As a seven-year-old child he had been taken by Hrethel, then king of Geatland to this court, where he was as beloved as the king’s sons, Herebeald, Haethcyn and Hygelac.
Herebeald was accidentally killed by Haethcyn, and the king was greatly grieved, for even wergild could not be demanded as the death had been accidental.
The king died of sorrow and Haethcyn succeeded, till he was killed in a war with the Swedes, as the Swedish brothers, Onela and Ohthere, Ongtheow’s sons, were constantly plundering Geatland.
Beowulf recalls the kind generosity of the father and a tragic dilemma that is difficult for a modern audience to grasp.
When they were young men, Haethcyn killed his older brother, Herebeald, with an errant arrow in a shooting accident.
Although that incident is tragic in itself, the grief was exacerbated because the code required King Hrethel to seek vengeance, even against his own son and even though the death was accidental.
He was killed with an arrow by his brother Hæþcyn in a hunting accident which caused their father Hreðel to die from grief.
The story is probably related to the myth of Balder's death in norse mythology.
Herebeald would then be corresponding to Balder, Hæþcyn to Höðr and Hreðel to Odin.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Herebeald (107 words)
[No title](Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
I was seven years old when the sovran of rings, friend-of-his-folk, from my father took me, had me, and held me, Hrethel the king, with food and fee, faithful in kinship.
For the eldest of these, by unmeet chance, by kinsman's deed, was the death-bed strewn, when Haethcyn killed him with horny bow, his own dear liege laid low with an arrow, missed the mark and his mate shot down, one brother the other, with bloody shaft.
No way could he take to avenge on the slayer slaughter so foul; nor e'en could he harass that hero at all with loathing deed, though he loved him not.
After describing now Herebeald, son of Hreðel king of the Geatas, was accidentally killed by his brother Hæðcyn, the poem goes on to describe the grief of Hreðel, concluding as follows (1.
It is not quite clear how far the passage is intended as a simile.
As Beowulf is approaching the fire-dragon’s lair, he reflects on his family’s history, how he had grown up in King Hrethel’s household along with the king’s own sons: “In no way was I, a man of his stronghold, more hateful to him than his own sons, Herebeald, Haethcyn, or Hygelac my lord” (2432-34).
Haethcyn accidentally killed “his brother [Herebeald] with an arrow from his bow” (2437-38), causing the father’s death through grief.
Perhaps this essay will elucidate some vague familial and marital realtionships for the new student of Beowulf, who is grappling with somany trranslation problems from the Old English that he may find it difficult to discern all the intricate relationships.
www.123helpme.com /view.asp?id=5516 (1123 words)
Cain(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-27)
A person who commits fratricide cannot pay the wergild, or man-price, in repayment for his crimes because it is his own family he has shamed.
Take the character of King Hrethel who's son Haethcyn kills his brother Herebeald.
No one can pay the wergild for Herebeald's death, and consequently, King Hrethel dies from grief.
And Beowulf, with his eleven companions around him, sat down and talked, remembering old times.
And he remembered particularly the fate of Hygelac's brother, Herebeald, accidentally shot by his other brother, Haethcyn, and the grief of the father, Hrethel, who had thus lost one son and who might not avenge his death on the slayer or even take blood-money from the slayer because the slayer was his son too.
And as Beowulf thought of Hrethel's plight and grief, he imagined how sad it would be for an old king to see his son hanged for murder.
