The Heliand

Front matter

UNC STUDIES IN THE GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

The Heliand

Translated from the Old Saxon

Foreword

Every translation is perforce an interpretation, influenced not only by the personality as well as the training of the translator, but by the age of which he is a product. The best a conscientious translator can do, unless his translation is to become a mere soulless, colorless prose retelling of the original, is to try to become attuned to the mind and the times of the author with whom he is working and then to attempt to reproduce a semblance at least of the melody he hears. He is awate that he must make certain compromises: neither a literal translation nor one which concentrates on the externals of the metrics will reproduce the ideas and emotions which he knows are present. He is constantly forced to adapt and to shape. Yet with the adapting and shaping, too, there is inevitably a loss.

It is with these things in mind that I began my work on that anonymous 9th century Old Saxon masterpiece, the Heliand. After discarding an attempt to confine my vocabulary as much as possible to Anglo-Saxon roots, I settled on a somewhat archaic style as most appropriate for reproducing not only the biblical but somewhat primitive, naive atmosphere of the original. Christ, for example, is frequently called the “Bairn of God.” Words like “weeds” for “clothing,” “quick” for “alive” have been used — often, however, with the more usual word in the repetition. The various pronominal forms of “thee,” “thou,” and “ye” have been regularly employed. Since they are so essential to the Old Saxon style, the kennings have been retained wherever possible. So have the repetitions. The name, “Heliand,” one of the kennings for Christ and therefore source of the title, has caused some difficulty. “Savior” has become for us a rather colorless word, having few of the connotations of the Old Saxon “Heliand.” I have therefore used the translation, “Healer,” since so often the emphasis is on His healing both of men’s bodies and also their souls.

Vil

It was important for me to remember that the Heliand was originally intended for recitation. This accounts for the very great emphasis on thythm. While the exact form of the old alliterative verse, though common to both early English and German poetry, proved too confining, a freer adaptation was possible. Let us remember that much of the effect of modern free verse depends on the interplay of sounds: assonance and alliteration. Keeping in mind the purpose of the original, I read my translation aloud as I worked, repeating lines several times, varying and checking rhythms, trying to imitate the surge of the meter and yet avoid monotony. The end result was a line of variable feet, usually a rather free alternation of anapests and iambics with a few scattered tribrachs and spondees, divided by the traditional caesura. I aimed for an alliteration of at least one accented syllable in the first half line with one accented syllable in the second half. If more sounded right, I was delighted. If none worked, I tried to make the rhythm carry the line along to the next cadence. Not all of it, I painedly admit, turned out to be poetry — but then not all of the Old Saxon is!

In the course of my work, I also tried to make a study of the sounds which were dominant in the Old Saxon. By far the most common was the alliteration of “w,” followed by “1,” “m” and, for certain effects, “‘s,” “b” and the plosives. Since the heavy “w” sound carried the weight of the meter, it was important for me to reproduce it as often as possible. I had good precedent: the Old Saxon author often padded his lines for the same reason with some form of willeon or with such formulas as mit wordun, or wordo eftha werco. Using my precedent, I therefore translated such words as werod or wer as “world folk” and world man, sometimes even — if sense permitted — as “war-folk” or “warrior,” etc. Waldand, as an epithet of God or Christ, became “the Wielder.” Search for alliteration sometimes even led the Old Saxon poet astray. A very good example of that would be that graf an theson griote — “grave on the sand,” after the grave had been described as hewn in the rock. In sucha case I considered a translation, “grave in the grotto,” not too far fromthe point. Thereate many other such cases, though in general I tried to keep as close to the original as possible, both in meaning and in style.

Lastly, I wish to thank all those who have read, criticized, and

Vill corrected my translation in the six years of my labor. Most especially however, my gratitude is directed to Dr. Philip M. Palmer, now of the University of California at Berkeley, who not only introduced me to the fascination of the Heliand many, many years ago, but undertook the onerous task of checking the many passages about which I still had some doubt.

