Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

2177 Swá bealdode bearn Ecgðéowes,
guma gúðum cúð, gódum dædum,
dréah æfter dóme; nealles druncne slóg
heorðgenéatas; næs him hréoh sefa,
ac hé mancynnes mæsta cræfte
ginfæstan gife, þé him God sealde,
héold hildedéor Hean wæs lange,
swa hyne Geata bearn godne ne tealdon,
né hyne on medobence micles wyrðne
drihten Wederas gedón wolde;
swýðe wéndon, þæt hé sléac wære,
æðeling unfrom.
2177 So did he show himself brave, Ecgtheow’s son,
a man well-known in war for good deeds,
bore himself with glory never when drinking did he kill
the retainers, his mind was not savage,
and mankind’s greatest strength,
an ample gift that God had given him,
was guarded by him, the battle brave. For a long time
the children of the Geats did not find him good
and the lord of the Weather-Geats would not make him
much worthy on the meadbench
they thought very much, that he was slow,
a feeble prince.
Apart from the hint in verses 2179–80 that retainers are a nuisance to the hero when
he drinks in the hall, this is obviously a tale about the development of a teenager
who has found an opportunity to fulfil a contract of goodness. The basis for this
contract was laid in his childhood when he met Hroðgar, and although he was not
much thought of in his home hall by those who had observed him there, a change of
hall made all the difference, and he showed himself fit to be a hero, not just physically,
but also morally. The hall character of the summing-up is evident and so is
the fact that Beowulf was known to Hroðgar. It is in the hall that the basis for the
good is founded and in the hall or the community of the halls that a young man shows
himself good.
The good emerges from the hall, and putting the child Beowulf, the man Beowulf
and King Hroðgar together in one person we see how the good in happy cases
structures the whole life of a prince. When you are a child, people become aware of
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