1 gǫngende tō nēata scipene, þāra heord him wæs þǣre 2 nihte beboden; þā hē ðā þǣr on gelimplīcre tīde his 3 leomu[5] on ręste gesętte ǫnd onslēpte, þa stōd him sum 4 mǫn æt þurh swefn, ǫnd hine hālette ǫnd grētte, ǫnd hine 5 be his nǫman nęmnde: “Cædmǫn, sing mē hwæthwugu.” 6 Þā ǫndswarede hē, ǫnd cwæð: “Ne cǫn ic nōht singan; 7 ǫnd ic for þon of þyssum gebēorscipe ūt ēode ǫnd hider 8 gewāt, for þon ic nāht singan ne cūðe.” Eft hē cwæð sē ðe 9 wið hine sprecende wæs: “Hwæðre þū meaht mē singan.” 10 Þā cwæð hē: “Hwæt sceal ic singan?” Cwæð hē: “Sing 11 mē frumsceaft.” Þā hē ðā þās andsware onfēng, þā 12 ongǫn hē sōna singan, in hęrenesse Godes Scyppendes, 13 þā fers ǫnd þā word þe hē nǣfre ne gehȳrde, þāra ęndebyrdnes 14 þis is:
112.14-15: #blisse intinga#, _for the sake of joy_; but the translator has confused _laetitiae causā_ (ablative) and _laetitiae causa_ (nominative). The proper form would be #for blisse# with omission of #intingan#, just as _for my sake_ is usually #for mē#; _for his_ (_or their_) _sake_, #for him#. _Cf. Mark_ vi, 26: “Yet _for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him_, he would not reject her,” #for ðǣm āðe, ǫnd for ðǣm þe him mid sǣton#. _For his sake_ is frequently #for his ðingon# (#ðingum#), rarely #for his intingan#. #Þingon# is regularly used when the preceding genitive is a noun denoting a person: _for my wife’s sake_, #for mīnes wīfes ðingon# (_Genesis_ xx, 11), etc.
112.18-19: #þæt ... þæt hē forlēt#. The substantival clause introduced by the second #þæt# amplifies by apposition the first #þæt#: _When he then, at a certain time_ (instrumental case, § 98, (2)), _did that, namely, when he left the house_. The better Mn.E. would be _this ... that_: “Added yet _this_ above all, _that_ he shut up John in prison” (_Luke_ iv, 20).
113.1-2: #þāra ... beboden#. This does not mean that Cædmon was a herdsman, but that he served in turn as did the other secular attendants at the monastery.
113.13-14: #þāra ęndebyrdnes þis is#. Bede writes _Hic est sensus, non autem ordo ipse verborum_, and gives in Latin prose a translation of the hymn from the Northumbrian dialect, in which Cædmon wrote. The O.E. version given above is, of course, not the Northumbrian original (which, however, with some variations is preserved in several of the Latin MSS. of Bede’s _History_), but a West Saxon version made also from the Northumbrian, not from the Latin.]