Runes
The runes on this site are Anglo-Saxon runes. They are reasonably accurate, but there are different forms of runes, and I have taken the forms from different places to produce a simple set which corresponds with the modern alphabet. This is intended to be a site for children rather than academically rigorous! I have left out the composite vowel runes, but left the runes for 'ng', 'th' and 'st', as these are sounds still in modern English, and children might be interested where they came from.
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If you want to translate modern letters into runes, then click here. You can enter a line of text and the runes will appear.
Beowulf is an Anglo Saxon poem. Parts are exciting but some is rather tedious. So I've extractexd a few lines to use as exercises for runes. The 'magic' website will make the English letters appear if you move the mouse over the runes. It is not necessary to click on the runes. However, if you move too quick, you may miss letters out, so you have to go back and try again. I hope this will make the children read each line as it appears. The lines are as follows:
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Beowulf and followers set off for Denmark:
on board they climbed warriors ready waves were churning sea with sand They arrive: sea cliffs shining steep high hills headlands broad their haven was found their journey ended Coming of Grendel: then from the moorland by misty crags grendel came Description of Grendel: a scathing monster dark ill doer his rage unmatched hatred and murder His first victim: he seized a sleeping warrior and tore him fiercely asunder drank blood in streams Grendel grabs Beowulf: for the hardy hero with hand he grasped felt for the foe with fiendish claw Beowulf tears Grendel's arm off: the outlaw dire took mortal hurt a mighty wound showed on his shoulder and sinews cracked Grendel runs away to die: grendel thence death sick his den in the dark moor sought noisome abode Rejoicing afterwards: then song and music mingled sounds and harping was heard with the hero lay Grendel's mother: grendels mother monster of women mourned her woe doomed to dwell in the dreary waters She kills a warrior: she killed on his couch a clansman famous in battle brave She takes Grendel's arm: the hand all had viewed blood flecked she bore with her bale was returned dole in the dwellings Beowulf finds the water: he found in a flash the forested hill a woful wood the waves below were dyed in blood Beowulf jumps into the water: the ocean floods closed over the hero long while of the day fled ere he felt the floor of the sea Beowulf and Grendel's mother fight: she grasped out for him with grisly claws and the warrior seized Beowulf kills her: to floor she sank bloody the blade he was blithe of his deed Beowulf returns to land: soon he was swimming who safe saw in combat downfall of demons up dived through the flood Beowulf takes Grendel's head back to the hall: and next by the hair into hall was borne grendels head where the henchmen were drinking The king of Denmark rewards Beowulf: be glad at banquet warrior worthy a wealth of treasure at dawn of day be dealt between us Beowulf and followers return home: their ocean keel boarding they drove through the deep and daneland left |
I left left out all punctuation and capitals letters since they don't appear in runes. I have used extra spaces to show full stops, etc.
When making the exercise above, I realised that I didn't really look at the runes while getting the English, particularly when the appearing sentence was exciting! So the second exercise demands that the children do all the work. They are given the key to the runes, plus some short passages from Beowulf. They should write out their 'translation' on a separate piece of paper. This will force them to look at the runes, and they may end up almost 'reading' the runes. For teachers' use only, here are the passages:
| Where Grendel lives: |
untrod is their home they haunt by wolf cliffs and windy headlands fenways fearful where flows the stream from mountains gliding to gloom of the rocks underground flood |
|---|---|
| Grendel's lake: |
the band sat down and watched on the water wormlike things sea dragons strange that sounded the deep and sea snakes and monsters |
| Grendel's home under the lake: |
he was now in some hall he knew not which where water never could work him harm nor through the roof could reach him ever fangs of the flood firelight he saw beams of a blaze that brightly shone |
| A dragon: |
then the baleful fiend its fire belched out and bright homes burned the blaze stood high all landsfolk frighting no living thing would that loathly one leave as aloft it flew |
All the passages from Beowulf are taken from a translation by Francis Barton Gummere (1855-1919).
Beowulf in the original Anglo Saxon
The Hobbit, by Tolkein, has runes in it. One story in the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling ends with some runes, and the next story fancifully describes how letters might have been invented.
© Jo Edkins 2009 - Return to Nordic gods index - Return to Runes index