Цитаты из книги «Принцесса Кентербери и другие английские легенды / Princess of Canterbury (сборник)», страница 3

At times the war-band broke into a gallop,

Letting their chestnut horses race

Wherever they found the going good

On those well-known tracks. Meanwhile, a thane

Of the king’s household, a carrier of tales,

A traditional singer deeply schooled

In the lore of the past, linked a new theme

To a strict metre. The man started

To recite with skill, rehearsing Beowulf’s

Triumphs and feats in well-fashioned lines,

Entwining his words.

Then an extraordinary

Wail arose, and bewildering fear

Came over the Danes. Everyone felt it

Who heard that cry as it echoed off the wall,

A God-cursed scream and strain of catastrophe,

The howl of the loser, the lament of the hell-serf

Keening his wound. He was overwhelmed,

Manacled tight by the man who of all men

Was foremost and strongest in the days of this life.

“Never, since my hand could hold a shield

Have I entrusted or given control

Of the Dane’s hall to anyone but you.

Ward and guard it, for it is the greatest of houses.

Be on your mettle now, keep in mind your fame,

Beware of the enemy. There’s nothing you wish for

That won’t be yours if you win through alive.”

Often, for undaunted courage,

Fate spares the man it has not already marked.

“Time and again, when the goblets passed

And seasoned fighters got flushed with beer

They would pledge themselves to protect Heorot

And wait for Grendel with whetted swords.

But when dawn broke and day crept in

Over each empty, blood-spattered bench,

The floor of the mead-hall where they had feasted

Would be slick with slaughter. And so they died,

Faithful retainers, and my following dwindled.

Now take your place at the table, relish

The triumph of heroes to your heart’s content.”

I come to proffer

My wholehearted help and counsel.

I can show the wise Hrothgar a way

To defeat his enemy and find respite---

If any respite is to reach him, ever.

I can calm the turmoil and terror in his mind.

Otherwise, he must endure woes

And live with grief for as long as his hall

Stands at the horizon, on its high ground.”

These were hard times, heart-breaking

For the prince of the Shieldings; powerful counselors,

The highest in the land, would lend advice,

Plotting how best the bold defenders

Might resist and beat off sudden attacks.

Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed

Offering to idols, swore oaths

That the killer of souls might come to their aid

And save the people. That was their way,

Their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts

They remembered Hell.

Many of the kingdoms mentioned in Beowulf can be located with some confidence, others involve educated guesses.

So Grendel ruled in defiance of right,

One against all, until the greatest house

In the world stood empty, a deserted wall stead.

For twelve winters, seasons of woe,

The lord of the Shieldings suffered under

His load of sorrow; and so, before long,

The news was known over the whole world.

So times were pleasant for the people there

Until finally one, a fiend out of Hell,

Began to work his evil in the world.

Grendel was the name of this grim demon

Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath

And the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time

In misery among the banished monsters,

Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed

And condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel

The Eternal Lord had exacted a price:

Cain got no good from committing that murder

Because the Almighty made him anathema

And out of the curse of his exile there sprang

Ogres and elves and evil phantoms

And the giants too who strove with God

Time and again until He gave them their final reward.