MARIANA SCOTT ix

HELIAND

I

Many there were tensing their minds

To say what was whispered: that Might-Wielding Christ

Had here among men done miracles many

With His words and His works. Wise men aplenty,

People of earth — all would praise the preachings of Christ,

God’s holy Word, and write with their hands

Bright ina book how best God’s bidding

They might carry out, the kith of mankind.

There were four from the many: they had might from the Maker,

Help, too, from Heaven and from the Holy Ghost,

Strength from the Savior: so were they chosen for this.

Singly they were to inscribe the Gospel there in a book,

Committing to writing so many commandments of God,

Holy, heavenly Word: nor dared any here,

Any child of man, emulate them, these four,

Picked for the task by the power of God:

Matthew and Mark, as these men were called,

Luke, also John — they were beloved of God.

Worthy were they for the work. The Wide-Wielder

Had filled the hearts of the heroes with the Holy Ghost,

Perfectly all with pious opinion,

And wise words many and still more of wit,

That they should begin the goodly Gospel

With their holy voices, raise it on high —

The Word in this world which has nowhere a like:

That it praise Him ever, the Prince All-powerful,

The Lord who layeth low the loathsome thing,

Who doth stamp out all sin and the hate of Satan,

Withstandeth the strife. For He is strong of mind,

Mild, too, and good — He who is Master of these,

Aethling and Maker, Almighty Lord.

So were those four to inscribe with their fingers,

Set down and sing and say forth boldly

That of Christ’s might and His strength much had they heard

And had seen indeed, which He Himself had here spoken;

Proclaimed and accomplished miracles countless,

As He Himself had promised — He, Wielder of Power,

Wide Ruling Lord — when He first shaped world,

Surrounding it all witha single Word,

Heaven and earth and all that they held,

Pull-worked or still waxing: with God’s Word

All was encompassed and set forth accordingly

Which world-men should rule over widest lands

And when each age of this earth should come to its end.

There was still one before them — for five had slipped

by

For the kinsmen of earth — and now the sixth was to come,

Blessed by God’s strength and the birth of Christ,

Best of All Healers, and the Holy Ghost,

Come to this mid-world to help the many,

The world-children all ’gainst the wiles of the Fiend

And his secret snares. So to the Roman folk

Had Lord God granted the greatest of realms,

Had strengthened the heart of the crowds of the host,

So that they laid low much land-folk all over.

Their helm-wearers had rule from the city of Rome,

Their leaders had power in every land o’er the people there,

Over the heathens all. Herod was chosen

King of Jerusalem over the Jew-folk.

Caesar in Rome’s city, the mighty ruler,

Had set him there ‘mid his thanes. Verily, though,

He was not kin to the clanships of Israel, not come

From their best-born; but his bounty he had

Through the grace of Caesar straight from the Rome-burg,

So that then the fighting men, famed for their fierceness,

The children of Israel, friends changeless in strength,

Were subject to him, since he held sway — |

Herod — over kinships and councillors

Of Israel’s landsmen. There lived there then

An aged man, a wise man of reasonable mind:

He was come from the people of the clan of Levi,

The famed son of Jacob of a very fair family:

Zachery he was hight, was so holy a man,

For he gladly did give service unto God,

Worked to His will. So did his wife —

She was already a very old crone, and no offspring

Had been granted to them in their youth.

They lived without fault, warding God’s love,

Were humbly submissive to the King of Heaven,

Praising our Prince; nor practiced they evil

Among mankind; nor did any meanness,

Neither fault nor sin. Still were they sorrowed of soul,

Since not ever could they be granted an heir:

Bereft they of bairns. The bidding of God

He did in Jerusalem. As oft as his duty

And the rightness of time did remind him thereof,

So oft did he hie himself hence to the holy place,

To the High One’s temple, to the Heaven-King’s house,

To serve Him all selfless and make sacrifice,

Yearning to work with a God-wise mind.

II

The time was then come — as they did tell it, Wise men with words — that Zachery should stand watch

There in God’s temple. Many were gathered

In Jerusalem there of the folk of the Jews,

Hordes in the holy place. Most humbly they begged

Might-Wielding God for His grace,

The Lord of All Heaven to release them from evil.

