Wiglaf

“ Seeing his master about to be crushed to death, Wiglaf—one of Beowulf's followers—now springs forward to aid him, thus causing sufficient diversion to enable Beowulf to creep beneath the dragon, and drive his sword deep into its undefended breast! Although the monster's coils now drop limply away from his body, poor Beowulf has been so sorely burned by its breath that he feels his end is near. Turning to his faithful follower, he thanks, him for his aid, bidding him hasten into the cave and bring forth the treasure he has won for his people, so he can feast his eyes upon it before he dies. ”

“ Let us go to his rescue. It is not right that we should see our lord fall, and bear away our shields untouched!"
Rushing forward, he cried, "Beowulf, here am I! Now strike for thy life! Thou hast said that thou never wouldst let thy fame depart from thee!"
Again the dragon came forth; again it enveloped its foeman in flames. The linden shield of Wiglaf burned in his hands, and he sought shelter behind Beowulf's shield of iron. Again and again Wiglaf smote the monster, and when the flames burnt low, Beowulf seized his dirk and pierced the dragon so that he fell dead. ”

“ Beowulf was alive, however, though in sorry plight, so Wiglaf fetched more water wherewith to refresh him. Then spake the brave old King his last words on earth, the while he looked sadly on the gold: 'I give thanks for these beautiful things, which here I gaze on, to the Lord of all, to the King of Glory, the eternal Lord, for that I have been able before my death-day to gain so much for my people. Fulfil ye now with this hoard my people's needs, for here I may no longer be. Let the warriors build a mound at the headland which juts out into the sea. ”

“ So Wulnoth tarried in the Danish camp, and the vikings greeted him as one of themselves, but old Wahrmund took him aside and whispered more than once that he should beware of Wiglaf the Boxer as soon as his arm was well.
"Wiglaf forgives no injury," he said, "and the greatest injury which thou canst do to him is to beat him fairly. Therefore beware of Wiglaf, O Wanderer."
"Surely a brave man should feel no bitterness against him who overthrows him in fair fight!" ”

“ Not such disloyalty has Beowulf deserved through his long reign that he should stand alone in the death-struggle. He and I will die together, or side by side will we conquer.” The youthful warrior tried in vain to rouse the courage of his companions: they trembled, and would not move. So Wiglaf, holding on high his shield, plunged into the fiery cloud and moved towards his king, crying aloud: “Beowulf, my dear lord, let not thy glory be dimmed. Achieve this last deed of valour, as thou didst promise in days of yore, that thy fame should not fall, and I will aid thee.” ”

“ Wiglaf—Wild deer shall listen and no foot be heard.
Canzler—Have you forgotten your inspired word?
(Fritz and Rudolph exchange glances.)
Wiglaf—But centuries may pass ere that child comes.
(Selma comes from the cottage and begins to gather dry leaves and chips about the doorway. She is singing to herself and her voice comes faintly through the trees.)
Canzler—Or in these hard days have you, too, lost faith
In Woden?
Wiglaf—Wiglaf lose faith in Woden!
O chief!
(Looking down.)
What shall Wiglaf say? Shall the skald,
Whose eye sees through the darkness, see no light? ”

“ A desperate struggle followed, in the course of which Beowulf's sword and strength both failed him. The Firedrake coiled its long, scaly folds about the aged hero, and was about to crush him to death when the faithful Wiglaf, perceiving his master's imminent danger, sprang forward and attacked the monster so fiercely as to cause a diversion and make it drop Beowulf to concentrate its attention upon him. ”

“ These were his last words, and Beowulf lay very still and cold before his weeping friend.
Now that the fight was over and the Fire Dragon lay dead all the servants who had deserted the king in battle, came back. Wiglaf met them with scorn and drove them away, so that they wandered homeless and beggared over the land. Everywhere they went they heard the words: “Death is better than a life of shame.”
Then all the people came to see their dead king [196] as he lay on the ground. Wiglaf told them of the conflict and also of the treasures in the cave. ”

