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Then the heroes, lamenting, laid out in the middle
their great chief, their cherished lord.
On top of the mound the men then kindled
the biggest of funeral-fires. Black wood-smoke
arose from the blaze, and the roaring of flames
mingled with weeping. The winds lay still
as the heat at the fire's heart consumed
the house of bone. And in heavy mood
they uttered their sorrow at the slaughter of their lord.
Beowulf, trans. by M. Alexander, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1973, p.150.
PLACE: Sweden.
TIME: 5th - 6th century.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Beowulf's funeral pyre.
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