Unit 1: Selection Vocabulary 1

'Twas my comrades who put the thought in my heart, for they had seen my valorous deeds, how I had conquered the foes of my country and brought the race of giants low, and slain monsters both on sea and on land.

'Twas my comrades who put the thought in my heart, for they had seen my valorous deeds, how I had conquered the foes of my country and brought the race of giants low, and slain monsters both on sea and on land.

I doubt not, O King, that if he has his way, he will devour the champions of the Geats, even as he those of the Danes. As for me, thou wilt not need to lay my body in the earth and raise a mound over it, for he will surely carry it off to the moors where he dwells and devour it there.

So I predict a worse adventure for thee—though doubtless thou art a sturdy warrior in the shock of battle—if thou dare to await Grendel's coming through the watch of night.

Be of good hope; be valiant; watch for the foe.

Twelve years' tide the trouble he bore,
sovran of Scyldings, sorrows in plenty,
boundless cares.

Whiles they vowed in their heathen fanes
altar-offerings, asked with words
that the slayer-of-souls would succor give them
for the pain of their people.

...too sore the anguish,
loathly and long, that lay on his folk,
most baneful of burdens and bales of the night.

that amid the Scyldings a scathing monster,
dark ill-doer, in dusky nights
shows terrific his rage unmatched,
hatred and murder.

March, then, bearing
weapons and weeds the way I show you.

No counsellor could ever expect
fair reparation from those rabid hands.

Oh, cursed is he
who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul
in the fire's embrace, forfeiting help

So that troubled time continued, woe
that never stopped, steady affliction
for Halfdane's son, too hard an ordeal.

So he rode to the shore,
this horseman of Hrothgar's, and challenged them
in formal terms, flourishing his spear

Never before has a force under arms
disembarked so openly—not bothering to ask
if the sentries allowed them safe passage
or the clan had consented.

So now, before you fare inland
as interlopers, I have to be informed
about who you are and where you hail from.