To be to them in aid (to help them).
—(Laȝ. ii. 264.)
P. 81. l. [2828] vnsteken, disclose. See Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s. v. Steke. [2830] Gunc = you two. See Orm. i. 301; ii. 98. [2831] funden; O.E. founde, to go, occurs in Allit. Poems, p. 63, l. 903. [2834] of liues = alive. [2838] is werkes len, reward of his works. [2845] feren swike, unfaithful companions, that is, his two sons who were uncircumcised. he = they, refers to Moses and his wife. [2847]-50 Zipporah took this young lad, and made him to have circumcision, and wept, and turned back frightened, and let Moses forth alone proceed. [2855] Eyðer [h]ere = each of them. [2856] haueð is herte vt-dragen = hath his heart out-drawn. Cf. our expression, to unbosom oneself, with the Ger. sein herz anschütten.
P. 82. l. [2876]-78
I defended so that thou wast rescued,
And laboured, and great sorrow endured,
Yet is it unseen (is it a secret) how I accomplished it?
[2882] hidel-like (= hidingly), secretly. Cf. O.E. hidel, a hiding place (Ps. xxvi. 5). [2890] to gode, for good, gratuitously. [2891]-2 And yet they hold (keep up) the number of the tiles (bricks), and knead and bake (them), great and small. [2894] And to God he made his complaint (bemoaning).
P. 83. l. [2900] ðhunerg = ðuner; O.E. thoner, thunder. [2903] Min milche witter name may signify (1) my great wise name, or (2) my merciful wise name. In (1) milche = michel = mikel, great; but in (2) it = milce, mild, merciful. See l. [3603]. [2918] Iglic = uglic, ugly, horrible. [2919] wiches kire, select (choice) witches. [2920] in sowles lire, in soul's loss. [2926] And the heads of them all he bit off.
P. 84. l. [2934] wit = we two. See Orm. vii. 73, H. i. 4, 300. [2935]-6 This king himself is very bitter against this folk, and of heart hard. [2938] And try better with this token. [2947] trike, a rivulet, small stream, evidently connected with the verb trick-le. [2951] wreche = wreke, vengeance, plague. Cf. michel and mikel, dike and diche, etc. [2957] bot = boot, release, deliverance, is connected with O.E. bete, to amend, to alleviate. [2962] bi-tournen = biturnen, turn, change.