Spake out then Hrothgar the helm of the Scyldings:

Thou Beowulf, friend mine, for battle that wardeth

And for help that is kindly hast sought to us hither.

Fought down thy father the most of all feuds;

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To Heatholaf was he forsooth for a hand-bane

Amidst of the Wylfings. The folk of the Weders

Him for the war-dread that while might not hold.

So thence did he seek to the folk of the South-Danes

O'er the waves' wallow, to the Scyldings be-worshipped.

Then first was I wielding the weal of the Dane-folk,

That time was I holding in youth-tide the gem-rich