The folk stood around by the holy house, and the high-born man

Entered the temple. The others all,

The folk stayed outside of the sanctuary,

The host of the Hebrew, till the holy man

Had worked and had done the All-Wielder’s will.

As he took the incense, the sage in the temple,

Round the altar the censer, to serve his Liege —

Piously labored for his own dear Lord;

And gladly he served in God’s thralldom

With a generous heart, as one should joyously

Follow one’s master. There a fright befell him,

Terror there in the temple. Trembling he espied

God’s angel inside there in the sanctuary.

And he spoke to the sage, said with words not to fear

Nor to have any dread. “For thy deeds,” quoth he,

“Are of worth to the Wielder and thy words as well.

Thy thralldom has earned thee His thanks, since thou hast believed in Him

And in His strength alone. Iam His angel,

And Gabriel Iam hight. Ever I stand before God,

Stand in the Almighty’s sight, except that He send

me forth

On some errand for Him. And now He hight me fare forth,

Bade me to tell thee, that to thee a babe will be born

From thy aged wife. In this world shall be given unto

thee:

Wise he of word. Of wine he shall never partake,

In life neither of wine nor of cider. So have the Weird Ones set down:

The Measurers have marked it and the might of God.

He bade that I tell thee: he shall be thane

To the Heaven-King’s Self; bade that ye hold him

And faithfully foster him. Quoth that he would find

Honors so many up in God’s kingdom.

Quoth that the good man should be called John.

Commanded that ye so call it, that child,

When it doth come. Quoth that Christ’s thane

It was to become in this wide, wide world,

Thane of His Own Son. And quoth that they both

Betake themselves here swiftly for tidings.”

Zachery then spoke and said to God’s angel,

Beginning to wonder about his deeds and his words:

“How can that so come to pass?” quoth he,

“So late in our lives? For us ’tis too late

To win such rewards as thy words have spoken.

For we two were equal of age: twenty winters

Here in this world, when this woman did come unto me;

And together we have shared for seventy winters

Both board and bed, since I chose her my bride.

In our youth we acquired no offspring, no heir,

Could beget no babe in our bedchamber —

Now that we are old, and age has robbed us of deed-

strength —

Dulled is our sight and slow are our loins,

Our flesh falleth away, our skin is unfair,

Our limbs unlithe, withered our once-live bodies,

And our appearance: alas, ’tis altered —

Mind both and might: so many a day

We have wandered this world. Methinks ’twere a wonder

If it ever so happed, as thou hast said with thy words.”

III

Then the Heaven-King’s herald was hurt in his mind That Zachery should wonder so at His works And would not believe that Holy Lord God, If He so willed it, could well make him young, As once he had been. So the angel chastised him, The sage, so that he could not say œen a single word, Nor speak with his mouth “until thy son is come, Sprung from thy old wife, an earl and shining, Until a young bairn is born to the best of clans Here in this world. Then shalt thou again speak words. Thy voice shall have strength. Nor shalt thou be silent For any time longer.” And straightway it was What the Almighty’s angel had there uttered, Had told in the temple: that became true. Bereft of speech was the sage, Though a clear mind he bore in his breast. All day they bided before the God-house, the folk — And they wondered all, why this praiseworthy man, This sage should need so long to serve his Master, As never did other thanes in the Lord’s thralldom Make such sacrifice with their hands there in the sanctuary.

Lo: the ancient sage did leave the temple. The earls thronged nearer. There was longing in them, To hear what he would say most soothly to them, How wise he would guide them. But no word could he speak Nor say to his retainers; but with his right hand He instructed the folk to follow God’s teachings. The folk understood that verily he had seen Some token from God, though he could not tell them Nor show them the truth. There in his turn He had worked full well our Wide-Wielder’s service, As ’twas marked among men. Soon God’s might was made known,

God’s strength and His skill: for the crone so aged,

The wife was with child. Offspring was granted unto them,

Bairn in the bastion — aso God-like babe.

And the woman awaited the workings of Weird.

