Modern English prose translation. While this fragments each version, it
facilitates comparison in parallel.]


I

THE PANTHER


Monge sindon geond middangeard
unrīmu cynn, [_þāra_] þe wē æþelu ne magon
ryhte āreccan nē rīm witan;
þæs wīde sind geond wor[_u_]l[d] innan
5 fugla and dēora foldhrērendra
wornas widsceope, swā wæter bibūgeð
þisne beorhtan bōsm, brim grymetende,
sealtȳpa geswing.
Wē bi sumum hȳrdon
wrǣtlīc[_um_] gecynd[_e_] wildra secgan,
10 fīrum frēamǣrne, feorlondum on,
eard weardian, ēðles nēotan,
æfter dūnscrafum. Is þæt dēor Pandher
bi noman hāten, þæs þe niþþa bear[n],

* * * * *

Of living creatures many are the kinds
Throughout the world--unnumbered, since no man
Can count their multitudes, nor rightly learn
The ways of their wild nature; wide they roam,