Page:Gummere (1909) The Oldest English Epic.djvu/62

46 whence he hied to his home so dear, beloved of his liegemen, to land of Brondings, fastness fair, where his folk he ruled, town and treasure. In triumph o’er thee Beanstan’s bairn his boast achieved. So ween I for thee a worse adventure —though in buffet of battle thou brave hast been, in struggle grim,—if Grendel’s approach thou darst await through the watch of night!” Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:— “What a deal hast uttered, dear my Unferth, drunken with beer, of Breca now, told of his triumph! Truth I claim it, that I had more of might in the sea than any man else, more ocean-endurance. We twain had talked, in time of youth, and made our boast,—we were merely boys, striplings still,—to stake our lives far at sea: and so we performed it. Naked swords, as we swam along, we held in hand, with hope to guard us against the whales. Not a whit from me could he float afar o’er the flood of waves, haste o’er the billows; nor him I abandoned. Together we twain on the tides abode five nights full till the flood divided us, churning waves and chillest weather, darkling night, and the northern wind ruthless rushed on us: rough was the surge. Now the wrath of the sea-fish rose apace;