The winter wore on, the year fell away. John came,

A light to the earth-folk: fair was his flesh,

Seemly his skin, and shimmering was he of cheek,

And the hair of his head and his nails. Now the hoary,

The wise gathered quickly, the closest of kinsmen,

Wondering much at the work, how well it could happen

That a couple so aged could still bear a child,

A babe in the bastion, unless at God’s bidding.

They well understood that unless this was so,

It could never have been — this babe — quite so fair. Then an old man spoke, one of learned and reasonable mind,

Who knew wise words. With zeal he did ask What the babe’s name should be here below in this world: “Methinks in his way and his bearing he is greater than we.

So I wean that verily God from Heaven hath sent him Himself.”

Then the child’s mother did straightway speak. She who had borne him did say

With the babe on her lap: “Last year God’s bidding

Did come unto us, commanded with words of great weight

That he be called John, according to the teaching of God.

Even, indeed, if I might, in my mind I cannot,

I dare not so change it.” Then spoke thereupon

A most haughty man: from her homeland he was,

“No aethling is named so,” quoth he, “no kith of our clan.

Now then! Let us choose us another, a nicer name. Later indeed he will like it, if he is so able.”

Again spoke the elder, | who there could say much:

“I can never counsel any knight whatever

To alter God’s word. Let us ask the old man,

The father, who sitteth wisely in his wine-hall there. Though he cannot speak, say a single word,

He may with his book-letters make us some writing, May spell us a name.” Now he came nearer,

Laid a book on his lap and bade him to write,

To set down wisely with word-mark and sign

What they were to name him, that holy babe.

He took the book in his hand, thought in his heart Right gladly of God and writ the name John —

Wisely he worked it: and with words thereupon

He did speak unto them, and shrewdly indeed.

Once more he had power to speak, had wisdom and way. His pain was now past, his punishment dire.

God the Mighty had so made it that in his mind

He could not so soon forget Him, should He again send

His herald.

IV

Twas not long thereafter that all came to pass,

As Almighty God had promised mankind:

That He would send the Son of Himself,

The Heavenly Bairn, here to this world,

So that He might save the folk all from sin,

The clansmen from hell-pangs. There came His herald,

Gabriel, down to Galilee-land,

The All-Wielder’s angel, where he knew a woman of worth,

A maiden right mild. She was called Mary.

The girl was grown. Toa man of good clan,

To a thane hight Joseph her troth she had given,

The daughter of David. A dear wife was she,

A graceful woman and good. There the angel of God

In Nazareth-burg did greet her by name;

Stood there before her and spoke to her for Lord God:

“Hail to thee, Mary!” quoth he, “Loved by the Maker

art thou!

Aye, worthy art thou of the Wielder, for thou hast wisdom,

Lady, gifted with grace. Glorified art thou ever

Above all women. Be thou not weakly of mind,

Nor fearful of heart. I come not to hurt

Nor to bring thee a gull-thing. Thou shalt be our God’s,

Be our Master’s mother here among men, bearing a man-child,

Son of the Heaven-King. His name shall be Healer

Here mid the earth-folk. | His end cometh not,

Nor hath whereover He ruleth ever an end — His realm —

He, Finest of Folk-Leaders.” The fairest of women,

The maiden then answered unto God’s angel,

The loveliest among ladies. “Lo, how may that be?”

quoth she, “That I shall bring forth a son? Never knew I man in | my life.”

The All-Wielder’s angel had ready his word

To answer the maid. “From the meadows of sky

The Holy Ghost shall descend through the strength of God.

From Him will a Wee One be granted thee here in this world.

The Wielder’s strength will o’ershadow thee,

The Heaven-King All High with His shade.

Below was never a birth so fair,

Never so wonderous down among men. Fot from God’s might

It cometh here to this world.” The heart of the woman

was again Utterly turned to God’s will at these tidings.

