XX
Hrothgar then spoke, the defence of the Scyldings:"Ask not thou for health. Sorrow's renewed
To the Danes' people: dead is Aeschere,
Of Yrmenlaf the elder brother,
1325My trusted counsellor and my adviser,
My right-hand man, when we in battle
Defended our heads, when warriors engaged,
When the boars clashed: such should an earl be,
An excellent prince, as Aeschere was.
1330She was to him the murderer in Heorot,
The restless death-demon: I know not whither,
Proud of her prey, she frightful withdrew,
Well-known from her meal. The feud she avenged,
For that thou yester-night Grendel didst kill
1335In a powerful way by your hard grips,
Because he too long my own people
Lessened and killed: in battle he fell,
Of his life guilty, and now came another,
A mighty fell foe, her son would avenge,
1340And further has laid her feud upon us;
Wherefore it may seem to many a thane,
Who for his ring-giver mourns in his mind,
A bale hard to bear; now lies the hand helpless,
Which used to gratify all of your wishes.
1345I the land-dwellers, my own people,
Counsellors-in-hall, that have heard say
That they used to see a pair of such
Mickle mark-steppers holding the moors,
Spirits of elsewhere: one of these was,
1850As they most certainly might then perceive,
A woman's form: the other one wretched
In the likeness of man his exile trod-
Except he was greater than any man else-
Whom in yore-days Grendel they named,
1355The dwellers-on-earth: they know not their father,
Whether any to him was before born
Of wicked spirits. They in a dark land,
Cliffs of wolves, dwell, windy nesses,
Dangerous marshes, where mountain-stream
1360Under clouds of the nesses flows down below,
Lake under the earth. It is not far hence
In measure by miles that the mere stands,
Over which hang the rustling groves,
Wood firm in its roots; they cover the water.
1365There one every night a strange wonder may see,
Fire on the flood: so wise a one lives not
Of the children of men that knows its bottom:
Although the heath-stepper pressed by the dogs,
The stag, strong in horns, may seek the grove,
1370Pursued from afar, his life will he give,
His life on the shore, ere in it he will
Hide there his head. That 's no unhaunted place;
Thence the boiling of waters rises up high
Wan to the clouds, when the wind rouses,
1375The hateful storms, while dark grows the air,
The heavens weep. Now is ready counsel
Again in thee alone. The abode yet thou knowest not,
The terrible place, where thou mayest find
The much-sinning being: seek if thou dare.
1380I for the contest thee will repay
With old-time treasures, as I before did,
With twisted gold, if thou comest away."
