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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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69 CHAPTER XXX (The Scribe who wrote down the Scops song seems to have made a mistake in dividing these two ‘fyttes,’ as such chapters of old stories in verse used to be called; so they are treated here as one. And, moreover, he numbers the fytte as XXXI, omitting division XXX. I should say either ‘XXXI’ is the Scribe’s mistake for ‘XXX’ or XXX was originally the latter part of what the Scribe includes in XXIX. Learned men in their lecture-rooms in Universities spend much time in discussing such problems as this.) The Scop chants Beowulf’s coming to Hygelac, Hygelac’s eager questions to Beowulf, and Beowulf’s long account of those adventures of which you and I have already heard. A skilful modern story-teller would avoid such a repetition; but in the old days the Scops had different notions about what was artistic, and wrought with their own skill in their craft. And indeed, are we not pleased to hear just how Beowulf himself felt about his deeds, especially as he adds some new details about Hrothgar, his host? Are we not imaginatively present there with Hygelac, who did not know what had passed since Beowulf fared away? But the Scop makes Beowulf indulge in a long digression about the marriage of Freawaru, the daughter of his Danish host Hrothgar, with Ingeld, prince of the Heathobards; and you and I may well feel like taking the Scop to task for breaking the narrative flow and for having Beowulf talk about things that under the particular circumstances it is unlikely either he or Hygelac would have been thinking of at all. And, too, he makes Beowulf specify some future events, which were long past by the time the Scop chanted, but could not have been foreseen by Beowulf, unless we imagine he was a Wizard and Prophet as well as Strong Manand perhaps he was, after all. However, the story of Freawaru and Ingeld was itself once very famous. It seems that Hrothgar had brought about the alliance in order to end a long strife between Danes and Heathobards; but that, when the lady entered the court of the Heathobards, she was accompanied by a Danish warrior foolishly wearing a sword originally taken in battle from a Heathobard warrior, and this insult speedily put an end to the peace. In the war that followed, it appears, according to legends not recited by our Scop, that Heorot Hall was set on fire and destroyed. ‘Gan then the Hardy One, himself along the sand, To tread upon the sea-plains, the stretches of the strand, With his feres, the trusty. The world’s Candle shone, The Spangle risen southward. They strode along alone; Sturdily they marched, to where they heard that now Hygelac, the Shield of |
