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