[109]. him: see [80/47 note]. ten: the bestiaries say forty.
[110]. lene: read megre; ‘jejunans macie perhorret,’ T. iuele, with difficulty; an early instance of the meaning. ‘Vix movens sese veniensque tandem,’ T.
[111]. craft . . . kiðeð: comp. ‘Who so kouth wele his craft þare might it kith,’ Minot v. 69 note.
[112]. ðat . . . on, in which: see [1/3 note].
[113]. Narrow the hole is, but he forces himself to go through it: comp. ‘Long silence ⁊ wel iwust nedeð þe þouhtes up touward þer heouene,’ AR 72/17. Nimeð: see [213/539 note]. ‘Querit angustum lapidis foramen | . . . | Inde pertransit spoliatque carnem | Pelle vetusta,’ T.: ‘cumeð to ane þurlede ston ⁊ criepeð nedlinge þureh nerewe hole ⁊ bileueð hire hude baften hire,’ OEH ii. 199/25. Transpose him nedeð.
[115]. ward is merely expletive; see [178/89 note].
[116]. or, previously, before drinking; comp. ‘siðen,’ 118. speweð: the explanation is in 181/159, 160: comp. ‘heo schal speowen al ut þet wunder,’ AR 346/6; ‘þet is þet beste þeonne speowen hit ut anon mid schrifte to þe preoste,’ id. 240/6; 119/91, 92, mostly with ut. Read here, Oc he speweð ut or. al ðe uenim ðor; for or : ðor comp. GE 4033 with 3845.
[118]. Transpose, inog siðen drinkeð, making a rhyming line.
[120]. of . . . naked, stripped of, without: nacod takes the genitive. Read, Ðanne ðe neddre is newe. ⁊ of his hid naked: comp. 181/162.
[121]. An abridged line; read, ⁊ in bodi ⁊ in brest. bare of his atter. Comp. ‘helden ham cleane ai fra fleschliche fulðen ibodi ⁊ ibreoste,’ HM 23/1. For of comp. ‘bare of euch blisse,’ SK 845; Minot vi. 25 note.