XXVIII. THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY.—THE TWO QUEENS.

XXVIII.

Then the band of very valiant retainers

Came to the current; they were clad all in armor,

The coast-guard again.

In link-woven burnies. The land-warder noticed

The return of the earlmen, as he erstwhile had seen them;

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Nowise with insult he greeted the strangers

From the naze of the cliff, but rode on to meet them;

Said the bright-armored visitors¹ vesselward traveled

Welcome to Weders. The wide-bosomed craft then

Lay on the sand, laden with armor,

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With horses and jewels, the ring-stemmèd sailer:

The mast uptowered o’er the treasure of Hrothgar.

Beowulf gives the guard a handsome sword.

To the boat-ward a gold-bound brand he presented,

That he was afterwards honored on the ale-bench more highly

As the heirloom’s owner. ²Set he out on his vessel,

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To drive on the deep, Dane-country left he.

Along by the mast then a sea-garment fluttered,

A rope-fastened sail. The sea-boat resounded,

The wind o’er the waters the wave-floater nowise

Kept from its journey; the sea-goer traveled,

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The foamy-necked floated forth o’er the currents,

The well-fashioned vessel o’er the ways of the ocean,

The Geats see their own land again.

Till they came within sight of the cliffs of the Geatmen,

The well-known headlands. The wave-goer hastened

Driven by breezes, stood on the shore.

The port-warden is anxiously looking for them.

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Prompt at the ocean, the port-ward was ready,

Who long in the past outlooked in the distance,³

At water’s-edge waiting well-lovèd heroes;

He bound to the bank then the broad-bosomed vessel

Fast in its fetters, lest the force of the waters

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Should be able to injure the ocean-wood winsome.

Bade he up then take the treasure of princes,

Plate-gold and fretwork; not far was it thence

To go off in search of the giver of jewels:

Hrethel’s son Higelac at home there remaineth,⁴

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Himself with his comrades close to the sea-coast.

The building was splendid, the king heroic,

Great in his hall, Hygd very young was,

Hygd, the noble queen of Higelac, lavish of gifts.

Fine-mooded, clever, though few were the winters

That the daughter of Hæreth had dwelt in the borough;

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But she nowise was cringing nor niggard of presents,

Of ornaments rare, to the race of the Geatmen.

Offa’s consort, Thrytho, is contrasted with Hygd.

Thrytho nursed anger, excellent⁵ folk-queen,

Hot-burning hatred: no hero whatever

’Mong household companions, her husband excepted

She is a terror to all save her husband.

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Dared to adventure to look at the woman

With eyes in the daytime;⁶ but he knew that death-chains

Hand-wreathed were wrought him: early thereafter,

When the hand-strife was over, edges were ready,

That fierce-raging sword-point had to force a decision,

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Murder-bale show. Such no womanly custom

For a lady to practise, though lovely her person,

That a weaver-of-peace, on pretence of anger

A belovèd liegeman of life should deprive.

Soothly this hindered Heming’s kinsman;

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Other ale-drinking earlmen asserted

That fearful folk-sorrows fewer she wrought them,

Treacherous doings, since first she was given

Adorned with gold to the war-hero youthful,

For her origin honored, when Offa’s great palace

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O’er the fallow flood by her father’s instructions

She sought on her journey, where she afterwards fully,

Famed for her virtue, her fate on the king’s-seat

Enjoyed in her lifetime, love did she hold with

The ruler of heroes, the best, it is told me,

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Of all of the earthmen that oceans encompass,

Of earl-kindreds endless; hence Offa was famous

Far and widely, by gifts and by battles,

Spear-valiant hero; the home of his fathers

He governed with wisdom, whence Eomær did issue

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For help unto heroes, Heming’s kinsman,

Grandson of Garmund, great in encounters.