ll. 1346-1377. "This is a fine piece of folk-lore in the oldest extant form.... The authorities for the story are the rustics (ll. 1346, 1356)." --E. l. 1347. Cf. sele-rǣdende at l. 51. l. 1351. "The ge [of gewitan] may be merely a scribal error,--a repetition (dittography) of the preceding ge of gewislīcost."--Sw. l. 1352. ides, like fīras, _men_, etc., is a poetic word supposed by Grimm to have been applied, like Gr. νύμφη, to superhuman or semi-divine women. ll. 1360-1495 _seq._ E. compares this Dantesque tarn and scenery with the poetical accounts of _AEneid_, vii. 563; _Lucretius_, vi. 739, etc. l. 1360. firgenstrēam occurs also in the _Phoenix_ (Bright, p. 168) l. 100; _Andreas_, ll. 779, 3144 (K.); _Gnomic Verses_, l. 47, etc. l. 1363. The genitive is often thus used to denote measure = by or in miles; cf. l. 3043; and contrast with partitive gen. at l. 207. l. 1364. The MS. reads hrinde = hrīnende (?), which Gr. adopts; K. and Th. read hrinde-bearwas; hringde, _encircling_ (Sarrazin, _Beit._ xi. 163); hrīmge = _frosty_ (Sw.); _with frost-whiting covered_ (Ha.). See Morris, _Blickling Hom._, Preface, vi., vii. l. 1364. Cf. Ruin, hrīmige edoras behrofene, _rimy, roofless halls_. l. 1366. nīðwundor may = nið- (as in nið-sele, _q. v._) wundor, _wonder of the deep_. l. 1368. The personal pronoun is sometimes omitted in subordinate and even independent clauses; cf. wite here; and Hunt's _Exod._, l. 319. l. 1370. hornum. Such "datives of manner or respect" are not infrequent with adj. l. 1371. "seleð is not dependent on ǣr, for in that case it would be in the subjunctive, but ǣr is simply an adverb, correlative with the conjunction ǣr in the next line: 'he will (sooner) give up his life, before he will,' etc."--Sw. l. 1372. Cf. ll. 318 and 543 for willan with similar omitted inf. l. 1373. heafola is found only in poetry.--Sw. It occurs thirteen or fourteen times in this poem. Cf. the poetic gamol, swāt (l. 2694), etc., for eald, blōd. l. 1391. uton: hortatory subj. of wītan, _go_, = _let us go;_ cf. French _allons_, Lat. _eamus_, Ital. _andiamo_, etc. + inf. Cf. ll. 2649, 3102. l. 1400. H. is dat. of person indirectly affected, = advantage. l. 1402. geatolīc probably = _in his equipments_, as B. suggests (_Beit._ xii. 83), comparing searolīc. ll. 1402, 1413 reproduce the wk. form of the pret. of gān (Goth, _gaggida_). Cf. _Andreas_, l. 1096, etc. l. 1405. S. (_Beit._ ix. 140) supplies [þǣr hēo] gegnum fōr; B. (_ibid._ xii. 14) suggests hwǣr hēo. l. 1411. B., Gr., and E. take ān-paðas = paths wide enough for only one, like Norwegian _einstig_; cf. stīge nearwe, just above. _Trail_ is the meaning. Cf. enge ānpaðas, uncūð gelād, _Exod._ (Hunt), l. 58. l. 1421. Cf. oncȳð, l. 831. The whole passage (ll. 1411-1442) is replete with suggestions of walrus-hunting, seal-fishing, harpooning of sea-animals (l. 1438), etc. l. 1425. E. quotes from the 8th cent. Corpus Gloss., "_Falanx_ foeða."