Canto III. 2.

[39] Scyldings are the Danes.

[40] i.e. Unferth.

[41] Cp. Chapter VIII.

[42] i.e. Hrothgar.

[43] i.e. the sun.

[44] Hrothgar.

[45] Cp. pp. 66-68.

[46] 'Honour-full' is Wyatt's translation.

[47] Hrethric, one of Hrothgar's sons.

[48] Literally, 'the gannet's bath.' The sea is also 'Swan's path,' 'Sail-path,' &c.

[49] A difficult phrase. Refers perhaps to old feuds between Danes and Geats.

[50] Cp. Chapter III.

[51] Thrytho is referred to as a foil to Hygd. Thrytho was as bad a woman as Hygd was good. She was a woman of a wild and passionate disposition. She became the Queen of King Offa, and it seems to have been a case of the 'taming of the shrew.' Offa appears to have been her second husband. See below.

[52] i.e. to Offa.

[53] i.e. Hygelac; see Appendices VII. and IX.

[54] i.e. Hygd, Queen of the Geats, Hygelac's wife.

[55] i.e. Wealtheow, Hrothgar's Queen.

[56] i.e. Ingeld. See below.

[57] Another episode, viz. that of Freawaru and Ingeld. Note also the artificial break of the narrative into chapters. See Appendix V.

Hrothgar's hopes by the marriage of his daughter Freawaru to Ingeld of the Heathobards was doomed to disappointment, cp. 'Widsith,' 45-9.

[58] Numbers XXIX. and XXX. are lacking in the MS. The divisions here are as in Wyatt's edition.

[59] Withergyld--name of a Heathobard warrior.

[60] Probably referring to the chanting of some ancient legend by the scop, or gleeman.

[61] Wyatt's translation.

[62] Hygelac was killed in his historical invasion of the Netherlands, which is five times referred to in the poem. See Appendix VII.

[63] See Appendix IX.

[64] The MS. here is very imperfect. I have used the emended text of Bugge, which makes good sense. See Appendix XII.

[65] Here again the text is imperfect.

[66] Possibly a later insertion, 'the ten commandments' (Wyatt).

[67] Beowulf saved his life by swimming across the sea, in Hygelac's famous raid. See Appendix VII.

[68] See Appendix IX.

[69] See Appendix IX.

[70] See p. 138.

[71] See Appendix VIII.

[72] See Appendices VII. and IX.

[73] Waegmundings--the family to which both Beowulf and Wiglaf belonged.

[74] See Appendix IX.

[75] i.e. Beowulf.

[76] Wyatt and Morris's translations.

[77] Wyatt and Morris translate 'sun jewels.'

[78] Wyatt's translation.

[79] i.e. Wiglaf.

[80] i.e. it had been well hammered into shape.

[81] Yet another reference to Hygelac's famous raid. See Appendix VII.

[82] Merovingian King of the Franks.

[83] See Appendix IX.

[84] Hrethel, King of Geats, father of Hygelac and grandfather of Beowulf.

[85] Literally, 'the sword-leavings.'

[86] See Appendix IX.

[87] Text in MS. faulty here. Wyatt and Morris have adopted Bugge's emendation. The sense is that Beowulf's widow with her hair bound up utters forth a dirge over her dead husband.

[88] Probably the treasures that remained in the cavern. See previous chapter.