Ere Wigelin’s bairn lay dead on the field. 300
There fierce was the fight:  firmly they stood,
Warriors in war, the fighters fell,
Weary with wounds; fell corpses to earth. 
Oswald and Ealdwald during all the while,
Both of the brothers, emboldened the warriors, 305
Their kinsman-friends bade they in words,
That they in need should there endure,
Unwaveringly their weapons use. 
Byrhtwold [then] spake, uplifted his shield,—­
Old comrade was he,—­his spear he shook, 310
He very boldly exhorted the warriors: 
“The braver shall thought be, the bolder the heart,
The more the mood,[23] as lessens our might. 
Here lieth our lord, all hewn to pieces,
The good on the ground:  ever may grieve 315
Who now from this war-play thinketh to wend. 
I am old in years:  hence will I not,
But here beside mine own dear lord,
So loved a man, I purpose to lie.” 
So AEthelgar’s bairn them all emboldened, 320
Godric, to battle:  oft let he his spear,
His war-spear wind amongst the wikings;
So ’midst the folk foremost he went,
Hewed he and felled, till in battle he lay;
This was not that Godric who fled from the fight. 325
* * * * * * * *

   [1] Dear.

   [2] Or, ‘maintained.’

   [3] Bank.

   [4] Bold.

   [5] Destroy.

   [6] Lit., ‘old.’

   [7] Lit., ‘announce.’

   [8] Money.

   [9] Bank of the stream.

   [10] i.e., ‘battle-array,’ Sw., but the word is uncertain; Kr.
        suggests ‘fascines’; Zl. merely gives ‘Prunk.’

   [11] i.e., Byrhtnoth.

   [12] i.e., Byrhtnoth.

   [13] i.e., the phalanx with interlocked shields.

   [14] Some such word as grame, or grimme, seems needed for
        the alliteration.

   [15] i.e., battle-axes.

   [16] Chamberlain.

   [17] Inserted by Kr. to fill the lacuna, whom W. follows;
        Sw. and Zl. omit.

   [18] Lit., ‘suffer,’ ‘endure.’

   [19] Lit., ‘bold.’

   [20] Lit., ‘He was both my kinsman and my lord.’

   [21] i.e., ‘sword.’

   [22] i.e., ‘hollow shields.’ Cellod is found only here and
        in Finnsburg, 29.

   [23] i.e., ‘courage.’

THE DREAM OF THE ROOD.