1a Welund him be wurman [#]

Weland himself, by means of worms

(swords?),

wrces cunnade, experienced agony,
2a anhydig eorl the strong-minded noble

earfoa dreag, endured troubles;
3a hfde him to gesie he had for his companions

sorge and longa, sorrow and longing,
4a wintercealde wrce, winter-bitter wrack,

wean oft onfond he often found misery
5a sian hine Nihad on after Nihad

nede legde, put fetters on him,
6a swoncre seonobende supple sinew-bonds

on syllan monn. on the better man.
7a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. [#] so may this be.
8a Beadohilde ne ws Beadohild was not

hyre brora dea as sad in mind
9a on sefan swa sar for the death of her brothers

swa hyre sylfre ing, as for her own trouble,
10a t heo gearolice she had

ongietan hfde clearly realized
11a t heo eacen ws; that she was pregnant;

fre ne meahte she could never
12a riste geencan think resolutely

hu ymb t sceolde. of how that would have to (turn out).
13a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. so may this be.
14a We t Mhilde [#] We heard that

mone gefrugnon the moans of Matilda,
15a wurdon grundlease of the lady of Geat,

Geates frige, were numberless
16a t hi seo sorglufu so that (her) sorrowful love

slp ealle binom. entirely deprived of sleep.
17a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. so may this be.
18a eodric ahte [#] Theodric ruled

ritig wintra for thirty winters
19a Mringa burg; the city of the Mrings;

t ws monegum cu. that was known to many.
20a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. so may this be.
21a We geascodan We heard

Eormanrices [#] Ermanaric's
22a wylfenne geoht; wolfish thought;

ahte wide folc he ruled widely the people
23a Gotena rices; of the kingdom of the Goths -

t ws grim cyning. That was a grim king!
24a St secg monig Many a warrior sat,

sorgum gebunden, bound up by cares,
25a wean on wenan, woes in mind,

wyscte geneahhe wished constantly
26a t s cynerices that the kingdom

ofercumen wre. were overcome.
27a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. so may this be.
28a Site sorgcearig, He sits sorrowful and anxious,

slum bidled, bereft of joy,
29a on sefan sweorce, darkening in his mind,

sylfum ince he thinks to himself
30a t sy endeleas that (it) is endless

earfoa dl, the (his) part of troubles;
31a mg onne geencan then he can consider

t geond as woruld that throughout this world
32a witig Dryhten the wise Lord

wende geneahhe, always goes,
33a eorle monegum to many men

are gesceawa, he shows honour,
34a wislicne bld, sure glory,

sumum weana dl. to some a share of troubles.
35a t ic bi me sylfum I, for myself,

secgan wille, want to say this,
36a t ic hwile ws that for a while I was

Heodeninga scop, the scop (bard) of the Hedenings,
37a dryhtne dyre; dear to my lord;

me ws Deor noma. [#] my name was Deor.
38a Ahte ic fela wintra I had for many winters

folga tilne, a good position,
39a holdne hlaford, a loyal lord,

o t Heorrenda nu, until Heorrenda now,
40a leocrftig monn, a man skilful in songs,

londryht geah has taken the estate
41a t me eorla hleo
that the protector (hleo) of warriors
(eorla)

