Trætten med Hunferd Drost og Trøsten derover.
Nu _Hunferd_ tog til Orde[4],
Og _Egglavs_ Søn var han,
Men Klammeri han gjorde
Med Tale sin paa Stand.
Han var en fornem Herre,
Han sad ved Thronens Fod,
Men avindsyg desværre,
Han var ei Bjovulv god;
En Torn var ham i Øiet
Den Ædlings Herrefærd,
Som havde Bølgen pløiet
Og Ære høstet der;
Thi Hunferd taalte ikke,
Med Næsen høit i Sky,
At Nogen vilde stikke
Ham selv i Roes og Ry.
‘Er du,’ see det var Skosen,
‘Den Bjovulv Mudderpram,
Som dykked efter Rosen
Og drev i Land med Skam,
Som kæppedes med _Brække_
Og holdt sig ei for brav,
Dengang I, som to Giække,
Omflød paa vildne Hav!
I vilde med jer Svømmen
Paa Vandet giøre Blæst,
Men drev dog kun med Strømmen,
Alt som I kunde bedst;
For aldrig Det ei keise
Jeg vilde slig en Klik,
Som for den Vendereise
I paa jert Rygte sik.
Paa Landet var I friske,
Men Vand kan slukke Ild,
I svømmed som to Fiske,
Ia, snart som døde Sild;
Da sagtnedes Stoheien,
Der Storm og Bølge strid
Ier viste Vinterveien
Alt i en Uges Tid.
Dog, om end Narre begge,
Kom du dog værst deran,
Thi fra dig svømmed Brække
Og blev din Overmand;
Du artig blev tilbage,
Der han en Morgenstund
Opskvulpedes saa fage
Paa høie Romøs Grund,
Hvorfra sin Kaas han satte
Til _Brondingernas_ Land,
Med Borge der og Skatte
Han var en holden Mand;
Der havde han sit Rige,
Og deiligt var hans Slot,
Han elsket var tillige
Af hver sin Undersaat.
Saa _Bjansteens_ Søn udførte
Alt hvad han trued med;
Men da du, som vi hørte,
Kom der saa galt afsted,
Saa tør jeg nok formode,
Om end du giør dig kry,
Det giør slet ingen Gode,
Du brænder dig paany;
Ia, vil en Nat du vove
At bie Grændel her,
Da tør derfor jeg love,
Dig times en Ufærd.’
_Criticism of the Translation._
The poem departs so far from the text of _Beowulf_ that any discussion
of its accuracy would be out of place. As has been shown by the section
on the nature of the translation, the author had no intention of being
true to the letter of the text. Grundtvig’s scholarship has been
discussed above.
The translation may properly be called nothing more than a paraphrase.
Whole sentences are introduced that have no connection with the original
text. Throughout the translation is evident the robust, but not always
agreeable, personality of the translator. In his preface[5] Grundtvig
remarked that he put nothing into his poem that was not historically and
poetically true to the original. The statement can only be regarded as
an unfortunate exaggeration. Grundtvig’s style cannot be called even a
faint reflection of the _Beowulf_ style. He has popularized the story,
and he has cheapened it. There is no warrant in the original for the
coarse invective of the extract that has just been cited. In the Old
English, Hunferth taunts Beowulf, but he never forgets that his rival is
‘doughty in battle’ (l. 526). Beowulf is always worthy of his respect.
In Grundtvig, the taunting degenerates into a scurrilous tirade.
Hunferth calls Beowulf a ‘mudscow’; Breca and Beowulf swim like two
‘dead herrings.’ In like manner the character of Hunferth is cheapened.
In _Beowulf_ he is a jealous courtier, but he is always heroic. In
Grundtvig he is merely a contemptible braggart, ‘with his nose high in
air,’ who will not allow himself to be ‘thrown to the rubbish heap.’
The same false manner is retained throughout the poem. In many places it
reads well--it is often an excellent story. But it can lay no claim to
historic or poetic fidelity to the _Beowulf_.
_Reception of the Book._
The book fell dead from the press. Grundtvig himself tells us that it
was hardly read outside his own house[6]. Thirty years later he learned
that the book had never reached the Royal Library at Stockholm. A copy
made its way to the British Museum, but it was the one which Grundtvig
himself carried thither in 1829. This was doubtless the copy that was
read and criticized by Thorpe and Wackerbarth. Both of these scholars
spoke of its extreme freedom, but commended its readableness.
[Footnote 1: This volume I have never seen. My information
regarding it is from a scribe in the British Museum.]
[Footnote 2: See supra, p. 15.] [[Thorkelin]]
[Footnote 3: Translation by scribe in British Museum.]
[Footnote 4: Several variations in meter occur in the translation.]
[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 24.] [[Gruntvig: Aim of the Volume...]]
[Footnote 6: See _Beowulfs Beorh_, p. xix.]