“ While we stood and pondered, Wiglaf suddenly started.
"I hear the tramp of men," he said.
Then I listened, and distinctly heard the footfall of men and horses. We paused; it drew nearer. We were on the point of taking to the woods again, when I thought I caught the sound of the word of command in the English tongue, and the voice seemed familiar.
We advanced still cautiously amongst the ruins, until we saw fifty or sixty horsemen cross the wooden bridge which the Danes had left uninjured, and advance with horror-stricken faces. ”

“ But now the giving of treasure shall cease for ye and ye will be shamed and will lose your land-right when the nobles learn of your inglorious deed. Death is better for every earl than ignominious life."
After this Wiglaf summoned the other earls and told them of all that had happened and of the mound that Beowulf wished them to build. Then they gathered together at the mouth of the cave and gazed with tears upon their lifeless lord and looked with awe upon the huge dragon as it lay stiff in death beside its conqueror. ”

“ Shortly afterwards, however, and probably owing to danger on the Welsh border, Wiglaf was restored to his throne by Egbert as an under-king of Wessex. He reigned thirteen years (Will. Malm. Gesta Regum, p. 132, Engl. Hist. Soc.) , died in 838 (Flor. Wig. ap. Petrie, l.c. p. 549) , and was buried at Repton (ib. p. 638) . Wiglaf married Cynethryth, and left a son Wigmund (ib.)
Several charters of Wiglaf are extant (Wilkins, Concilia Mag. Brit. et Hibern. i. 176 seq.) ”

“ The fell wicked beast came on again belching forth fire, such was his hatred of men. The flame-waves caught Wiglaf's shield, for it was but of wood. It was burned utterly, so that only the stud of steel remained. His coat of mail alone was not enough to guard the young warrior from the fiery enemy. But right valiantly he went on fighting beneath the shelter of Beowulf's shield now that his own was consumed to ashes by the flames.
Then again the warlike King called to mind his ancient glories, again he struck with main strength with his good sword upon the monstrous head. Hate sped the blow. ”

“ Heeding not the flames from the awful mouth, Wiglaf struck the dragon below the neck. His hand was burned with the fire, but his sword dived deep into the monster's body and from that moment the flames began to abate.
[pg 300]
The horrid teeth relaxed their hold, and Beowulf, quickly recovering himself, drew his deadly knife. Battle-sharp and keen it was, and with it the hero gashed the dragon right in the middle.
The foe was conquered. Glowing in death he fell. They twain had destroyed the winged beast. Such should a warrior be, such a thane in need. ”

“ He (Beowulf) was not greedy of gold, and had more readily in former days seen the favour of God.
Wiglaf spake, the son of Weohstan: ‘Often shall many an earl of his own only will suffer misery, as is our fate. Nor could we teach the dear lord and shepherd of the kingdom any wisdom so that he would fail to be meeting the keeper of the gold treasures (the dragon) or to let him stay where he had been long time dwelling in his cavern until the world’s end. ”

“ Reflections and discourses proper to the occasion are spoken by Wiglaf, such as chiding of the timorous who stood aloof, and gloomy anticipations of the future.
And so this noble poem moves on to its close, ending, like the “Iliad,” with a great bale-fire. Two closing lines record like an epitaph the praise of the dead in superlatives; not as a warrior, but as a man and a 134ruler: how that he was towards men the mildest and most affable, towards his people he was most gracious and most yearning for their esteem. ”

“ Fritz— Wiglaf's ears
Are where the whispers of the dead go by.
Rudolph—Heard he the word, "to-day"?
Fritz— And Wiglaf's eyes
Blazed glee-fire and his lips spake Woden's word:
[Pg 10] "In him shall be the strength of all your dead."
Rudolph—In Oswald?
Fritz— In the seed of Wittikind.
"The seed of Wittikind shall put forth a sprout
Shall make the whole North green."
Rudolph— The "seed" of.
Fritz— Yes.
Rudolph—There, Fritz, is where the whole great purpose turns.
Fritz—Eh?
Rudolph—Prophesy, you see, walks in the air.
No man can say on whom it will lay its hand. ”

“ Such an appeal could not be disregarded, and in spite of his advanced years Beowulf donned his armor once more. Accompanied by Wiglaf and eleven of his bravest men, he then went out to seek the monster in its lair. At the entrance of the mountain gorge Beowulf bade his followers pause, and advancing alone to the monster's den, he boldly challenged it to come forth and begin the fray. A moment later the mountain shook as the monster rushed out breathing fire and flame, and Beowulf felt the first gust of its hot breath, even through his massive shield. ”

