Note † — II. THE FIGHT AT FINNSBURH:
Reading edition
ll. 2570, 2571. (1) May not gescîfe (MS. to gscipe) = German schief, "crooked," "bent," "aslant," and hence be a parallel to gebogen, bent, coiled? cf. l. 2568, þâ se wyrm gebeáh snûde tôsomne, and l. 2828. Coiled serpents spring more powerfully for the coiling. (2) Or perhaps destroy comma after tô and read gescäpe, = his fate; cf. l. 26: him þâ Scyld gewât tô gescäp-hwîle. G. appar. adopts this reading, p. 78.