{6a} The nicor, says Bugge, is a hippopotamus; a walrus, says Ten Brink. But that water-goblin who covers the space from Old Nick of jest to the Neckan and Nix of poetry and tale, is all one needs, and Nicor is a good name for him. {6b} His own people, the Geats. {6c} That is, cover it as with a face-cloth. "There will be no need of funeral rites." {6d} Personification of Battle. {6e} The Germanic Vulcan. {6f} This mighty power, whom the Christian poet can still revere, has here the general force of "Destiny." {7a} There is no irrelevance here. Hrothgar sees in Beowulf's mission a heritage of duty, a return of the good offices which the Danish king rendered to Beowulf's father in time of dire need. {7b} Money, for wergild, or man-price. {7c} Ecgtheow, Beowulf's sire. {8a} "Began the fight." {8b} Breca. {9a} Murder. {10a} Beowulf, -- the "one." {11a} That is, he was a "lost soul," doomed to hell. {12a} Kenning for Beowulf. {13a} "Guarded the treasure." {13b} Sc. Heremod. {13c} The singer has sung his lays, and the epic resumes its story. The time-relations are not altogether good in this long passage which describes the rejoicings of "the day after"; but the present shift from the riders on the road to the folk at the hall is not very violent, and is of a piece with the general style. {14a} Unferth, Beowulf's sometime opponent in the flyting. {15a} There is no horrible inconsistency here such as the critics strive and cry about. In spite of the ruin that Grendel and Beowulf had made within the hall, the framework and roof held firm, and swift repairs made the interior habitable. Tapestries were hung on the walls, and willing hands prepared the banquet. {15b} From its formal use in other places, this phrase, to take cup in hall, or "on the floor," would seem to mean that Beowulf stood up to receive his gifts, drink to the donor, and say thanks. {15c} Kenning for sword. {15d} Hrothgar. He is also the "refuge of the friends of Ing," below. Ing belongs to myth. {15e} Horses are frequently led or ridden into the hall where folk sit at banquet: so in Chaucer's Squire's tale, in the ballad of King Estmere, and in the romances. {16a} Man-price, wergild. {16b} Beowulf's. {16c} Hrothgar. {16d} There is no need to assume a gap in the Ms. As before about Sigemund and Heremod, so now, though at greater length, about Finn and his feud, a lay is chanted or recited; and the epic poet, counting on his readers' familiarity with the story, -- a fragment of it still exists, -- simply gives the headings.