Struck then the curly-locked
The hostile foe with shining[7] sword,
The hateful-minded, that half-way she cut 105
The [evil one's] neck, that he lay in a swoon,
Drunken and wounded. Not yet was he dead,
Thoroughly lifeless; struck she then earnestly,
The maiden brave-minded, a second time
The heathen hound, that his head rolled off 110
Forth on the floor: the foul corpse lay
Lifeless behind, went the spirit elsewhere
Beneath the deep earth, and there was disgraced,
In torment bound ever thereafter,
Surrounded with serpents, with tortures encompassed, 115
Strongly enchained in the fire of hell
After his death. He need never hope,
Enveloped with darkness, that thence he may go
Out of that worm-hall, but there shall he dwell
Ever for ever without end henceforth 120
In that dark home, of hope-joys deprived.
[1] 'Loudly carouse,' Kr. and C.
[2] 'Gorged with,' Kr. and C.
[3] Or, 'after feast.'
[4] 'King,' Gn. and Kr., but _guethfreca_ suits the verse better
than _cyning_, and even that is not metrically sufficient
to fill the _lacuna_.
[5] Lit., 'awaited.'
[6] So Gn.? 'Scouring,' Sw.?, Kr.?, C.
[7] 'Hostile,' Sw.
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