele[2]  Grendeles mōdor
2140ēacnum ecgum;  unsōfte þonan
feorh oðferede; næs ic fǣge þā gyt;
ac mē eorla hlēo  eft gesealde
māðma menigeo,  maga Healfdenes.

XXXI.

Swā se ðēod-kyning  þēawum lyfde;
2145nealles ic ðām lēanum  forloren hæfde,
mægnes mēde,  ac hē mē *[māðma]s[3] geaf,⁠Fol. 177b.
sunu Healfdenes, on [mīn]ne[4] sylfes dōm,
ðā ic ðē, beorn-cyning,  bringan wylle,
ēstum geȳwan.  Gēn is eall ǣt ðē
2150lissa gelong;  ic lȳt hafo
hēafod-māga  nefne, Hygelāc, ðec.”
Hēt ðā in beran  eafor, hēafod-segn,[5]
heaðo-stēapne helm,  hāre byrnan,
gūð-sweord geatolīc,  gyd æfter wræc:
2155“Mē ðis hilde-sceorp  Hrōðgār sealde,
snotra fengel; sume worde hēt,
þæt ic his ǣrest ðē  ēst[6] gesægde;
cwæð þæt hyt hæfde  Hiorogār cyning,

lēod Scyldunga,  lange hwīle;
  1. ↑ 2137. Wūlcker and Heyne ‘hand gemǣne,’ but cf. Ger. handgemein.
  2. ↑ 2139. No gap in MS. Grundtvig’s emendation.
  3. ↑ 2146. MS. defective at corner here and in next line.
  4. ↑ 2147. Grundtvig ‘[sīn]ne.’
  5. ↑ 2152. Zupitza and most editors ‘eafor-hēafod-segn.’ But, as compounds of three words are as rare in O.E. poetry as compounds of two words are common, it seems better to make two parallels.
  6. ↑ 2157. This line has constantly been mangled (see Heyne or Wūlcker) through misreading the ‘est’ of the MS. as eft. Cf. l. 2165.
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