“All ready stand I,” quoth she, “for such service, If He will so have me. His handmaid am I. I trust in these things. Therefore let it then hap, As thou sayest with thy word, as is His will, My Lord’s, my God’s. | My mind doubteth not, Nor my word nor my way.” So I heard that the woman Received God’s tidings all gladly indeed With a shimmering soul, with bright shining truth And faith clear and fair. The Holy Ghost became The Babe in her womb; and in her breast, In her heart itself she understood. She said to all whom she wished, That she had conceived through the All-Wielder’s strength, Holy from Heaven. Then was Joseph’s heart, His mind right worried. For this maiden, This pious woman, this high-born wife He had bought as his bride. He knew she had bairn within her, Yet he thought not a whit but that his wife Had kept herself carefully. He could not yet know The Wielder’s blithe tidings. But to make her his bride He no longer wished, his wife in his halls. And thus he began to think in his mind How he might forsake her, yet cause her no hardship nor sorrow.

He wanted it not noised nor known about Among the many. He feared that the children of men Would bereave her of life. For this was the land-way, The hallowed, old law of the Hebrew folk: Whensoevet a woman was unrightly wed, She must pay with her life for this bedship. Never was lady so good that she could long live Mid the land-folk, could live ’mid the world-lords. Then in his mind the wise man, the good man, Joseph, Began to bethink himself of these things,

IO

How he might slyly forsake the girl. "Twas not long thereafter that the Almighty’s angel Hurried to him in a dream, the Heaven-King’s herald, And bade him keep her and care for her well And love her, too, in his mind. “At Mary,” quoth he, “thy maid, Be not thou wrathful; she is a right good wife. Scorn her not sternly. Thou shalt hold her And ward her well in the world, as before, Fostering thy love-pledge and thy friendship as well. Nor let her be loathsome to thee, though she hath Bairn *neath her limbs, A babe in her womb. Through God’s bidding It cometh, Through the Holy Ghost from the Heaven-heath here. Jesus Christ is that Babe! God’s own Bairn shall He be, The All-Wielder’s Son. Thou shalt hold Him well With holiness, too. Nor let thy heart doubt, Nor thy mind be disturbed.” Then the man’s heart Was turned by these words, so that he again won love for this woman, For the maid, Marie. God’s might he now understood, The Wielder’s bidding. Great was his will, That he should hold her, in holiness keep her. He cared for her in his home. And she carried all cleanly The Holy Ghost — all for God’s glory, The Man of Goodness, until God’s fate-word Reminded her mightily that unto the light of mankind She should bring Him, the Best of all Bairns.

y

There came from Rome-burg from the mighty man Over the earth-folk, from Octavian himself,

Ban and bidding over his broad fealty;

This was come from Caesar unto every king:

To the home-sitting ones as far as the war-lords

II

Wielded their power _o’er the people and land. T'was hight that all men habited outside their own boroughs

Should seek now their homeland, all heroes their heritage,

To bide their lord’s heralds; each landsman should go

Quickly to the clan of his kinsmen,

To the burg of his birth. The ban was proclaimed

Over this wide, wide world. And the world-folk did gather,

In every bastion the men all. The messengers fared forth,

Those come from Caesar, book-learned thanes.

And neatly they wrote each name on a scroll,

Both land and the man, so that no lord could avoid it,

No man his tax; but all must pay tribute,

The heroes each for his head. So to his homeland

Came Joseph, the good man, as God the Almighty,

The Wielder had willed it; with his family he came,

Sought his shining castle, his lordly seat,

The bastion at Bethlehem, where they both did dwell,

Hero and holy maid, Mary the good.

There stood in earlier days the shining throne

Of the high-born king, of the earl of the Hebrews,

Of David the good, as long as he governed

And kept lofty seat. They were his kith,

Were come from his clan, were of good kin all,

Both through their birth. Then I heard that the bright tidings

Admonished Mary, and the might of God:

That on this site a Son should be hers,

- Born here in Bethlehem, the Mightiest of Bairns,

The Strongest of Kings. | Come was the Shining One,

Mighty here to man’s light, as for many a day

Pictures of Him and tokens aplenty

Had foretold in this world. So all had turned true,

As the sages had spoken it in the long, long ago.

