| ðone God sende folce tó frófre, fyrenþearfe ongeat ða híe ǽr drugon aldorleáse. | whom God sent to the people for their comfort, the evil need he understood which they before had suffered while without a king. |
Beów. l. 26.
[781]. Æðelw. lib. iii. He attributes the legend to Sceaf, Scyld’s father; his words are: “Ipse Scef cum uno dromone advectus est in insula oceani quae dicitur Scani, armis circumdatus, eratque valde recens puer, et ab incolis illius terrae ignotus; attamen ab eis suscipitur, et ut familiarem diligenti animo eum custodierunt, et post in regem eligunt: de cuius prosapia ordinem trahit Athulf rex.”
[782]. William of Malmesbury (G. R. ii. 116) adds another peculiarity to the legend, which however he gives to Sceaf, Scyld’s father; he says, “Iste, ut ferunt, in quandam insulam Germaniae Scandzam, de qua Jordanes historiographus Gothorum loquitur, appulsus, navi sine remige, puerulus, posito ad caput frumenti manipulo, dormiens, ideoque Sceaf nuncupatus, ab hominibus regionis illius pro miraculo exceptus, et sedulo nutritus, adulta aetate regnavit in oppido quod tunc Slasvic, nunc vero Haithebi appellatur. Est autem regio illa Anglia Vetus dicta, unde Angli venerunt in Britanniam, inter Saxones et Gothos constituta.” Wendover (Flor. Hist.) copies Malmesbury, with the explanation of the name Sceafa, from Sceaf a sheaf of corn; others derived it from scúfan, trudere, “quia fortunae commissus.” Die Stammtafel der Westsachsen, p. 33.
[783]. “Se wæs geboren in ðǽre earce Noes.” Chron. Sax. 855.
[784]. Cod. Exon. p. 407.
[785]. Cod. Dipl. No. 436.
[786]. Ibid. Nos. 356, 762.
[787]. Ibid. No. 721.
[788]. Cod. Dipl. No. 353.