{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/beo/beo17.htm","path":"neu/beo/beo17.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/beo/beo17.htm","text":"AND the lord of earls, to each that came\nwith Beowulf over the briny ways,\nan heirloom there at the ale-bench gave,\nprecious gift; and the price[1] bade pay\nin gold for him whom Grendel erst\nmurdered, -- and fain of them more had killed,\nhad not wisest God their Wyrd averted,\nand the man's[2] brave mood. The Maker then\nruled human kind, as here and now.\nTherefore is insight always best,\nand forethought of mind. How much awaits him\nof lief and of loath, who long time here,\nthrough days of warfare this world endures!\nThen song and music mingled sounds\nin the presence of Healfdene's head-of-armies[3]\nand harping was heard with the hero-lay\nas Hrothgar's singer the hall-joy woke\nalong the mead-seats, making his song\nof that sudden raid on the sons of Finn.[4]\nHealfdene's hero, Hnaef the Scylding,\nwas fated to fall in the Frisian slaughter.[5]\nHildeburh needed not hold in value\nher enemies' honor![6] Innocent both\nwere the loved ones she lost at the linden-play,\nbairn and brother, they bowed to fate,\nstricken by spears; 'twas a sorrowful woman!\nNone doubted why the daughter of Hoc\nbewailed her doom when dawning came,\nand under the sky she saw them lying,\nkinsmen murdered, where most she had kenned\nof the sweets of the world! By war were swept, too,\nFinn's own liegemen, and few were left;\nin the parleying-place[7] he could ply no longer\nweapon, nor war could he wage on Hengest,\nand rescue his remnant by right of arms\nfrom the prince's thane. A pact he offered:\nanother dwelling the Danes should have,\nhall and high-seat, and half the power\nshould fall to them in Frisian land;\nand at the fee-gifts, Folcwald's son\nday by day the Danes should honor,\nthe folk of Hengest favor with rings,\neven as truly, with treasure and jewels,\nwith fretted gold, as his Frisian kin\nhe meant to honor in ale-hall there.\nPact of peace they plighted further\non both sides firmly. Finn to Hengest\nwith oath, upon honor, openly promised\nthat woful remnant, with wise-men's aid,\nnobly to govern, so none of the guests\nby word or work should warp the treaty,[8]\nor with malice of mind bemoan themselves\nas forced to follow their fee-giver's slayer,\nlordless men, as their lot ordained.\nShould Frisian, moreover, with foeman's taunt,\nthat murderous hatred to mind recall,\nthen edge of the sword must seal his doom.\nOaths were given, and ancient gold\nheaped from hoard. -- The hardy Scylding,\nbattle-thane best,[9] on his balefire lay.\nAll on the pyre were plain to see\nthe gory sark, the gilded swine-crest,\nboar of hard iron, and athelings many\nslain by the sword: at the slaughter they fell.\nIt was Hildeburh's hest, at Hnaef's own pyre\nthe bairn of her body on brands to lay,\nhis bones to burn, on the balefire placed,\nat his uncle's side. In sorrowful dirges\nbewept them the woman: great wailing ascended.\nThen wound up to welkin the wildest of death-fires,\nroared o'er the hillock:[10] heads all were melted,\ngashes burst, and blood gushed out\nfrom bites[11] of the body. Balefire devoured,\ngreediest spirit, those spared not by war\nout of either folk: their flower was gone.\n[1] Man-price, wergild.\n[2] Beowulf's.\n[3] Hrothgar.\n[4] There is no need to assume a gap in the Ms. As before about Sigemund\nand Heremod, so now, though at greater length, about Finn and his feud,\na lay is chanted or recited; and the epic poet, counting on his readers'\nfamiliarity with the story, -- a fragment of it still exists, --\nsimply gives the headings.\n[5] The exact story to which this episode refers in summary is not to be\ndetermined, but the following account of it is reasonable and has good\nsupport among scholars. Finn, a Frisian chieftain, who nevertheless has\na \"castle\" outside the Frisian border, marries Hildeburh, a Danish prin-\ncess; and her brother, Hnaef, with many other Danes, pays Finn a visit.\nRelations between the two peoples have been strained before. Something\nstarts the old feud anew; and the visitors are attacked in their quarters.\nHnaef is killed; so is a son of Hildeburh. Many fall on both sides. Peace\nis patched up; a stately funeral is held; and the surviving visitors become\nin a way vassals or liegemen of Finn, going back with him to Frisia. So\nmatters rest a while. Hengest is now leader of the Danes; but he is set\nupon revenge for his former lord, Hnaef. Probably he is killed in feud;\nbut his clansmen, Guthlaf and Oslaf, gather at their home a force of\nsturdy Danes, come back to Frisia, storm Finn's stronghold, kill him, and\ncarry back their kinswoman Hildeburh.\n[6] The \"enemies\" must be the Frisians.\n[7] Battlefield. -- Hengest is the \"prince's thane,\" companion of Hnaef.\n\"Folcwald's son\" is Finn.\n[8] That is, Finn would govern in all honor the few Danish warriors who\nwere left, provided, of course, that none of them tried to renew the quarrel\nor avenge Hnaef their fallen lord. If, again, one of Finn's Frisians began\na quarrel, he should die by the sword.\n[9] Hnaef.\n[10] The high place chosen for the funeral: see description of Beowulf's\nfuneral-pile at the end of the poem.\n[11] Wounds.","title":"Beowulf: Part XVI","type":"page"}