Принцесса Кентербери и другие английские легенды / Princess of Canterbury (сборник)

Страны дальние

хороши для того,

кто и сам неплох.

“We are retainers

From Hygelac’s band. Beowulf is my name.

If your lord and master, the most renowned

Son of Halfdane, will hear me out

And graciously allow me to greet him in person,

I am ready and willing to report my errand.”

So they went on their way. The ship rode the water,

Broad-beamed, bound by its hawser

And anchored fast. Boar-shapes flashed

Above their cheek-guards, the brightly forged

Work of goldsmiths, watching over

Those stern-faced men. They marched in step,

Hurrying on till the timbered hall

Rose before them, radiant with gold.

Nobody on earth knew of another

Building like it. Majesty lodged there,

And its light shone over many lands.

Судьба от смерти того спасает,

кто сам бесстрашен!

They said that of all the kings upon the earth

He was the man most gracious and fair-minded,

Kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.

“Now shall flame consume

Our leader in battle, the blaze darken

Round him who stood his ground in the steel-hail,

When the arrow-storm shot from bowstrings

Pelted from the shield-wall. The shaft hit home.

Feather-fledged, it finned the barb in flight.”

There, on the sand, where his soul had left him,

They found him at rest, their ring-giver

From days gone by. The great man

Had breathed his last. Beowulf the King

Had indeed met with a marvelous death.

We must hurry now

To take a last look at the king

And launch him, lord and lavisher of rings,

On the funeral road. His royal pyre

Will melt no small amount of gold:

Heaped there in the hoard, it was bought at heavy cost,

And that pile of rings he paid for at the end

With his own life will go up in flames,

Be furled in fire: treasure no follower

Will wear in his memory, nor lovely woman

Link and attach as a torque around her neck--

“So this bad blood between us and the Swedes,

This vicious feud, I am convinced,

Is bound to revive; they will cross our borders

And attack in force once they find out

That Beowulf is dead. In days gone by

When our warriors fell and we were undefended

He kept our coffers and our kingdoms safe.

He worked for the people, but as well as that

He behaved like a hero.

“You are the last of us, the only one left

Of the Waegmundings. Fate swept us away,

Sent my whole brave high-born clan

To their final doom. Now I must follow them.”

That was the warrior’s last word.

He had no more to confide. The furious heat

Of the pyre would assail him. His soul fled from his breast

To its destined place among the steadfast ones.