over the cheek-plates;
gehroden golde
as chequered with gold
fâh and fŷr-heard
defiant and fire-hard
ferh wearde heold.
the farrow kept ward.
The second passage occurs in the course of the Lay of Hnæf, which is inserted among the festivities that follow Beowulf’s success against Grendel, as being sung by the minstrel in Hrothgar’s hall. In the story of the Lay there is a fight, and that is followed by the burning of the dead, and here the poet notices the arms which are consumed with their owners. In the short quotation which follows, the coat of mail is called a sark, and the helmet is indicated by its crest, which was a boar of hard iron plated with gold:
1111
1111