BP+HyunWoo

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Paraphrase
//__Original__// Paraphrased

//__At times some hero made the timbered harp__

Sometimes a man would pick up the harp

__tremble with sweetness, or related true__

to play a magnificant melody, or recollect events

__and tragic happenings; at times the king__

which had tragically gone by; sometimes the king himself

__gave the proper turn to some fantastic tale,__

would start speaking of a fascinating tale,

__or a battle-scarred veteran, bowed with age,__

or an old veteran

__would begin to remember the martial deeds__

would remember his life as a young warrior

__of his youth and prime and be overcome__

and become overwhelmed with sadness

__as the past welled up in his wintry heart.__

as his youthful past starkly contrasted from his now shriveled self.

__"We were happy there the whole day long__

"We were happy throughout the entire day

__and enjoyed our time until another night__

and enjoyed ourselves until night

__descended upon us. Then suddenly__

arrived again. Then from nowhere

__the vehement mother avenged her son__

the enraged mother came for revenge

__and wreaked destruction. Death had robbed her,__

bringing about utter destruction. Death had taken Grendel from her,

__Geats had slain Grendel, so his ghastly dam__

as the Geats had killed him, so the terrifying mother

__struck back and with bare-faced defiance__

invaded Heorot outright

__laid a man low. Thus life departed__

and subsequently killed a man.

__from the sage Aeschere, an elder wise in council.__

Thus, did Aeschere, the wise elder, die.

__But afterwards, on the morning following,__

But on the following morning,

__the Danes could not burn the dead body__

the Danes were not able to burn the remains

__nor lay the remains of the man they loved__

of Aeschere, the man loved by all,

__on his funeral pyre. She had fled with the corpse__

on his funeral pyre, for the she-monster had taken off with the dead sage

__and taken refuge beneath torrents on the mountain.__

and hid beneath the mountain rivers.

__It was a hard blow for Hrothgar to bear,__

Grief hit Hrothgor

__harder than any he had undergone before.__

like never before.

__And so the heartsore king beseeched me__

Heartbroken, the king begged me --

__in your royal name to take my chances__

for I was your mighty kinsmen -- to take the risk

__underwater, to win glory__

in slaying the she-beast in her nest

__and prove my worth. He promised me rewards.__

and manifest my worthiness. The king vowed to give me gifts.

__Hence, as is well known, I went to my encounter__

On that account, as most know the story from here on, I came to face

__with the terror-monger at the bottom of the tarn.__

the mother at the bed of the lake.

__For a while it was hand-to-hand between us,__

For some time, it was a stalemate,

__then blood went curling along the currents__

then blood splashed into the water

__and I beheaded Grendel's mother in the hall__

as I beheaded the she-monster

__with a mighty sword. I barely managed__

with an unyielding sword. I hardly escaped

__to escape with my life; my time had not yet come.__

alive, but it was still too early for death to take my life.

__But Halfdane's heir, the shelter of those earls,__ (?)

Nontheless, the Halfdanes, along with lord Hrothgor,

__again endowed me with gifts in abundance.__

once more provided me with bountiful gifts. //