Beowulf

Indeed we have heard how in days of yore

The heroes of Spear-Danes did valorous deeds

And of the majesty of their monarchs.

Scyld Scefing constantly stripped mead-benches

From many peoples, bands of [his] enemies;

He terrified the Heruli, after it first came to pass

[That] they found him in poverty; he lived to see solace for that:

He grew under the heavens, then in honor

Until everyone of those dwelling around

Over the whale-roads was obliged to obey him

[and] to yield tribute; that was a good king!

To him afterward was a child born

[To be] young in the compound, one whom God sent

As solace to the people; He understood the dire distress

That they before suffered, bereft of a prince

For a long while; to him for that the Life-Lord,

King of Glory, gave a worthy gift;

Beowulf was renowned— [his] fame spread wide—

In the lands of the horse-meadows, the heir of Scyld.

Trans. Geoffrey B. Elliott