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120
BEOWULF.
ǣr swylt-dæge  swylc gestrȳnan.

Nū ic on māðma hord  mīne[1] bebohte
2800frōde feorh-lege,  fremmað gēna[2]
lēoda þearfe;  ne mæg ic hēr leng wesan.
Hātað heaðo-mǣre  hlǣw gewyrcean
beorhtne æfber bǣle  æt brimes nosan;
sē scel tō gemyndum  mīnum lēodum
2805hēah hlīfian  on Hrones næsse,
þæt hit sǣ-līðend  syððan hātan
Bīowulfes biorh,  ðā ðe brentingas
ofer *flōda genipu  feorran drīfað.”⁠Fol. 191a..
Dyde him of healse  hring gyldenne
2810þīoden þrīst-hȳdig;  þegne gesealde,
geongum gār-wigan,  gold-fāhne helm,
bēah ond byrnan,  hēt hyne brūcan well.
“Þū eart ende-lāf  usses cynnes,
Wǣgmundinga;  ealle wyrd forswēop[3]
2815mīne māgas  tō metod-sceafte,
eorlas on elne;  ic him æfter sceal.”
Þæt wæs þām gomelan  gingæste word
brēost-gehygdum,  ǣr hē bǣl cure,
hāte heaðo-wylmas;  him of hreðre[4] gewāt
2820sāwol sēcean  sōð-fæstra dōm.[5]
  1. ↑ 2799. MS. ‘minne,’
  2. ↑ 2800. Thorpe ‘gē nū’; so Grein and Heyne. Why?
  3. ↑ 2814. MS. ‘for/speof.’ Kemble ‘forswēof’ (so Grein and Heyne). But when the MS. reading is certainly wrong, it is surely better, by a change of two letters, to obtain the pret. of a verb already used in this poem (l. 477), and found in the past part, in “Genesis” 391, than, by a change of one letter only, to set up a verb, of whose existence there is no other evidence.
  4. ↑ 2819. MS. ‘hwæðre.’ Kemble’s emendation.
  5. ↑ 2820. No number in the MS. after this hne, but there is a space, and l. 2821 begins with a large capital.
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