When Hardred's death was abroad, of the neighbouring
peoples upon Gothland, but Beowulf so a watch on
the borders that the enemy was at all points. Scarcely was
the country from the of these sea-wolves, when Eadgils,
king of Swithiod, came at the of a large army to his
brother's death. The Goths and Swedes met, and a murderous
battle, in which many men were slain, and among them King Eadgils.
After the death of their king, the Swedes retired to their ships, and
sailed to their own land. The of this victory was a
lasting peace. No attack the well-defended of
Gothland, and but among the to the
internal peace of the realm. Beowulf the land with great justice
and wisdom. No one his help was sent empty away, and no
act of unpunished.
Forty years or more passed after this fashion. The hero had an
old man, and that the national peace and would last as
long as he lived. But he was to be from this dream. An
enemy Gothland, against all and were
useless. This was how it happened. A slave, who feared
discovery and at his master's hands, from home, and
took in a wild, place. When he got there, he looked about
for some in which he might take up his abode. Coming to one, he
entered, but it already by an dragon, which lay
stretched on the ground asleep. Behind it, at the of the cave,
were of all sorts. The man looked at the shining
mass of and gold, and in his heart, "If I had but a few
of these treasures, I my freedom, and need no longer my
master." This idea him bold. He past the monster,
and a pot, the on was of a shining
carbuncle. He safely, and going to his master, his
freedom. Neither of the men had the of the this
deed would upon the land.
The dragon, which had over its for hundreds of years, and
knew each thing by heart, saw at once that it had been robbed.
At it out of its to look for of the thief.
Finding none, it up its voice and so loud, that the earth
shook, at the same time from its mouth and up
granges and and wide. The men, who to put out the
fire, to its fury, or else were into the monster's
cave, where they miserably. This night after night;
the had no end. Many out against the
dragon, and to kill it, but none of them the
fiery with which the itself.
The old king the of these events with sorrow. He
determined himself to attack the monster, and when his friends
remonstrated with him on his rashness, he that it was his duty
to his people from all their enemies, and that the gods would
help him. He that he would have the dragon
unarmed, as he had done the Grendel, the son of the sea-witch,
but that he he not make his way through the without
such protection. He therefore had a three times as thick as
usual, and so large that it him completely. This done, he chose
eleven of his to be his in this adventure,
among them Wichstan, the man who King Hardred's death.
Beowulf and his set out on their journey, and in course
arrived at the dragon's cave, out of which there a whose
waters were by the monster's breath.
The king his friends wait a little way off, until they saw whether
he needed their help, and then to the mouth of the cave, he
called the to come forth. The great came out at his call,
and a terrible ensued. Both were from view
in a cloud of and fire. The and at the
bellowing of the monster, which at the same time out with its
tail, like a sledge-hammer in and
regularity. For a moment the and were by a
puff of wind, and Beowulf's saw that the had just
seized their king in its great jaws. They not the sight, and
ten of them and to and trees;
but the eleventh, Wichstan, to help his master. His
shield was up in a twinkling, and he was to shelter
behind the king. Both lost. The down
Beowulf's iron shield, and him a second time in its great jaws,
crushing him its teeth with such force, that the iron of
his of like so much crockery, though they had been
forged by Wieland himself. Then Wichstan his opportunity, when
the beast's was raised, the to his prey, and plunged
his into the part of its under the jaw. Upon
this the the king, and its adversaries
with its tail, but Beowulf at the same moment a at its open
mouth, his so that the point came out at the
dragon's throat. After that they soon the monster, and then
threw themselves on a of rock, and exhausted.
When they had a little, the their armour, and
Wichstan saw that blood was slowly from under the king's gorget.
He wanted to up the wound; but Beowulf him, saying
that it would be useless, as the had been by the dragon's
tooth, and the was already in his veins.
"I must die," he added, "but I go to my without sadness,
though I am the last of my race, for my wife has me no son and
heir. I can look on my past life with pleasure, for I have wronged
no man, but have to all."
He then asked Wichstan to him a drink of water, and to
bring him the out of the dragon's cave, that he might see,
with his own eyes, the last gift he should make to his people.
His were obeyed, and a minutes later he had passed away
quietly and peacefully. Wichstan at him in grief. Beowulf
had been his friend, and he that, with his death, his last
tie to life was loosed. Meanwhile the ten had come out of
their hiding-places, when they that all was over. On
seeing what had chanced, they their voices in mourning; but
Wichstan them their peace, or if they must weep, at least to
weep for their own cowardice, and not for the hero who had died at his
post. He then them to make the best of their way to other
lands, as he not answer for their when the Goths became
aware of the way in which they had their king in his hour of
need.
[Illustration: BEOWULF DYING.]
With and shame-stricken the men away. They
departed out of Gothland, and to their in countries
where their names were unknown.
The of Beowulf was to its on the called
HronesnAs, and there the and of a nation. When
the had all been performed, the great was taken
back to the dragon's cave. For the Goths would have none of the gold
their king had for them in his death. So it still lies
hidden in the of the earth as in the time when the dragon
guarded it from ken. If it is to men, it is at all
events not hurtful.
[Illustration]
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PART THIRD.
_I. CAROLINGIAN LEGENDS._
_II. KING ARTHUR AND THE HOLY GRAIL._
_III. TANNHAUSER._
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[Illustration: MALAGIS FETCHES THE HORSE BAYARD BACK FROM HELL.]
_CAROLINGIAN LEGENDS._
I.
