48 BEOWULF AND THE FIRE DRAKE 



high up on Hronesness, and so perchance my people 

 may bear me in mind. Yea, let it be for a landmark 

 to seafaring men, who may call it Beowulf's Mound — 

 a beacon of safety for such as are in stress on the storm- 

 tossed sea.' Thus died Beowulf. When the news spread 

 the people nocked out in hundreds to the spot where the 

 fight took place. Sadly they looked on the lifeless body 

 of their chief lying on the sand, and with astonishment 

 they saw the carcass of the Fire Drake, full fifty feet long, 

 and the hoard of treasure beside it. They loaded the 

 treasure on a wain and bore it away ; the dragon's body 

 was pushed over the cliff into the sea. Then they made 

 ready a vast funeral-pyre for their beloved King, even as 

 he had wished. Black over the blaze rose the wood smoke ; 

 while sad and dejected in spirit sat the people, mourning 

 their lord's fall, bewailing the death of him who among 

 world Kings had been the mildest, the kindest of men, 

 and the most gracious to his people. 





