from Beowulf.pdf

Translated by Burton Raffel

GRANDEL ATTACKS THE DANES

A powerful monster, living down

In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient

As day after day the music rang

Loud in that hall 1 , the harp's rejoicing

Call and the poet's clear songs, sung

Of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling

The Almighty making the earth, shaping

These beautiful plains marked off by oceans,

Then proudly setting the sun and moon

To glow across the land and light it;

The corners of the earth were made lovely with trees

And leaves, made quick with life, with each

Of the nations who now move on its face. And then

As now warriors sang of their pleasure:

So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall

Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,

Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild

Marshes, and made his home in a hell

Not hell but earth. He was spawned 2 in that slime,

Conceived by a pair of those monsters born

Of Cain, murderous creatures banished

By God, punished forever for the crime

Of Abel’s death. The Almighty drove

Those demons out, and their exile was bitter,

Shut away from men; they split

Into a thousand forms of evil—spirits

1 the Danish King Hrothgar's hall, Herat

2 s pawned: born. Usually, spawned refers to the production of young by fish, amphibians, or other water-dweliing

creatures.

And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,

A brood forever opposing the Lord's

Will, and again and again defeated.

Then, when darkness had dropped, Grendel

Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors

Would do in that hall when their drinking was done.

He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting

Nothing, their dreams undisturbed. The monster's

Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws:

He slipped through the door and there in the silence

Snatched up thirty men, smashed them

Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies,

The blood dripping behind him, back

To his lair, 3 delighted with his night's slaughter.

At daybreak, with the sun's first light, they saw

How well he had worked, and in that gray morning

Broke their long feast with tears and laments 4

For the dead. Hrothgar, their lord, sat joyless

In Herot, a mighty prince mourning

The fate of his lost friends and companions,

Knowing by its tracks that some demon had torn

His followers apart. He wept, fearing

The beginning might not be the end. And that night

Grendel came again, so set

On murder that no crime could ever be enough,

No savage assault quench his lust

For evil. Then each warrior tried

To escape him, searched for rest in different

Beds, as far from Herot as they could find,

Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept.

Distance was safety; the only survivors

Were those who fled him. Hate had triumphed.

So Grendel ruled, fought with the righteous,

One against many, and won; so Herot

Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years,

Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king

3 Lair – den of a Wild animal

4 Lament - expression of sorrow; song or literary composition that mourns a loss or death

Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door

By hell-forged hands. His misery leaped

The seas, was told and sung in all

Men's ears: how Grendel’s hatred began,

How the monster relished his savage war

On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud

Alive, seeking no peace, offering

No truce, accepting no settlement, no price

In gold or land, and paying the living

For one crime only with another.

No one Waited for reparation 0 from his plundering claws:

That shadow of death hunted in the darkness,

Stalked Hrothgar's warriors, old

And young, lying in waiting, hidden

In mist, invisibly following them from the edge

Of the marsh, always there, unseen.

So mankind's enemy continued his crimes,

Killing as often as he could, coming

Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived

In Herot, when the night hid him, he never

Dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious

Throne, protected by God.

THE COMWG OF BEOWULF

100

So the living sorrow of Healfdane's son 5

Simmered, bitter and fresh, and no wisdom

Or strength could break it: that agony hung

On king and people alike, harsh

And unending, violent and cruel, and evil.

In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac's

Follower 0 and the strongest of the Geats—greater

And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world—

Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror

And quickly commanded a boat fitted out,

Proclaiming that he'd go to that famous king,

Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar,

5 Hrothgar

110

Now when help was needed. None

Of the wise ones regretted his going, much

As he was loved by the Geats: the omens were good,

And they urged the adventure on. So Beowulf

Chose the mightiest men he could find,

The bravest and best of the Geats, fourteen

In all, and led them down to their boat;

He knew the sea, would point the prow 60

Straight to that distant Danish shore.

Then they sailed, set their ship

Out on the waves, under the cliffs.

Ready for what came they wound through the currents,

The seas beating at the sand, and were borne

In the lap of their shining ship, lined

With gleaming armor, going safely

In that oak-hard boat to where their hearts took them.

The wind hurried them over the waves,

The ship foamed through the sea like a bird

120

Until, in the time they had known it would take,

Standing in the round-curled prow they could see

Sparkling hills, high and green,

Jutting up over the shore, and rejoicing

In those rock-steep cliffs they quietly ended

Their voyage. Jumping to the ground, the Geats

Pushed their boat to the sand and tied it

In place, mail shirts 7 and armor rattling

As they swiftly moored their ship. And then

They gave thanks to God for their easy crossing.

130

High on a wall a Danish watcher

Patrolling along the cliffs saw

The travelers crossing to the shore, their shields

Raised and shining; he came riding down,

Hrothgar's lieutenant, spurring his horse,

Needing to know why they'd landed, these men

In armor. Shaking his heavy spear

In their faces he spoke:

6 Prow  the bow, ore most forwardmost part of a ship

7 Mail-shirts  a type of flexible body armor usually made of linked metal loops.

140

"Whose soldiers are you,

You who've been carried in your deep-keeled ship 8

Across the sea-road to this country of mine?

Listen! I’ve stood on these cliffs longer

Than you know, keeping our coast free

Of pirates, raiders sneaking ashore

From their ships, seeking our lives and our gold.

None have ever come more openly—

And yet you’ve offered no password, no sign

From my prince, no permission from my people for your landing

Here. Nor have I ever seen,

Out of all the men on earth, one greater

150

Than has come with you; no commoner carries

Such weapons, unless his appearance, and his beauty,

Are both lies. You! Tell me your name,

And your father's; no spies go further onto

Danish Soil than you've come already. Strangers,

From wherever it was you sailed, tell it,

And tell it quickly, the quicker the better,

I say, for us all. Speak, say

Exactly who you are, and from where, and why.‖

160

170

Their leader answered him, Beowulf unlocking

Words from deep in his breast:

―We are Geats,

Men who follow Higlac. My father

Was a famous soldier, known far and wide

As a leader of men. His name was Edgetho.

His life lasted many winters;

Wise men all over the earth surely

Remember him still. And we have come seeking

Your prince, Healfdane's son, protector

Of this people, only in friendship: instruct us,

Watchman, help us with your words! Our errand

Is a great one, our business with the glorious king

Of the Danes no secret; there's nothing dark

Or hidden in our coming. You know (if we've heard

8 deep-keeled ship: a ship that possesses a deep bottom-the keel being the main piece of timber that runs the length of

the bottom of a boat to support the ship's frame.

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