Through His Own Self’s strength, how most surely He would come

To this earth-realm here — with humility — He, Protector to many. Then His mother did take Him, And she swaddled Him well, the fairest of women, With garments and goodly gems. With her two gracious hands She lovingly laid Him, the Little Man, The Child in the crib, though He had God’s strength, The Master of Men. There His mother sat by Him, The woman there waking; she herself warded Him, Held there the Holy Bairn; and her heart doubted not — The mind of the maid. It became known to the many Over this wide, wide world. The warders did hear it: Grooms were they there, keeping guard outside, Were wat-men on watch; with the horses they were, With the beasts in the field. And lo: before them they saw The darkness divide in the air. Down came God’s light — Through the clouds came shining, surrounding the grooms Afar in the fields. And sorely they feared, These men, in their minds. Then God’s mighty angel They saw coming afar. To them together he spoke, Hight that the grooms not dread any grief From the light. “For lo!” quoth he, “A glad thing I tell you and truly, long longed-for tidings Bespeaking great power: for in this selfsame night Christ, Blessed Bairn of our own God, is born in the bastion of David, He — our Master All Good. That is joy to mankind, The weal of all folk. So that ye may find The Mightiest of Babes in Bethlehem-burg, Take this asa token that I now tell unto you With soothy words: that He lieth swaddled, A Child ina crib, though He be King Over earth and heaven and the children of men, All-Wielder o’er World.” Verily as he spoke this word, There was come with this single one of the angels A multitude down from the meadows of Heaven —

A holy host, the fair folk of God.

They spoke, lauded greatly the Lord of Mankind.

They raised holy song, as they returned through the clouds

To the meadows of Heaven. And the warders did hear

How the great host of angels gave praise unto Almighty

God With these words most reverently: “Honor be” quoth they, “To our Lord Himself in the highest, to the King of Heaven —

And on earth be peace to all children of men,

To folk of good will who accept their God

With hearts ever pure.” The herdsmen understood That a mighty thing had admonished them:

Blithe tidings there. They turned back to Bethlehem That selfsame night, for their spirits longed

Most greatly to see Christ Himself.

VI

The angel of God had shown unto them the shining token,

So that they themselves — they could wander forth To the Bairn of God. Straightway they found Him, the Babe,

The Lord of Mankind, the Master of Peoples.

They praised God the Wielder, and with their words

They made known far and wide in the shining castle

What tokens holy they had seen indeed from the meadows of Heaven,

What signs there, fair in the field. The woman full well

Kept these things in her heart, the holy virgin,

The maid in her mind: whatever she heard the men there

saying.

Fittingly she reared Him, the fairest of women;

With her love the mother did raise the Master of Men,

The Holy Heavenly Bairn. The heroes did speak

On the eighth day, the earls of the kingdom,

Very wise men all, with the handmaid of God:

That His name should be “Healer,” as the Heaven King’s herald,

As God’s holy angel, Gabriel had spoken,

Had bade the woman with words of truth,

When she first conceived Him, so fair in this world.

God’s angel she followed, and right gladly, too.

For great was her will to hold Him in holiness.

The year strode on, till the Peace-Child of God

Had forty days and as many nights, too. There a deed

needed doing;

To Jerusalem they must take Him, to the Wielder’s temple.

That was the way then, the world-folk’s custom,

Which no Hebrew woman would dare to neglect,

But that when she had brought forth her first-born son

She needs must take him to the Lord God’s temple.

So they did travel, Mary and Joseph, the good folk twain,

Both from Bethlehem. The Babe they had with them,

The Holy Christ. They sought then God’s house

In Jerusalem; they accomplished the custom of Jew-folk,

Made sacrifice unto the Wielder there in His sanctuary,

To God in His temple. There they found them a good man,

An old one, hard by the altar — _aethling-born he —

So many summers and winters had he spent in the temple,

Lived in the light, working God’s love

With a clean soul. Holy spirit he had

Anda joyous heart. Simon was he hight;

Long had the Lord’s power pointed out to him

That he would not leave the light of this world,