Cwenðryth

Lefað mē wefe ða spellla, spella ða geaton stregnðu god

Let me weave the story, a story that gives good strength

Cwen boren in whales, wyrcen carier fyr alse cilde

A women born in whales, worked carrying fire as a child

ða stregnðues tu hefigas weras adult-es hēo heold on hire héafod

The strength’s of two heavy men she held on her head

Triewð heo fand ond folian hit. Hēo gegán bi fóte ond báte.

Truth she found and followed it. She went by boat and foot

ða nouvus land, ðar aldne wer mete cwenðryth, hēo waes beorht wið wene

The new land there old man woman met she was bright with joy

Hēo sægde oft “betera wesan ða weres aldne lufen cwene panne weras geong weres wealh

She said often better to be the old man’s love woman than be a young man’s slave

Hēo waes cwene smearte efen ðeah heo neafre raedar ond neafre wrítan,

She was a women smart even though she never read and never wrote,

Hēo waes giefan ond gecynd, heo gegán saga ond cavian for ða illr

She was giving, she went, saw, and cared for the ill,

Tríewð hēo lufen ond tolgian hit, hēo lifian hlóg ond waes léoht to hier cildru

Truth she loved and followed it, she lived, laughed, and was a light to her children