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Their beloved lord, the giver of rings, The hero by the mast. Great treasures there, Far-gathered trappings were taken and set: No ship in fame more fittingly furnished With weapons of war and battle-armour, With mail-coat and sword; there lay to his hand 40 Precious things innumerable that would go at his side Voyaging to the distant holds of the flood. By no means poorer were their rich offerings, The treasures they gave him, than those given By the men who cast him at his life’s beginning A child out over the waves alone. Lastly they put up high above his head A gold-woven banner, and let the sea bear him, Gave him to the main; their hearts grieved, Mourning was in their minds. And whose were the shores – 50 Who can say with truth, whether counsellor in hall Or warrior on earth – where this freight was washed? That country then saw Beowulf of the Scyldings Renowned among the peoples, a beloved king Ruling many years – his father and lord Having gone from the world – until there was born to him Noble Healfdene; war-grim, aged, Lifelong guardian of the illustrious Scyldings. By him four children reckoned in all Were born into this world, princes of men, 60 Heorogar and Hrothgar and the good Halga And she *[. . . . . . ], who was Onela’s queen, The dear consort of the warlike Swede. To Hrothgar in time came triumph in battle, The glory of the sword, and his friendly kinsmen Flocked to serve him till the band of them was great, A host of eager retainers. And his mind Stirred him to command a hall to be built, A huger mead-house to be made and raised Than any ever known to the children of men, 70 Where he under its roof to young and old Would distribute such gifts as God gave him, Everything but the lands and lives of his people. 2
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Not few, we are told, were the tribes who then Were summoned to the work far throughout this world, To adorn that dwelling-place. And so in due time, Quickly as men laboured, it was all prepared, Most massive of halls; and he called it Heorot Whose word was authority far and wide. And his promise he performed, he presented rings, 80 Treasure at banqueting. The hall towered up Clifflike, broad-gabled: (it awaited flame-battling, Fire’s hostility; and not far off Lay that sword-hatred ready to be roused In the deadly feud of father and son-in-law). But the outcast spirit haunting darkness Began to suffer bitter sorrow When day after day he heard the happiness Of the hall resounding: the harp ringing, Sweet minstrelsinging – as the tongue skilled In the distant conception and creation of men Sang how the Almighty made the earth-fields Brilliant in beauty, bound by the sea, Set exulting sun and moon As lamps for the light of living men, And loaded the acres of the world with jewelwork Of branch and leaf, bringing then to life Each kind of creature that moves and breathes. – So those retainers lived on in joy Happy all, till this one spirit, Hell in his mind, his malice began. Grendel the fiend’s name: grim, infamous, Wasteland-stalker, master of the moors And the fen-fortress; the world of demonkind Was for long the home of the unhappy creature After his Creator had cast him out With the kin of Cain, the everlasting Lord Destining for the death of Abel killed; A joyless feud, for he banished him far, His Maker for his crime, far from mankind. Progenitor he was of the miscreations, Kobolds and gogmagogs, lemurs and zombies 90 100 110 3

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Their beloved lord, the giver of rings, The hero by the mast. Great treasures there, Far-gathered trappings were taken and set: No ship in fame more fittingly furnished With weapons of war and battle-armour, With mail-coat and sword; there lay to his hand

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Precious things innumerable that would go at his side Voyaging to the distant holds of the flood. By no means poorer were their rich offerings, The treasures they gave him, than those given By the men who cast him at his life’s beginning A child out over the waves alone. Lastly they put up high above his head A gold-woven banner, and let the sea bear him, Gave him to the main; their hearts grieved, Mourning was in their minds. And whose were the shores – 50 Who can say with truth, whether counsellor in hall Or warrior on earth – where this freight was washed?

That country then saw Beowulf of the Scyldings Renowned among the peoples, a beloved king Ruling many years – his father and lord Having gone from the world – until there was born to him Noble Healfdene; war-grim, aged, Lifelong guardian of the illustrious Scyldings. By him four children reckoned in all Were born into this world, princes of men, 60 Heorogar and Hrothgar and the good Halga And she *[. . . . . . ], who was Onela’s queen, The dear consort of the warlike Swede. To Hrothgar in time came triumph in battle, The glory of the sword, and his friendly kinsmen Flocked to serve him till the band of them was great, A host of eager retainers. And his mind Stirred him to command a hall to be built, A huger mead-house to be made and raised Than any ever known to the children of men, 70 Where he under its roof to young and old Would distribute such gifts as God gave him, Everything but the lands and lives of his people.

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