The original MS. of this fragment has vanished, but a copy had been made
and printed by Hickes in his _Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium_, i.
192. The original was written on a single sheet attached to a codex of
homilies in the Lambeth Library. Möller, _Alteng. Epos_, p. 65, places the
fragment in the Finn episode, between ll. 1146 and 1147. Bugge (_Beit._
xii. 20) makes it illustrate the conflict in which Hnäf fell, _i.e._ as
described in _Beówulf_ as antecedent to the events there given. Heinzel
(_Anzeiger f. d. Altert_.), however, calls attention to the fact that
Hengest in the fragment is called cyning, whereas in _Beówulf_, l. 1086, he
is called þegn. See H.-So., p. 125.
"The _Fight at Finnsburg_ and the lays from which our _Beówulf_ was
composed were, as it seems to me, sung among the English who dwelt in the
north of Denmark and the south of Sweden, and whose tribal name was the
Jutes or Goths."--Br., p. 101.
l. 1. R. supposes [hor]nas, and conjectures such an introductory
conversation as follows: "Is it dawning in the east, or is a fiery dragon
flying about, or are the turrets of some castle burning?" questions which
the king negatives in the same order. Then comes the positive declaration,
"rather they are warriors marching whose armor gleams in the moonlight."
--_Alt- und Angels. Lesebuch_, 1861. Heinzel and B. conjecture, [beorhtor
hor]nas byrnað næfre. So. G.--_Beit._ xii. 22; _Anzeiger f. d. Altert._ x.
229.
l. 5. B. conjectures fugelas to mean _arrows_, and supplies:
ac hêr forð berað [fyrdsearu rincas,
flacre flânbogan], fugelas singað.
He compares Saxo, p. 95, _cristatis galeis hastisque sonantibus instant_,
as explanatory of l. 6.--_Beit._ xii. 22. But see Brooke, _Early Eng.
Literature_, who supposes fugelas = _raven_ and _eagle_, while græg-hama is
= _wulf_ (the "grey-coated one"), the ordinary accompaniers of battle.
l. 11. hicgeað, etc.: cf. _Maldon_, l. 5; _Exod_. l. 218.
l. 15. Cf. B. (_Beit._ xii. 25), etc., and Saxo, p. 101, for l. 13.
ll. 18-21. H.-So. remarks: "If, according to Möller and Bugge, Gârulf is
one of the attackers, one of Finn's men, this does not harmonize with his
character as Gûðlâf's son (l. 33), who (l. 16, and _Beówulf_, l. 1149) is a
Dane, therefore one of Finn's antagonists." B. (_Beit._ xii. 25)
conjectures:
þâ gyt Gûðdene Gârulf styrode,
þät hê swâ freólîc feorh forman sîðe
tô þære healle durum hyrsta ne bære,
nû hîe nîða heard ânyman wolde;
in which Gûðdene is the same as Sigeferð, l. 24; hê (l. 22) refers to
Gârulf; and hîe (l. 21) to hyrsta.
l. 27. swäðer = _either_ (bad or good, life or death).--H.-So.
l. 29. cêlod: meaning doubtful; cf. _Maldon_, l. 283. G. renders "curved
board"; Sw. suggests "round"? "hollow"?
l. 30. B. suggests bâr-helm, = _boar-helm._ Cf. Saxo, p. 96.--_Beit._ xii.
26.
l. 34. B. conjectures: (1) hwearf flacra hræw hräfen, wandrode; (2) hwearf
flacra hræw hräfen fram ôðrum = _flew from one corpse to another_.--_Beit._
xii. 27.
l. 43. B. supposes wund häleð to be a Dane, folces hyrde to be Hnäf, in
opposition to Holtzmann (_Germania_, viii. 494), who supposes the wounded
man to be a Frisian, and folces hyrde to be their king, Finn.--_Beit._ xii.
28.
l. 45. B. adopts Th.'s reading heresceorp unhrôr = _equipments
useless_.--_Beit._ xii. 28.
l. 47. "Though wounded, they had retained their strength and activity in
battle."--B., _Beit._ xii. 28.