Then Woden beguiled him, as Well he knew how;
Wrench of blood, Wrench of bone, and eke Wrench of limb:
Bone unto Bone, Blood unto Blood,
Limb unto Limb as though Limèd it were.

[1] The original of this heathen charm is in the Old High
German dialect; but it is quoted here as a good specimen of
the early form of alliterative verse. A similar charm
undoubtedly existed in Anglo-Saxon, though no copy of it has
come down to our days, as we possess a modernised and
Christianised English version, in which the name of our Lord
is substituted for that of Balder.

In this simple spell the alliteration serves rather as an aid to memory
than as an ornamental device. The following lines, translated from the
ballad on Æthelstan's victory at Brunanburh, in 937, will show the
developed form of the same versificatory system. The parallelism and
alliteration are here well marked:–

Æthelstan king, lord of Earls,
Bestower of Bracelets, and his Brother eke,
Eadmund the Ætheling, honour Eternal
Won in the Slaughter, with edge of the Sword
By Brunnanbury. The Bucklers they clave,
Hewed the Helmets, with Hammered steel,
Heirs of Edward, as was their Heritage,
From their Fore-Fathers, that oft the Field
They should Guard their Good folk Gainst every comer,
Their Home and their Hoard. The Hated foe cringed to them,
The Scottish Sailors, and the Northern Shipmen;