Wið færstice
[1] Howell D. Chickering Junior expressed the view that there "probably is no epic or mythic narrative" behind this introductory section, instead arguing that it should be seen as "a dramatic verbal performance".
Hlūde wǣran hȳ lā hlūde ðā hȳ ofer þone hlǣw ridan wǣran ānmōde ðā hȳ ofer land ridan scyld ðū ðē nū þū ðysne nīð genesan mōte ūt lȳtel spere gif hēr inne sīe stōd under linde under lēohtum scylde þǣr ðā mihtigan wīf hyra mægen berǣddon ⁊ hȳ gyllende gāras sændan ic him ōðerne eft wille sændan flēogende flāne forane tōgēanes ūt lȳtel spere gif hit hēr inne sȳ · sæt smið slōh seax lȳtel īserna wund swīðe ūt lȳtel spere gif hēr inne sȳ syx smiðas sǣtan wælspera worhtan ūt spere næs in spere gif hēr inne sȳ īsenes dǣl hægtessan geweorc hit sceal gemyltan gif ðū wǣre on fell scoten oððe wǣre on flǣsc scoten oððe wǣre on blōd scoten oððe wǣre on lið scoten nǣfre ne sȳ ðīn līf ātǣsed gif hit wǣre ēsa gescot oððe hit wǣre ylfa gescot oððe hit wǣre hægtessan gescot nū ic wille ðīn helpan þis ðē tō bōte ēsa gescotes ðis ðē tō bōte ylfa gescotes ðis ðē tō bōte hægtessan gescotes ic ðīn wille helpan flēo [?MS fled] þǣr on fyrgenhǣfde hāl westū helpe ðīn drihten nim þonne þæt seax ādō on wǣtan · They were loud, yes, loud, when they rode over the (burial) mound; they were fierce when they rode across the land.
[4] Considering all of the available evidence, Medieval literature specialist Alaric Hall deemed it probable that the charm was a "cultural artefact" from the late tenth century.
[9] She highlighted that the presumed pagan elements within it all reflected "areligious folklore, transferable from one religious tradition to another", while it was produced by people living in Late Anglo-Saxon England who would have considered themselves to be Christian and who felt no need to highly Christianise it.
[6] Hall was of the view that "Wið færstice" "constructs a strong distinction between in-group (the patient and healer) and harmful out-group (the supernatural beings).
"[12] Hall expressed the view that the poem "provides a key to interpreting the cultural significance of ælfe in medieval texts".
[13] Given his argument that in "earlier Anglo-Saxon beliefs", ælfe were "probably primarily or only male", he considered it interesting that in this charm they are cited alongside the female hægtessan.
[13] Hall identified an earlier parallel in Aldhelm's poetic Carmen de virginitate, specifically the passage in lines 2635–42 in which he describes Allecto, one of the Furiae of Classical mythology.
[14] In this passage, Allecto is described as bringing "iron-tipped spears to battle, which would cause jagged wounds to holy souls".
[15] Hall also argued that there was a "remarkable parallel" between "Wið færstice" and the accounts of magical practices provided by Isobel Gowdie, a Scottish woman accused of witchcraft in 1662, during her confessions.
[16] Gowdie claimed that she rode through the air on straw with her fellow witches, firing "elf-arrows" at her victims; these had been acquired from the Devil, who had been aided in their creation by "Elf-boyes".
