The Beowulf Discussion: Section XVIII

[Michael]

This discussion was originally posted to the Endor mailing list. It used the Project Gutenberg eText based on Leslie Hall's translation of the poem. The source can be found here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-8.txt



XVIII.

THE FINN EPISODE (_continued_).--THE BANQUET CONTINUES.


{The survivors go to Friesland, the home of Finn.}

"Then the warriors departed to go to their dwellings,
Reaved of their friends, Friesland to visit,
Their homes and high-city. Hengest continued

{Hengest remains there all winter, unable to get away.}

Biding with Finn the blood-tainted winter,
5 Wholly unsundered;[1] of fatherland thought he
Though unable to drive the ring-stemmèd vessel
[40] O'er the ways of the waters; the wave-deeps were tossing,
Fought with the wind; winter in ice-bonds
Closed up the currents, till there came to the dwelling
10 A year in its course, as yet it revolveth,
If season propitious one alway regardeth,
World-cheering weathers. Then winter was gone,
Earth's bosom was lovely; the exile would get him,

{He devises schemes of vengeance.}

The guest from the palace; on grewsomest vengeance
15 He brooded more eager than on oversea journeys,
Whe'r onset-of-anger he were able to 'complish,
The bairns of the Jutemen therein to remember.
Nowise refused he the duties of liegeman
When Hun of the Frisians the battle-sword Láfing,
20 Fairest of falchions, friendly did give him:
Its edges were famous in folk-talk of Jutland.
And savage sword-fury seized in its clutches
Bold-mooded Finn where he bode in his palace,

{Guthlaf and Oslaf revenge Hnæf's slaughter.}

When the grewsome grapple Guthlaf and Oslaf
25 Had mournfully mentioned, the mere-journey over,
For sorrows half-blamed him; the flickering spirit
Could not bide in his bosom. Then the building was covered[2]

{Finn is slain.}

With corpses of foemen, and Finn too was slaughtered,
The king with his comrades, and the queen made a prisoner.

{The jewels of Finn, and his queen are carried away by the Danes.}

30 The troops of the Scyldings bore to their vessels
All that the land-king had in his palace,
Such trinkets and treasures they took as, on searching,
At Finn's they could find. They ferried to Daneland
The excellent woman on oversea journey,

{The lay is concluded, and the main story is resumed.}

35 Led her to their land-folk." The lay was concluded,
The gleeman's recital. Shouts again rose then,
Bench-glee resounded, bearers then offered

{Skinkers carry round the beaker.}

Wine from wonder-vats. Wealhtheo advanced then
Going 'neath gold-crown, where the good ones were seated

[41]

{Queen Wealhtheow greets Hrothgar, as he sits beside Hrothulf, his
nephew.}

40 Uncle and nephew; their peace was yet mutual,
True each to the other. And Unferth the spokesman
Sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings:
Each trusted his spirit that his mood was courageous,
Though at fight he had failed in faith to his kinsmen.
45 Said the queen of the Scyldings: "My lord and protector,
Treasure-bestower, take thou this beaker;
Joyance attend thee, gold-friend of heroes,

{Be generous to the Geats.}

And greet thou the Geatmen with gracious responses!
So ought one to do. Be kind to the Geatmen,
50 In gifts not niggardly; anear and afar now
Peace thou enjoyest. Report hath informed me
Thou'lt have for a bairn the battle-brave hero.
Now is Heorot cleansèd, ring-palace gleaming;

{Have as much joy as possible in thy hall, once more purified.}

Give while thou mayest many rewards,
55 And bequeath to thy kinsmen kingdom and people,
On wending thy way to the Wielder's splendor.
I know good Hrothulf, that the noble young troopers

{I know that Hrothulf will prove faithful if he survive thee.}

He'll care for and honor, lord of the Scyldings,
If earth-joys thou endest earlier than he doth;
60 I reckon that recompense he'll render with kindness
Our offspring and issue, if that all he remember,
What favors of yore, when he yet was an infant,
We awarded to him for his worship and pleasure."
Then she turned by the bench where her sons were carousing,
65 Hrethric and Hrothmund, and the heroes' offspring,

{Beowulf is sitting by the two royal sons.}

The war-youth together; there the good one was sitting
'Twixt the brothers twain, Beowulf Geatman.

[1] For 1130 (1) R. and Gr. suggest 'elne unflitme' as 1098 (1) reads.
The latter verse is undisputed; and, for the former, 'elne' would be
as possible as 'ealles,' and 'unflitme' is well supported. Accepting
'elne unflitme' for both, I would suggest '_very peaceably_' for both
places: (1) _Finn to Hengest very peaceably vowed with oaths_, etc.
(2) _Hengest then still the slaughter-stained winter remained there
with Finn very peaceably_. The two passages become thus correlatives,
the second a sequel of the first. 'Elne,' in the sense of very
(swíðe), needs no argument; and 'unflitme' (from 'flítan') can, it
seems to me, be more plausibly rendered 'peaceful,' 'peaceable,' than
'contestable,' or 'conquerable.'

[2] Some scholars have proposed 'roden'; the line would then read:
_Then the building was reddened, etc._, instead of 'covered.' The 'h'
may have been carried over from the three alliterating 'h's.'


INITIAL COMMENTARY:
To be honest, I don't have much to say about this section. It would have been better had I found the time to look at it two weeks ago when I posted the previous section, since they are so closely bound together.

The reference to ice-bound seas is curious. I'm not sure if the coast of Friesland up to Jutland should have had that kind of blockage, but this poem reflects a period from about 1600 years ago. Northern Europe passed through what has been described as a "mini-glaciation" or cool period since then (around the 14th century -- the period when Greenland became inhospitable to human life and the Scandinavian colony there died out).

The poet may simply be taking liberties, but it is also possible we are reading here an echo of a particularly harsh winter from long ago, or that the story is based on a more northern event than the geography allows for. The free exchange of trade and custom between the tribes of what are now Germany, northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway and Sweden was considerable from around the 1st century BCE (if not earlier) up through about the 7th or 8th century CE (when a phonetic shift led the Scandinavian languages to break away from the more common Germanic family).

The wars or feuds over kinship are not reflected in Tolkien's depiction of northern Men. The strife between the various Noldorin families somewhat approximates this kind of rivalry, but there are other social and historical precedents for inter-family strife. It's a fairly universal human trait.

Queen Wealhtheow's greeting to Hrothgar does remind me a little of Galadriel's admonition to Celeborn, after Celeborn retracted his warm greeting to Gimli (upon hearing that a Balrog dwelt in Moria).