Thou
fuddled with beer of Breca hast spoken,
Hast
told of his journey! A fact I allege it,
35 That
greater strength in the waters I had then,
Ills
in the ocean, than any man else had.
We
made agreement as the merest of striplings
Promised
each other (both of us then were
{We simply kept an engagement made in early life.}
Younkers
in years) that we yet would adventure
40 Out on
the ocean; it all we accomplished.
While
swimming the sea-floods, sword-blade unscabbarded
Boldly
we brandished, our bodies expected
To
shield from the sharks. He sure was unable
{He could not excel me, and I would
not excel him.}
To
swim on the waters further than I could,
45 More
swift on the waves, nor would I from him go.
Then
we two companions stayed in the ocean
{After five days the currents separated us.}
Five
nights together, till the currents did part us,
The
weltering waters, weathers the bleakest,
And
nethermost night, and the north-wind whistled
50 Fierce
in our faces; fell were the billows.
The
mere fishes’ mood was mightily ruffled:
And
there against foemen my firm-knotted corslet,
Hand-jointed,
hardy, help did afford me;
My
battle-sark braided, brilliantly gilded,
{A horrible sea-beast attacked me, but I slew him.}
55 Lay on
my bosom. To the bottom then dragged me,
A
hateful fiend-scather, seized me and held me,
Grim
in his grapple: ’twas granted me, nathless,
To
pierce the monster with the point of my weapon,
My
obedient blade; battle offcarried
60 The mighty
mere-creature by means of my hand-blow.
[1] It has been plausibly suggested
that ‘sieth’ (in 501 and in 353) means
‘arrival.’ If so, translate the bracket:
(the arrival of Beowulf, the brave seafarer,
was a source of great chagrin to Unferth, etc.).
[21]
BEOWULF SILENCES UNFERTH.—GLEE IS HIGH.
“So
ill-meaning enemies often did cause me
Sorrow
the sorest. I served them, in quittance,
{My dear sword always served me faithfully.}
With
my dear-loved sword, as in sooth it was fitting;
They
missed the pleasure of feasting abundantly,
5
Ill-doers evil, of eating my body,
Of
surrounding the banquet deep in the ocean;
But
wounded with edges early at morning
They
were stretched a-high on the strand of the ocean,
{I put a stop to the outrages of the sea-monsters.}
