reading, heofon rēce swealg = _heaven
swallowed
the
smoke_.
smoke_.
Beowulf
l. 3147. Müllenhoff rejected wind-blond gelæg because a great fire raises
rather than "lays" the wind; hence B. , as above, = "swoughing sported the
flame wound with the howling of wind-currents. "
l. 3151 _seq. _ B. restores conjecturally:
swylce giōmor-gyd sio geō-meowle
[æfter Bēowulfe] bunden-heorde
[song] sorg-cearig, sǣde geneahhe,
þæt hīo hyre [hearm-]dagas hearde on [dr]ēde,
wælfylla worn, [w]īgendes egesan,
hȳ[n]ðo ond hæftnȳd, hēof on rīce wealg.
--_Beit. _ xii. 100.
Here geō-meowle = _old woman_ or _widow;_ bunden-heorde = _with bound
locks;_ hēof = _lamentation;_ cf. l. 3143. on rīce wealg is less preferable
than the MS.
reading, heofon rēce swealg = _heaven swallowed the
smoke_. --H. -So. B. thinks Beowulf's widow (geōmeowle) was probably Hygd;
cf. ll. 2370, 3017-3021.
l. 3162. H. -So. reads (with MS. ) bronda be lāfe, for betost, and omits
colon after bēcn. So B. , _Zachers Zeitschr. _ iv.
