1. The opening of the second fragment finds the two champions ready for the final struggle. Guthhere is finishing his boast, in which he praises his equipment.
3. The meaning of this passage is obscure, but the translation here given seems to be the most reasonable conjecture. He probably refers to a sword that he has at hand in a jewelled case ready for use.
4. Stopping thus to give a history of the weapon calls to mind many similar passages in the Homeric poems. The particular story in mind here is the escape of Theodoric from the giants. He loses his way and falls into the hands of one of the twelve giants who guard Duke Nitger. He gains the favor of Nitger's sister, and through her lets his retainers, Hildebrand, Witige, and Heime know of his plight. They defeat the giants and release him. Witige and Heime are the Middle High German forms for the old English _Widia_ (see _Deor's Lament_, v. 8, note), or Wudga and Hama (see _Widsith_, vv. 124, 130, note).
14. _Friend of the Burgundians:_ a usual old English expression for "king." Guthhere was king of the Burgundians in the middle of the fifth century (see _Widsith_, vv. 19, 66, notes).
15. Hagena is now the only one of Guthhere's comrades that has not been killed by Waldhere. Cf. _Widsith_, v. 21.
[Edition used: Chambers, _Beowulf_, p. 158. See also Dickins, _Runic and Heroic Poems_, p. 64.
Alliterative translation, Gummere, _Oldest English Epic_, p. 160.
The manuscript is now lost. We have only an inaccurate version printed by Hickes at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Many difficulties are therefore found in the text. For a good discussion of the text, see an article by Mackie in _The Journal of English and Germanic Philology_, xvi, 250.
This fragment belongs to the epic story of Finn which is alluded to at some length in _Beowulf_ (vv. 1068-1159). The saga can be reconstructed in its broad outlines, though it is impossible to be sure of details. One of the most puzzling of these details is the position in which the "Fight" occurs. In the story are two fights, either one of which may be the one described in the fragment. The weight of opinion seems to favor the first conflict, that in which Hnæf is killed. As summarized by Möller, the Finn story is briefly as follows: