Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten, mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold, fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard wonsæli wer weardode hwile, siþðan him scyppend forscrifen hæfde in Caines cynne.
My translation won't do this passage from Beowulf justice -- try reading the Old English aloud to hear what it sounds like -- but the passage means
That grim spirit was named Grendel, the notorious walker in the borderlands, who ruled the waste, the fen in its fastness; for a time he governed the region of monsters, the unblessed men, since the Creator had exiled him among the family of Cain.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2008-03-08 10:41 pm (UTC)Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten,
mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold,
fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard
wonsæli wer weardode hwile,
siþðan him scyppend forscrifen hæfde
in Caines cynne.
My translation won't do this passage from Beowulf justice -- try reading the Old English aloud to hear what it sounds like -- but the passage means
That grim spirit was named Grendel, the notorious walker in the borderlands, who ruled the waste, the fen in its fastness; for a time he governed the region of monsters, the unblessed men, since the Creator had exiled him among the family of Cain.