[lines 194-224a in section III and 8th line from the bottom of folio 134r to 4th line from the bottom of folio 134v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD]
Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.
{Beowulf hears about Grendel and decides to travel from his home in Geatland (southern Sweden) to Heorot (in northeast Denmark) to see if he can help out.
}
But far off a thane of Higelac, a man of birth
In the land of the Geats, heard the deeds of GRENDEL.
He was the biggest man for strength in the whole earth,
--Mighty hard to handle!
He bid them dress him on a good ship right;
He said he would seek that king across the sea,
By the swan-road, who needed men of might.
The wise grudged not his going (though beloved was he)
But urged the hero forth. Omens they explored.
Of all brave spirits in Geatland he chose the best,
And with them went to the ship-- the swimming-board--
Fifteen men. His sea-knowing self guided the rest.
Time ran by. She was floating on the wave,
The boat under the bank. Men climbed on her crest;
Sea went against the sand and the currents curled and clave:
Men carried bright armour into the ship's breast.
They pushed the well-braced barque on her wished journey away;
She went like a bird afloat on the foamy neck
Pressed by the wind-- till the due hour next day
When they saw from the bent prow the brim-cliffs break
Out of the sea-- the wide dunes, the steep-up banks.
So the sound was traversed at the end of the tossing:
They climbed on to the field, moored and gave thanks
[lines 791-819a in section XII and 8th line from the top of folio 147r to 13th line from the top of folio 147v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD]
Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.
{At this moment Beowulf and Grendel are fighting and Grendel is howling and screaming and wishing to escape but Beowulf has grabbed Grendel's arm and is using his incredible hand-strength to hold on to him.
}
Now the shield of his men for nothing under the sun
Would let the death-comer get alive away:
Its longer days, he thought, could profit none.
By this, men of BEOWULF'S had drawn sword
(Old good arms left from long ago),
They would keep hallowed the life of their captain and lord
And help him if they might. But they did not know
When they raced now to battle, firm hearts and men of war,
Meaning on every side to strike, to pierce to the life,
That no chosen iron could even attain it, or
Reach that vicious thing. It had conjured all weapons of strife,
All edges keen, all arms that are.
(Its parting shall be wretched on this day:
The spirit not of the world shall journey far
Into the power of fiends!)
Now the being who made prey
Of humankin-- its pleasure so long past--
Foe to God, found its huge frame could not survive,
But that the brave nephew of Higelac had it fast
By the hand. (Each hated the other alive!)
There was a wound now upon the demon accursed,
On its shoulder a great open tear through the body came;
Its sinews parted, the lock of the bones began to burst:
To BEOWULF was granted of this struggle all the fame!
[lines 1537-1569 in sections XXII and XXIII and 5th line from the bottom of folio 163v, through folio 164r to 4th line from the top of folio 164v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD] Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here. Note: there is a discussion of the word eaxle in line 1537a on my page on Shoulder Grabbing vs. Hair Pulling
{At this moment Beowulf has just failed to hurt Grendel's mother with the sword Hrunting and he tries to wrestle her as he had done with Grendel.
}
Then the warlike Geat and great
Seized GRENDEL'S MOTHER, the grim wife,
Fast by the hair, cared not for her hate:
But roused to battle, hard in war,
He threw the deadly foe,-- groundlong she fell.
But quickly she fetched an answer out of store
With her grim reach, and pulled him well!
The man afoot stumbled, the strongest warrior stout,
With weary heart, coming down.
Then she sat on her hearth-stranger, and whipped out
Her little knife, wide and edged with brown:
Her son, her only child, she would
Avenge... On BEOWULF'S shoulder lay
The woven breast-net. That saved his life, and stood
Against point and edge to stop the way.
He had perished under this wide earth
Ecgtheow's son, the Geat champion, then,
Unless his corslet of battle, the hard net,
Stood by him-- or God Himself against that foe
Send victory--
God in his wisdom yet,
Heaven's ruler, directed it so,
Easily-- when he rose up again!
Then, lying with other arms, a giant brand
He saw, edged doughtily, the honour of a man,
A master sword, bigger than any other hand
Could fetch to the play when battle began:
It was good and splendid, titans did it fashion.
Hilt and ring this man for the Scyldings took;
Rough and grim he drew it in angry passion,
And, past hope of life, he struck
That the thing gripped hard at her neck
And broke the rings of bone; utterly it speeds
Through the flesh-case of the doomed: She dropped in her track.
Bloody was the sword: the man rejoiced in the deed!
[lines 1584b-1590 in section XXIII and 7th line from the bottom of folio 164v to first half of the last line of folio 164v on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD]
Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.
{At this moment Beowulf has just discovered Grendel's lifeless body lying in the cave.
}
--- All that the soldier paid,
Ruthless, when now he saw GRENDEL also lie
Dead, worn with fighting-- even as battle laid
Him low at Heorot. Now the body jerked up awry
When after death it got another blow,
A hard slash of his sword-- and he cut off the head!
[lines 2672b-2708a in sections XXXVI and XXXVII and 8th line from the bottom of folio 189A197r, through folio 189A197v to 3rd line from the top of folio 189r on Kevin S. Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf CD]
Images of the original manuscript text of this section, and an mp3 file of Ben Slade reading it in Old English, are here.
{At this moment, Wiglaf has just run into the flames to be by Beowulf's side and the dragon has charged at them both, incinerating Wiglaf's shield.
}
His shield, which the mass of fire played on,
Up to the boss was withering then.
Too little could the corslet do
For the youth, who yet, under his kinsman's targe,
Was going on bravely, with his own burnt through
Before the sparks. But the king thought of his large
Renown-- he slashed, with strength in the sword,
Till it stood in the monster's head, urged by violence and hate,--
But at this 'Nailing' was shattered, BEOWULF'S sword,
The old grey brand broken in debate!
(It was not granted him that ironsides
Could help in battle: That arm had too much might
And overtaxed, by its whirling, far and wide,
As I have heard, the swords he brought to fight.)
No better was he for that. The scourge of men,
The dangerous fiery dragon the third time thought
Attack was due. It rushed at him again
As it had a chance-- the whole of his neck it caught
In bitter teeth; he was dabbled in life's sweat,
His blood in spurts welled over.
At his need
His constant thane will show his courage yet,
Skill and keenness, the nature of noble seed.
The dragon's head the youth passed by,
Aiding his kinsman, and his hand was hurt in the scald,
But he aimed a little further, not so high,
And his sword dived deep.-- The flames held
More faintly after. The king still knew
What he was doing-- he had a dagger sharp
Which he wore in his corslet, and now he drew,
And the Shield of Geats smote it deep into the serpent's heart!
So they killed the foe together-- strength drove out life--
And now they had destroyed it, the two, noble and free,