r gesealde. before (r) gave to me.
42a s ofereode, That was overcome,

isses swa mg. so may this be.
Notes
line 1a: Welund is better known in English folklore as Wayland the Smith. (Beowulf's armour was
said to be Weland's work, and King Alfred, in a series of wonderings of where famous things have got
to, wonders where are the bones of Weland the wise, the master goldsmith who was most famous in
days gone by. A barrow in Oxfordshire is called Wayland's Smithy to this day.)
An Old Norse poem from the Edda, Vlundarkvia, gives us a fuller account of his life. He and his
two brothers came upon three swan-maidens on a lake's shore, and loved them, and lived with them
happily for seven years, but then the swan-maidens flew away again. His brothers left, but Weland
stayed on the spot, and turned to smithing, and made beautiful gold rings against his wife's return.
King Nithuthr hears of this, steals one of the rings, takes him captive, hamstrings him to keep him
prisoner, and keeps him on an offshore island and forces him to make pretty things. Weland takes his
revenge by killing Nithuthr's two sons, cutting off their heads for silver bowls, cutting out their eyes
for gemstones, cutting out their teeth for brooches, and presenting these to Nithuthr and his wife.
Weland also gets Nithuthr's daughter Bothvild (Beadohild) with child, though it is unclear whether this
is part of malicious revenge -- Bothvild is said to weep at Weland's departure, and Weland insists to
Nithuthr that Bothvild is his bride and should not be killed. Finally, Weland, most cunning of smiths,
fashions wings and so flies away in spite of his infirmity. Farther than that we cannot follow him.
[ Back to text ]
line 7b: The obvious question one is left asking is what precisely does "Thaes ofereode, thisses swa
maeg" mean? A more literal if less compact rendering might be "It was overcome in respect of that,
and so it might be in respect of this". This is ambiguous: you can't tell whether the speaker hopes that
things will work out the same way ("may it be so") or is simply admitting the possibility ("it may be
so"). The same ambiguity exists in the original, down to the same word mg, which may have meant
either.
From the context of the author listing the various heroes and heroines of the Germanic past, who had
their troubles but these troubles passed in the end, and then linking his own story into the chain, one
gets the impression that the narrator is hoping that just as all these troubles passed away, so he hopes
his will too.
It reminds me of Aunt Bee in Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, standing in the churchyard after telling the
rector her troubles and remembering the rival smiths with their fierce battle back in 1723, who were
now sleeping peacefully in the same plot of Clare earth, and thinking that someday her problems too
would just be an old song, that it was simply a matter of keeping a sense of proportion. Or indeed of
John Cleese as Basil Fawlty having just dealt with some minor difficulties and then remembering that
he had had to lock Sybil up in order to sort them out, and going to release her with the dread words,
"So far so good; now for the tricky bit." [ Back to text ]
line 14a: Maethhild (Matilda) and Geat may have been as famous as Romeo and Juliet in their day,
but only a fragment more has survived to ours, and that not from mediaeval sources but from
Scandianavian ballads recorded in the nineteenth century. Magnild (Maethhild) wept, apparently,
because she foretold she would drown in the river. Gauti (Geat) retorts that he will build a bridge over
the river, but she notes that none can flee fate. Sure enough, she is drowned (either falls off the bridge,
or the bridge collapses). Gauti calls for his harp, and, like a Germanic Orpheus, plays so well that his
wife's body rises out of the waters. In one version she returns alive; in the darker version, she is dead,
but Gauti buries her properly and makes new strings for his harp from her hair. [ Back to text ]
line 18a: That Theodoric ruled the city of the Maerings for thirty years may have been known to many
in the poet's day, but the details are lost to ours. In this case a ninth-century runic inscription comes to
our aid, which notes that nine generations ago a Theodric, lord of the Maerings, landed in Geatland
(confusingly, nothing to do with Maethhild's husband Geat) and was killed there. In the early sixth
century there was a Frankish king called Theoderic, and certainly the last battle of the Geatish king
Hygelac, Beowulf's patron, was against the Franks: it may be that we should read a long feud here,
barely hinted at. But we have no real details to go on. [For more on the runestone and the possibilities,
see Kemp Malone's Deor.] A good many allusions to nearly lost Germanic myth like this are
somewhat like overhearing people talking enthusiastically about a soap opera which you don't follow
yourself -- who Edmund and Margaret and Megan are you have no idea, and you aren't any the wiser
from animated conversation about them because the people talking know all the basic details and don't
bother to explain them. [ Back to text ]
line 21b: Eormenric, on the other hand, is much better known. In history he was a great king of the
Ostrogoths, who died in about 375; according to Ammianus Marcellinus, he killed himself out of fear
of the invading Huns. According to other Old Norse Eddic poems, Gurnarhvt and Hamisml,
Iormunrekkr (Eormenric) had his wife Svannhildr trampled by horses because he suspected her of
having an affair with his son. Unfortunately, Svannhildr was also the daughter of the formidable
Guthrun (wife of Sigurthr, more famously known as Siegfried the Dragon-slayer), who incited her
sons, Hamthir and Sorli, to go and take revenge, which they did, by cutting off his hands and feet. And
so indeed Eormenric's rule was overcome. [ Back to text ]
line 37b: Deor has left no trace, and may simply be authorial fiction. Heorrenda, on the other hand,
seems to appear (as Horant) in a thirteenth century German epic Kudrun, as a follower of King Hetel.
It is said that Horant sang so sweetly that birds fell silent at his song, and fish and animals in the wood
fell motionless. [ Back to text ]