CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 165 



be yth-lafe they lay aloft 



uppe laegon, on the beach, 



swe[ordum] a-swefede ; put to sleep by the sword, 



thaet syththan na that they have never since 



ymb bront[ne] ford, hindered from their way 



brim-lithende the sea- sailors 



lade ne letton." about the bubbling fords." 



In this manner Beowulf continues to expatiate on his 

 valour against the nickers, and other sea-monsters, of 

 whom he boasts of having killed nine ; and he concludes 

 by insinuating, that had Hunferth himself been as valiant 

 as he would have people believe him, the grendel would 

 not have infested so long the court of Hrothgar. After 

 having spent the day in festivities, Beowulf and his com- 

 panions are left to guard the hall during the night, where 

 they are visited by the grendel, who attacks Beowulf, 

 supposing him to be asleep : after a terrible struggle he 

 receives a mortal wound, and flies precipitately to his 

 retreat. Amid their rejoicings upon the destruction of 

 their persecutor, the followers of Hrothgar are visited 

 during the following night by another monster, the 

 grendel's mother ; who revenges the grendel by the death 

 of -ZEschere, the monarch's favourite counsellor, and returns 

 to her den. Beowulf consoles the Danish king, by offer- 

 ing to pursue her thither ; he finds that her abode is under 

 the water, whither he descends, and finally returns vic- 

 torious. The king loads him with gifts, and he returns 

 to his own country. This completes the first part of the 