“ You know the song that Wiglaf used to sing,
Of how Val-father wanders over the earth
In human form—
Fritz— That is what Rudolph says;
Val-father turns his dark side to the earth.
Conrad—And leaves swords sticking in the rock and trees.
Fritz—Rudolph insists that Oswald will return.
He says that Selma learned it from the trees.
She listens in the forest all day long
And when the wind is loud and the boughs sway—
[Pg 71]
Conrad—How could he ever find us here?
Fritz— I see
How that could be; Woden knows where we are,
And where he turns his face the way is clear. ”

“ But there was now slowly growing up to manhood one who was soon destined to stand in the front of the storm—who was born to tread, sure-footed, through the rocking of the whirlwind:—to his boyish days will we now for a few moments turn aside.
The mother of Alfred was named Osberga; she was the daughter of Oslac, the king's cup-bearer—as ambassador of Ethelwulph, he signed the charter in which Wiglaf gave the monastery and lands of Croyland to the abbot Siward and his successors. ”

“ Roaring hideously and napping his glowing wings together, the dragon rushed forth and half flew, half sprang, on Beowulf. Then began a fearful combat, which ended in Beowulf's piercing the dragon's scaly armor and inflicting a mortal wound, but alas! in himself being given a gash in the neck by his opponent's poisoned fangs which resulted in his death. As he lay stretched on the ground, his head supported by Wiglaf, an honored warrior who had helped in the fight with the dragon, Beowulf roused himself to say, as he grasped Wiglaf's hand:
"Thou must now look to the needs of the nation ”

“ And Biarco (Bjarki) : “I will die overpowered near the head of my slain Captain, and at his feet thou also shalt slip on thy face in death, so that whoso scans the piled corpses may see in what wise we rate the gold our lord gave us!”—As to “remembering the mead,” see Finnsburg, vv. 39 ff. The very words of Wiglaf, however, are echoed in Maldon by Ælwine, as the faithful thane exhorts his comrades to fight on nor forsake their slain lord. ”

“ Evidently he makes his peace, gets the family estates, and leaves them to his son Wiglaf. (Gering, p. 119.) ↑ That is, although Eanmund was brother’s son to Onela, the slaying of the former by Weohstan is not felt as cause of feud, and is rewarded by gift of the slain man’s weapons. ↑ Both Wiglaf and the sword did their duty.—The following is one of the classic passages for illustrating the comitatus as the most conspicuous Germanic institution, and its underlying sense of duty, based partly on the idea of loyalty and partly on the practical basis of benefits received and repaid. ”

“ Achilles himself retires from the conflict owing to a personal wrong, and only returns to it in order to avenge his friend. The same phenomena appear in the English poems. That Wiglaf whose bravery is said to be 'inbred' (cf. p. 328) was the son of a certain Weohstan, whose great achievement was the slaying of the Swedish prince Eanmund. Yet Eanmund was at this time apparently under the protection of Heardred, king of the Geatas, [Pg 330] who also lost his life in the same war. Weohstan however, though he belonged to the Geatas, was in the service of Onela, their enemy. ”

“ Now is the joy and prosperity of our folk vanished! Now shall our enemies make raids upon us, for we have none to withstand them! But let us hasten to bury our king, to bear him royally to his grave, with mourning and tears of woe.” These unhappy tidings roused the Geats, and they hastened to see if it were really true, and found all as the messenger had said, and wondered at the mighty dragon and the glorious hoard of gold. They feared the monster and coveted the treasure, but all felt that the command now lay with Wiglaf. ”

“ There is a flash of illumination, like that which comes to a dying man, in which his mind runs back over his long life and sees something of profound meaning in the elemental sorrow moving side by side with magnificent courage. Then follows the fight with the firedrake, in which Beowulf, wrapped in fire and smoke, is helped by the heroism of Wiglaf, one of his companions. The dragon is slain, but the fire has entered Beowulf's lungs and he knows that Wyrd is at hand. ”