þā git on sund rēon;
þǣr git ēagor-strēam earmum þehton,
mǣton mere-strǣta, mundum brugdon,
glidon ofer gār-secg.
ll. 512, ff.
A part of the story has been thrown away with the adjectives. The force and beauty of the passage are gone.
But there is another danger in this paraphrastic method. In omitting words and phrases, the translator will often misinterpret his original. This is especially true of Botkine’s work in the obscure episodes where he wishes to make the meaning perfectly clear. In attempting to simplify the Old English, he departs from the original sense. Instances of this may be brought forward from the Finn episode:
Folcwaldan sunu
dōgra gehwylce Dene weorþode,
Hengestes hēap hringum wenede,