3 May 2009
Beowulf continues telling Hygelac about Freawaru. He predicts that one of the young Heathobards, egged on by an older comrade, will take offense at one of the Danes wearing the war-gear he won from his father in battle, and the feud will start anew. Beowulf goes on to give his version of the battle with Grendel, a bit different from one with got earlier in that Grendel has a pouch or sack in which he stuffs his victims. We also learn the name of the Geatish warrior whom Grendel devoured, Hondscio.
The Freawaru digression is quite interesting. Not only is a neat commentary on the practice of arranged noble marriages, but the storytelling skill that goes into it is quite high. Lines 2041-46a:
Þonne cwið æt bēore sē ðē bēah ġesyhð,
eald æscwiga, sē ðe eall ġe(man),
gārcwealm gumena —him bið grim (se)fa—
onġinneð ġeōmormōd ġeong(um) cempan
þurh hreðra ġehyġd hiġes cunnian,
wīġbealu weċċean.Then speaks over beer he who sees the ring,
an old spear-warrior, he who remembers all
the spear-deaths of men —his spirit is grim—
he begins sad of mind the young champion
the mettle of his heart of his mind to test,
to awaken war.
You can just picture the scene: former enemies, lots of beer, an old warrior telling a younger one how he was there when the young man’s father was killed by the man across the room, who has the temerity to wear the father’s sword…
The old warrior says, lines 2053-56:
Nū hēr þāra banena byre nāthwylċes
frætwum hrēmiġ on flet gæð,
morðres ġylpe(ð), ond þone māðþum byreð,
þone þe ðū mid rihte rædan sceoldest.Now here the son of one of the slayers
exulting in his treasure goes across the floor,
boasts of the murder, and bears the treasure
of which you by right should possess.
There are some neat words in this fit as well. There is wiflufa, or love of a woman. The sun is heofones ġim, heaven’s gem. Forswelgan, to swallow up, is what Grendel does to Hondscio. The grappling battle between Beowulf and Grendel is a hondræs hæleða, hand-fight of heroes. Grendel’s pouch is a glof. (And the name Hondscio is reminiscent of the modern German Handschuh, or glove.) And the pouch is closed with a searobend, or cunningly wrought clasp.
Lines 2087-92 describe the pouch further and tell of what Grendel intended for Beowulf, and alludes ever so slightly to the theme of a great warrior being able to influence his own fate through action:
Sīo wæs orðoncum eall ġeġyrwed
dēofles cræftum ond dracan fellum.
Hē meċ þær on innan unsynnigne,
dīor dædfruma, ġedōn wolde
maniġra sumne; hyt ne mihte swā,
syððan iċ on yrre uppriht āstōd.It was with skill all prepared
with the devil’s craft and dragon skin.
Me there in the inside guiltless,
the fierce evil-doer, wished to place
one of many; it was not to be,
once I in anger stood upright.
