{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/beo/beo30.htm","path":"neu/beo/beo30.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/beo/beo30.htm","text":"\"So held this king to the customs old,\nthat I wanted for nought in the wage I gained,\nthe meed of my might; he made me gifts,\nHealfdene's heir, for my own disposal.\nNow to thee, my prince, I proffer them all,\ngladly give them. Thy grace alone\ncan find me favor. Few indeed\nhave I of kinsmen, save, Hygelac, thee!\"\nThen he bade them bear him the boar-head standard,\nthe battle-helm high, and breastplate gray,\nthe splendid sword; then spake in form:--\n\"Me this war-gear the wise old prince,\nHrothgar, gave, and his hest he added,\nthat its story be straightway said to thee. --\nA while it was held by Heorogar king,\nfor long time lord of the land of Scyldings;\nyet not to his son the sovran left it,\nto daring Heoroweard, -- dear as he was to him,\nhis harness of battle. -- Well hold thou it all!\"\nAnd I heard that soon passed o'er the path of this treasure,\nall apple-fallow, four good steeds,\neach like the others, arms and horses\nhe gave to the king. So should kinsmen be,\nnot weave one another the net of wiles,\nor with deep-hid treachery death contrive\nfor neighbor and comrade. His nephew was ever\nby hardy Hygelac held full dear,\nand each kept watch o'er the other's weal.\nI heard, too, the necklace to Hygd he presented,\nwonder-wrought treasure, which Wealhtheow gave him\nsovran's daughter: three steeds he added,\nslender and saddle-gay. Since such gift\nthe gem gleamed bright on the breast of the queen.\nThus showed his strain the son of Ecgtheow\nas a man remarked for mighty deeds\nand acts of honor. At ale he slew not\ncomrade or kin; nor cruel his mood,\nthough of sons of earth his strength was greatest,\na glorious gift that God had sent\nthe splendid leader. Long was he spurned,\nand worthless by Geatish warriors held;\nhim at mead the master-of-clans\nfailed full oft to favor at all.\nSlack and shiftless the strong men deemed him,\nprofitless prince; but payment came,\nto the warrior honored, for all his woes. --\nThen the bulwark-of-earls[1] bade bring within,\nhardy chieftain, Hrethel's heirloom\ngarnished with gold: no Geat e'er knew\nin shape of a sword a statelier prize.\nThe brand he laid in Beowulf's lap;\nand of hides assigned him seven thousand,[2]\nwith house and high-seat. They held in common\nland alike by their line of birth,\ninheritance, home: but higher the king\nbecause of his rule o'er the realm itself.\nNow further it fell with the flight of years,\nwith harryings horrid, that Hygelac perished,[3]\nand Heardred, too, by hewing of swords\nunder the shield-wall slaughtered lay,\nwhen him at the van of his victor-folk\nsought hardy heroes, Heatho-Scilfings,\nin arms o'erwhelming Hereric's nephew.\nThen Beowulf came as king this broad\nrealm to wield; and he ruled it well\nfifty winters,[4] a wise old prince,\nwarding his land, until One began\nin the dark of night, a Dragon, to rage.\nIn the grave on the hill a hoard it guarded,\nin the stone-barrow steep. A strait path reached it,\nunknown to mortals. Some man, however,\ncame by chance that cave within\nto the heathen hoard.[5] In hand he took\na golden goblet, nor gave he it back,\nstole with it away, while the watcher slept,\nby thievish wiles: for the warden's wrath\nprince and people must pay betimes!\n[1] Hygelac.\n[2] This is generally assumed to mean hides, though the text simply says\n\"seven thousand.\" A hide in England meant about 120 acres, though \"the\nsize of the acre varied.\"\n[3] On the historical raid into Frankish territory between 512 and 520 A.D.\nThe subsequent course of events, as gathered from hints of this epic, is\npartly told in Scandinavian legend.\n[4] The chronology of this epic, as scholars have worked it out, would make\nBeowulf well over ninety years of age when he fights the dragon. But the\nfifty years of his reign need not be taken as historical fact.\n[5] The text is here hopelessly illegible, and only the general drift of the\nmeaning can be rescued. For one thing, we have the old myth of a dragon\nwho guards hidden treasure. But with this runs the story of some noble,\nlast of his race, who hides all his wealth within this barrow and there\nchants his farewell to life's glories. After his death the dragon takes pos-\nsession of the hoard and watches over it. A condemned or banished man,\ndesperate, hides in the barrow, discovers the treasure, and while the dragon\nsleeps, makes off with a golden beaker or the like, and carries it for propitiation to his master. The dragon discovers the loss and exacts fearful\npenalty from the people round about.","title":"Beowulf: Part XXXI","type":"page"}