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125
BEOWULF.
Merewīoingas[1]  milts ungyfeðe.

Ne ic tō[2] Swēo-ðēode  sibbe oððe trēowe
wihte ne wēne;  ac wæs wīde cūð,
þætte Ongenðīo  ealdre besnyðede
2925Hǣðcen Hreþling  wið Hrefna-wudu,
þā for onmēdlan  ǣrest gesōhton
Gēata lēode  Gūð-Scilfiiigas.
Sōna him se frōda  fæder Ōhtheres,
eald ond eges-full,  ondslyht[3] āgeaf,
2930ābrēot brim-wīsan,  brȳd āhēorde,[4]
gomela īo-meowlan   golde berofene,
Onelan mōdor  ond Ōhtheres,
ond ðā folgode  feorh-genīðlan,
oð ðæt hī oðēodon  earfoðlīce
2935in Hrefnes holt  hlāford-lēase.
Besæt ðā sin-herge  sweorda lāfe
wundum wērge;  *wēan oft gehēt⁠Fol. 193b.
earmre teohhe  ondlonge niht;
cwæð, hē on mergenne  mēces ecgum
2940gētan wolde,  sum[e] on galg-trēowu[m]
[fuglum] tō gamene.[5]  Frōfor eft gelamp
sārig-mōdum  somod ǣr-dæge,

syððan hīe Hygelāces  horn ond bȳman
  1. ↑ 2921. Wülcker ‘Merewīoinga.’ See note on l. 2453.
  2. ↑ 2922. MS. ‘te.’
  3. ↑ 2929. MS. ‘hond slyht,’ here and in l. 2972. The change in the text is necessary, unless one admits that h can alliterate with vowels. Such cases as this and that of the name “Unferth,” always Hunferð in the MS. but alliterating with vowels, tempt strongly to the abandonment of the rule. Cf. l. 1541 (and note), and see Sievers § 217, N. 1.
  4. ↑ 2930. MS. and Zupitza ‘bryda heorde.’
  5. ↑ 2940—1. MS. ‘sum on galg treowu to gamene.’ Thorpe ‘sume’ and ‘fuglum,’ comparing Judith 297: “fuglum tō frōfre.”
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