The fight lasts five days, but the fragment ends before we learn the outcome:  The same fight is celebrated by Hrothgar’s gleeman at the feast in Heorot, after the slaying of Grendel.

“Waldere” is a fragment of two leaves, from which we get only a glimpse of the story of Waldere (Walter of Aquitaine) and his betrothed bride Hildgund, who were hostages at the court of Attila.  They escaped with a great treasure, and in crossing the mountains were attacked by Gunther and his warriors, among whom was Walter’s former comrade, Hagen.  Walter fights them all and escapes.  The same story was written in Latin in the tenth century, and is also part of the old German Nibelungenlied.  Though the saga did not originate with the Anglo-Saxons, their version of it is the oldest that has come down to us.  The chief significance of these “Waldere” fragments lies in the evidence they afford that our ancestors were familiar with the legends and poetry of other Germanic peoples.

II.  ANGLO-SAXON LIFE

We have now read some of our earliest records, and have been surprised, perhaps, that men who are generally described in the histories as savage fighters and freebooters could produce such excellent poetry.  It is the object of the study of all literature to make us better acquainted with men,—­not simply with their deeds, which is the function of history, but with the dreams and ideals which underlie all their actions.  So a reading of this early Anglo-Saxon poetry not only makes us acquainted, but also leads to a profound respect for the men who were our ancestors.  Before we study more of their literature it is well to glance briefly at their life and language.

THE NAME Originally the name Anglo-Saxon denotes two of the three Germanic tribes,—­Jutes, Angles, and Saxons,—­who in the middle of the fifth century left their homes on the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic to conquer and colonize distant Britain.  Angeln was the home of one tribe, and the name still clings to the spot whence some of our forefathers sailed on their momentous voyage.  The old Saxon word angul or ongul means a hook, and the English verb angle is used invariably by Walton and older writers in the sense of fishing.  We may still think, therefore, of the first Angles as hook-men, possibly because of their fishing, more probably because the shore where they lived, at the foot of the peninsula of Jutland, was bent in the shape of a fishhook.  The name Saxon from seax, sax, a short sword, means the sword-man, and from the name we may judge something of the temper of the hardy fighters who preceded the Angles into Britain.  The Angles were the most numerous of the conquering tribes, and from them the new home was called Anglalond.  By gradual changes this became first Englelond and then England.