[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.
}
This Grendel feud became known at home
To Hygelac's warrior, brave among the Geats;
Who at that hour of his earthly life
Was master of manhood of all mankind,
Great-framed, greatheart. He had himself prepared
A sound sea-vessel, and said he would visit
The strong king beyond the swan's-way,
The illustrious prince desperate for men.
From that expedition he was little dissuaded
By friends and advisers, though to them he was dear;
They urged the hero on, they augured him well.
The good man had picked out from the people of the Geats
Soldiers who were the eagerest among those he could find,
[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.
}
Nothing would make the protector of warriors
Let slaughter's emissary escape alive,
Nor would he reckon many days left to him
Of profit to any man. Then Beowulf's soldiers
Brandished here and there their ancient swords,
Anxious to defend the body of their lord,
Of the illustrious prince, as they might be able --
Ignorant of this, when they moved to fight,
Iron-minded men of arms,
Thinking to his spirit; that the lawless ravager
Was not to be reached by any war-blade,
Not by the choicest metal on earth,
For every sword-edge and weapon of victory
He had blunted by wizardry. -- Wretched his future
[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.
}
The man of the Geats then seized by the shoulder --
No shrinking in that fight! -- Grendel's mother,
And roused by rage to battle-relentlessness
Swung the desperate enemy till she fell to the floor.
She in turn quickly gave him a requital
With her cruel clawholds and closely grappled him;
Then the foot-soldier, strongest of warriors,
Exhausted in spirit, slipped and fell,
And she bestrode her hall-guest, and drew her knife
Broadbladed, burnished; vengeance she wanted
For her child, her only son. On his shoulder lay
the chain-net of his war-mail protecting his flesh,
Forbidding the piercing of spear-point and sword-edge.
The son of Ecgtheow and champion of the Geats
Would then have been lost under the vastness of the earth
If his coat of armour had not furnished him help,
His unyielding battle-mail -- and God in holiness
Drawn the fight to triumph; in his wisdom the Lord
The Ruler of the heavens gave his simple
Decree for the right, when he rose once more.
Then he saw a sword, a victor among weapons,
A blade of old time, giant-forged, tough-edged,
An honour for its bearers; it was the best of arms,
Only greater in bulk than could ever be carried
By any other man into press of battle,
Trustworthy, a splendour, the labour of titans.
The chained hilt he seized then, the Scyldings' champion
In fierceness and war-anger, brandished the ringed blade
Despairing of life, and in fury struck,
So that it bit hard into her neck
Till the backbone broke: the iron pierced through
A doomed shell of flesh; she dropped to the floor;
The sword was bloodstained, the man's work gladdened him.
[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.
}
For that he had rewarded him,
The fierce-minded fighter, so that now he could gaze on
[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.
}
Shield burned to its boss and chain-mail was powerless
To afford protection to the youthful spearsman,
But the young man eagerly went in beneath
His kinsman's buckler when his own had been
Destroyed in the fire-flakes. Then again the war-king
Took thought of great deeds and struck with his battle-sword
Exerting all strength, till forced by his violence
It stuck in that head: Nægling shattered,
Beowulf's blade ancient and grey
Failed in the fight. It was not his fate
That edges of iron should keep their power
To help him in war; that hand, men say,
Was strong to excess, dangerous in its thrusting
To each sword, each weapon of unspeakable hardness
Taken by him into battle: he had poor help from that.
Now for a third time the firedrake in its fierceness,
The persecutor of the people paid heed to hostilities,
rushed the great warrior when his chance lay open,
Scorching and war-cruel crushed all his neck
With the savagery of his tusks; the stain overran him
Of his own life's blood, the red waves flowed.
Then as I believe, at the great king's need
The warrior by his side made manifest his courage,
His strength and his boldness, as his nature was.
The head he disregarded, but the brave man's hand
Was burned as he brought relief to his kinsman
When he struck a little lower at that body of spite,
The fighter in his armour, till the sword lay plunged,
Plated with its gold and glancing, and the fire
Began to subside. And again the king himself
Recovering his senses drew the war-knife
biting and battle-keen he carried on his mail-coat;
