Anglo-Saxon Poems: Wulf and Eadwacer, Egyptian Days & More
Wulf and Eadwacer
It is as though my people had been given a present.
Will they wish to capture him if he comes threatening?
It is unlike us.
Wulf is on one island, I’m on another.
Firmly fixed is that island, placed on fenland.
Murderous are the people who occupy that island.
Will they wish to capture him if he comes threatening?
It is unlike us.
Grieved have I for my Wulf with distant longings,
then rainy was the weather and I was sad
when the brave hero surrounded me with his arms.
It was such a joy, and also pain.
Wulf, my Wulf, my desire for your coming
has made me sad, your rare visits,
my grieving spirit, not the lack of food.
Eadwacer, do you hear me? Our miserable baby
carried by wolf to the woods.
Men can very fiercely separate
that which was never joined.
Our song together.
The Egyptian Days
Three days are in a year that we call Egyptian.
That is, in our language, dangerous days
in which by no means, with no necessity,
let neither man’s nor beast’s blood diminish.
The first of these is the Monday
nearest to the end of the month of April.
The second is the first Monday after the beginning
of the month we call August.
Then the third is the first Monday
after the end of the month of December.
Whoever in these three days his blood diminishes,
be it man, be it beast, shall, as we have heard say,
that soon on the first day or the fourth his life end,
or if his life is longer he won’t reach the seventh day,
or if he drinks any draught on those three days,
his life will end in fifteen days.
If anyone is born on these days his life shall end by evil death,
and whoever in these same three days goose’s flesh eats,
within the first forty days his life will be ended.
Jesus and Zacchaeus
Then he went through Jericho.
There was a man there, known by the name of Zacchaeus, who was rich.
He wanted to see what Jesus was like;
but, being short, he was unable to because of the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed up into a mulberry tree to see him,
for he knew that he must pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him:
“Zacchaeus, be quick and go to your house, for I must stay at your house today.”
Then Zacchaeus hurried up, and joyfully welcomed him.
On seeing that, they all began to complain:
“He said that he had turned to sinful men.”
Zacchaeus stood forward and said to the Saviour:
“Now I will give half my property to the poor, and,
if I have defrauded any one of anything, I will give him back four times as much.”
“Salvation has come to this house today,” answered Jesus, “because he is a son of Abraham.
The Son of Man has come to search and save those who are lost.”
Charm for Remedy of Barren Land
Then take the seed, place it on the body of the plough, then say:
“Erce, Erce, Erce, mother of earth,
may grant the Lord, the everlasting Lord,
fields growing and flourishing,
fruitful and reviving,
of shafts of gleaming fruits
and broad barley-crops,
and white wheat-crops,
and all the crops of the earth.
May grant the eternal Lord
and his holy who are in heaven
that his land is kept safe from all foes
and may it be guarded against all wickedness
of the poisons sown throughout the land.
Now I pray the Lord who created the world
that no woman be eloquent enough, nor any man powerful enough
that might destroy thus the words spoken.