Beowulf 49Was ready for vengeance, wretched she journeyed
18
Literature · Religion
Beowulf 49
Was ready for vengeance, wretched she journeyed
HallEnglish
Her son had death ravished, the wrath of the Geatmen.
The horrible woman avengèd her offspring,
And with mighty mainstrength murdered a hero.
{Æschere falls a prey to her vengeance.}
There the spirit of Æschere, agèd adviser,
90 Was ready to vanish; nor when morn had lightened
Were they anywise suffered to consume him with fire,
Folk of the Danemen, the death-weakened hero,
Nor the belovèd liegeman to lay on the pyre;
{She suffered not his body to be burned, but ate it.}
She the corpse had offcarried in the clutch of the foeman
95 'Neath mountain-brook's flood. To Hrothgar 'twas saddest
Of pains that ever had preyed on the chieftain;
By the life of thee the land-prince then me
Besought very sadly, in sea-currents' eddies
To display my prowess, to peril my safety,
100 Might-deeds accomplish; much did he promise.
{I sought the creature in her den,}
I found then the famous flood-current's cruel,
Horrible depth-warder. A while unto us two
Hand was in common; the currents were seething
With gore that was clotted, and Grendel's fierce mother's
