XL - Page 2

And now the sage young son of Weohstan
seven chose of the chieftain's thanes,
the best he found that band within,
and went with these warriors, one of eight,
under hostile roof. In hand one bore
a lighted torch and led the way.
No lots they cast for keeping the hoard
when once the warriors saw it in hall,
altogether without a guardian,
lying there lost. And little they mourned
when they had hastily haled it out,
dear-bought treasure! The dragon they cast,
the worm, o'er the wall for the wave to take,
and surges swallowed that shepherd of gems.
Then the woven gold on a wain was laden --
countless quite! -- and the king was borne,
hoary hero, to Hrones-Ness.

[1] Probably the fugitive is meant who discovered the hoard. Ten
Brink and Gering assume that the dragon is meant. "Hid" may well
mean here "took while in hiding." [2] That is "one and a few
others." But Beowulf seems to be indicated. [3] Ten Brink points
out the strongly heathen character of this part of the epic.
Beowulf's end came, so the old tradition ran, from his unwitting
interference with spell-bound treasure. [4] A hard saying,
variously interpreted. In any case, it is the somewhat clumsy
effort of the Christian poet to tone down the heathenism of his
material by an edifying observation.