Monday, September 1, 2008

brave Beocat, brood-kit of Ecgthmeow

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In honour of it being a holiday, I thought I'd post this poem by the Beowulf scop's cat, that is, Henry Beard. Illustration by, well, me. (It's an old pic; if I were doing it now I'd add a little boar, with bristles along its back, on top. Possibly some engraving on the sides.) Anyway, enjoy the poem--I'm particularly fond of "Hrodent slayer."



Grendel's Dog, from Beocat

Brave Beocat, brood-kit of Ecgthmeow,
Hearth-pet of Hrothgar in whose high halls
He mauled without mercy many fat mice,
Night did not find napping nor snack-feasting.
The wary war-cat, whiskered paw-wielder,
Bearer of the burnished neck-belt gold-braided collar band,
Feller of fleas fatal, too to ticks,
The work of wonder-smiths, woven with witches' charms,
Sat upon the throne-seat his ears like sword-points
Upraised, sharp-tipped, listening for peril-sounds,
When he heard from the moor-hill howls of the hell-hound,
Gruesome hunger-grunts of Grendel's Great Dane,
Deadly doom-mutt, dread demon-dog.
Then boasted Beocat, noble battle-kitten,
Bane of barrow-bunnies, bold seeker of nest-booty:
"If hand of man unhasped the heavy hall-door
And freed me to frolic forth to fight the fang-bearing fiend,
I would lay the whelpling low with lethal claw-blows;
Fur would fly and the foe would taste death-food.
But resounding snooze-noise, stern slumber-thunder,
Nose-music of men snoring mead-hammered in the wine-hall,
Fills me with sorrow-feeling for Fate does not see fit
To send some fingered folk to lift the firm-fastened latch
That I might go grapple with the grim ghoul-pooch."
Thus spoke the mouse-shredder, hunter of hall-pests,
Short-haired Hrodent-slayer, greatest of the pussy-Geats.

From Poetry for Cats, by Henry Beard (Villard, 1994)

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2 comments:

  1. I did enjoy this poem and the illustration - very much. In fact, I've been enjoying all of the posts and comments here. Very cool to hear all of this stuff.

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  2. Thank you. What I'd really like is for someone, as a fun project--maybe something for a class they take or teach--to translate this into Old English. That would be utterly cool. But I'm beginning to have notions of using chunks of this poem, as is (if I can get Beard's permission--if not I can write my own pastiche easily enough), as something a parent amuses a child with in my story...

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