15 May 2009
The fit continues the herald’s account of the Swedish war. Ongentheow, the Swedish king, and his troops flee from Hygelac’s oncoming army, taking refuge in a fort. Hygelac overruns the fort and Ongentheow faces two Geatish warriors, brothers, in battle, Wulf and Eofor. Wulf wounds Ongentheow, but Ongentheow’s counterstroke cuts through Wulf’s helmet, severely wounding, but not killing, the warrior. Eofor, Wulf’s brother steps into the fray and kills Ongentheow. Eofor takes Ongentheow’s armor and weapons and presents them to Hygelac as trophies. In return, Hygelac richly rewards the brothers with treasure and gives his only daughter in marriage to Eofor.
The herald predicts that with the death of Beowulf, the Swedes will renew the feud with the Geats. The herald says that they must burn the dragon’s hoard with Beowulf’s body and predicts a grim future for the people of the Geats. The warriors then go to view Beowulf’s body, the dead dragon, and the treasure.
This is a very difficult fit for the modern reader because it’s filled with references that, while familiar to the Anglo-Saxons, are obscure to us. The large number of characters also makes it difficult to connect pronouns to their antecedents. (e.g., Does “his” refer to Eofor, Hygelac, or Ongentheow?) But with repeated readings, you can eventually figure it all out, and the reward is well worth it. The fit has several really evocative passages.
First some names. Eofor literally means boar and Wulf is, of course, wolf.
The battle scenes are marvelously descriptive, lines 2964b–76:
Hyne yrringa
Wulf Wonrēding wæpne ġeræhte,
þæt him for swenġe swāt ædrum sprong
forð under fexe. Næs hē forht swā ðēh,
gomela Scilfing, ac forġeald hraðe
wyrsan wrixle wælhlem þone,
syððan ðēodcyning þyder onċirde.
Ne meahte se snella sunu Wonrēdes
ealdum ċeorle ondslyht ġiofan,
ac hē him on hēafde helm ær ġescer,
þæt hē blōde fah būgan sceolde,
fēoll on foldan; næs hē fæġe þā ġit,
ac hē hyne ġewyrpte, þēah ðe him wund hrine.Angrily
Wulf, the son of Wonred, struck him1 with his weapon
so that because of the swing blood sprang in streams
from under his hair. Yet he1 was not afraid,
the old Scilfing, but he repaid quickly
a worse exchange for that slaughter-blow,
after the people’s king turned thither.
The bold son of Wonred could not
give a counter-blow to the old man,
because he1 had sheared through the helmet on his2 head,
so that he decorated with blood should fall,
he fell to the ground; he was not yet doomed to die,
but he recovered, though the wound had hurt him.
1 Ongentheow
2 Wulf
Ædrum, which I translated as in streams, could also be from veins. I’ve also moved some of the words about so the passage conforms to modern rules of syntax.
The herald also explains why the treasure should be burned and predicts dark times ahead for the Geats, lines 3010–27:
Ne scel ānes hwæt
meltan mid þam modigan, ac þær is māðma hord,
gold unrīme grimme ġeċēa(po)d,
ond nū æt sīðestan sylfes fēore
bēagas (ġeboh)te; þā sceall brond fretan,
æled þeċċean— nalles eorl wegan
māððum to ġemyndum, nē mæġð scyne
habban on healse hrinġweorðunge,
ac sceal ġeōmormōd, golde berēafod,
oft nalles æne elland tredan,
nū se herewīsa hleahtor āleġde,
gamen ond glēodrēam. Forðon sceall gār wesan
moniġ, morgenċeald, mundum bewunden,
hæfen on handa, nalles hearpan swēġ
wīġend weċċean, ac se wonna hrefn
fūs ofer fæġum fela reordian,
earne secgan hū him æt æte spēow,
þenden hē wið wulf wæl rēafode.Nor shall just one thing
melt with the courageous one, but there is the treasure hoard,
gold uncounted and grimly purchased,
and now at last with his own life
bought the rings; then shall the fire devour,
the fire enfold— the warrior should not wear at all
treasure in remembrance, nor the beautiful maiden
have on her neck ring-ornaments,
but shall sad of mind, bereft of gold,
more than once tread in a foreign country,
now that our war-chief has laid aside laughter,
amusement and revelry. Therefore shall the spear be
on many a cold morning, grasped by hands,
hefted in hands, not at all the sound of the harp
wake the warrior, but the dark raven
eager for carrion speak much,
and ask the eagle how he succeeded at the feast,
when he with the wolf plundered those slain in battle.
The image of women elland tredan, or treading in foreign lands, is a reference to the women of the Geats being sold into slavery. The reference to spears being grasped in morgenċeald, or on cold mornings, is two the Anglo-Saxon trope of bad things happening at dawn. A battle in the cold morning is one that is not going to go well. And the beasts of war, the raven, the eagle, and the wolf, is a standard trope, appearing in many Old English passages about war and battle.
