“Thereon hewed him The heathen soldiers; And both the warriors That near him by-stood, Ælfnoth and Wulfmær both, Lay there on the ground By their lord; Their lives they sold. There bowed they from the fight That there to be would not; There were Odda’s bairns Erst in flight; Godric from battle went, And the good man forsook That to him ofttimes Horses had given. He leapt on the horse That his lord had owned, On the housings That it not right was.” Presently we read of the deeds done by his Thegns over his body; “There was fallen The folk’s Elder, Æthelred’s Earl; All there saw Of his hearth’s comrades That their lord lay dead. Then there went forth The proud Thanes, The undaunted men Hastened gladly; They would there all One of two things, Either life forsake, Or the loved one wreak.” Then one of the Thegns speaks; “Neither on that folk Shall the Thanes twit me That I from this host Away would go To seek my home, Now mine Elder lieth Hewn down in battle; To me is that harm most; He was both my kinsman And my lord.” Then another speaks in answer; “How thou, Ælfwine, hast All our Thanes In need-time cheered. Now our lord lieth, The Earl on the earth, That of us each one Others should embolden, Warmen to the war, That while we weapons may Have and hold, The hard falchion, Spear and good sword.” Then another speaks; “I this promise That I hence nill Flee a footstep, But will further go, To wreak in the fight My lord and comrade. Nor by Stourmere Any steadfast hero With words need twit me That I lordless Homeward should go, And wend from the fight.” The story goes on a little later; “Rath was in battle Offa hewn down, Yet had he furthered That his lord had pledged, As he ere agreed With his ring-giver That they should both To the borough ride Hale to home, Or in the host cringe On the slaughter place, Of their wounds die. He lay thane-like His lord hard by.” Lastly another Thegn speaks; “Mind shall the harder be, Heart shall the keener be, Mood shall the more be, As our main lessens. Here lies our Elder, All down hewn, A good man in the dust; Ever may he groan Who now from this war-play Of wending thinketh. I am old of life; Hence stir will I not, And I by the half Of my lord, By such a loved man To lie am thinking.”