Time before Time: Tale of the Toa & "þeodcyninga"
A translation of lines 1-11 plus deep analysis of a Scholastic Kids book from like two decades ago...
Lines 1-11 Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum, monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan. þæt wæs god cyning. So, We Danes in the good old days of great kings, a force to be reckoned, how these princes performed vitality. Often Scyld Scefing of the slayed ones, Many a party, withdrawn of the meadbench’s, awestruck the earls. Since first he was miserable, a foundling, he experienced consolation for that, Grown from the heavens, monied thus, Until all those neighboring people, from him, By the sea must heed him tribute. Now that was a great king! Beowulf, lines 1-11; translation mine
The Legend of Mata Nui
“In the time before time, the Great Spirit descended from the heavens, carrying we, the ones called the Matoran, to this island paradise. We were separate and without purpose, so the Great Spirit blessed us with three virtues: unity, duty, and destiny. We embraced these gifts and, in gratitude, we named our island home Mata Nui, after the Great Spirit himself.
But our happiness was not to last. Mata Nui's brother, Makuta, was jealous of these hon- ors and betrayed him. Makuta cast a spell over Mata Nui, who fell into a deep slumber. Makuta's power dominated the land, as fields withered away, sunlight grew cold, and ancient values were forgotten.
Still, all hope was not lost. Legends told of six mighty heroes, the Toa, who would arrive to save Mata Nui. Time would reveal that these were not simply myths —for the Toa did appear on the shores of the island. They arrived with no memory, no knowledge of one another — but they pledged to defend Mata Nui and its people against the darkness. Tahu, Toa of Fire. Onua, Toa of Earth. Gali, Toa of Water. Lewa, Toa of Air. Pohatu, Toa of Stone. And Kopaka, Toa of Ice. Great warriors with great power, drawn from the very elements themselves. Together, they were six heroes with one destiny: to defeat Makuta and save Mata Nui.
This is their story.”
Tale of the Toa, Hapka, 1 (fair use under US Copyright Law)
Grounding the Bionicle series in the throes of Old English poetry was not a career move I anticipated, but here we are. Before I go on in general (but also as an ongoing series), it’s worth noting a few cross-cultural comparisons that I hope to flesh out and exploit:
Both Beowulf and the Bionicle universe have strong Danish connections! Beowulf, despite being designated (by some) as an Old English “epic”, it is set entirely between Denmark and Geatland. The latter is likely part of what is known today as Scania/Skåne, a historic region of southern Sweden. LEGO as a company was founded in 1934 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a portmaneau from the Danish leg godt (‘play well’).
By the way, ‘play well’ in Old English would be “lāc wel”…I think.
Beowulf’s dating is contenstious at best, but the sole manuscript it survives in, the Nowell Codex, has been recently dated as the first decade of the second millennium, ie 1000-1010 CE. The Nowell Codex is the second manuscript (or ‘MS’) bound in the Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, but is older than the 12th century manuscript that precedes it.
Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington (1570/71-1631) aka “Robert Cotton” was a member of the English gentry who compulsively collected medieval era manuscripts in the newly Anglican England. Manuscripts such as those in the ‘Cotton Collection’, increasingly being replaced by print, were not by and large seen as cultural touchstones. While I want to avoid making blanket statements about the Middle Ages/early modern period (you can go to the History Channel for that), approximately 1538-1731 are two centuries that will make you cringe if you don’t like hearing about historical documents being destroyed sysmetically and haphazardly.
If you want to learn more about Catholic England and its multimedia objects were looted and discecrated by the ‘Dissolution of the Monasteries’ led by the court of Henry VIII, I would recommend Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy.
Both Beowulf and Bionicle, as pieces of literature (if we start from Scholastic Books’ Tale of the Toa) both are concerned with the merit and afterlives of heroes, and open with large, enigmatic opening lines as one would in a late 20th century action movie trailer: “In a WORLD bent on destruction…”.
They are trying to situate their heroes in an embedded narrative of worlds that are not new, nor the first chronological appearance of these heroes or characters. Beowulf and the Mata Nui Toa both as heroes do not live in isolation (What you think you just fell out of the coconut tree?) but exist alongside other “heroes” or at least royal courts and their early medieval struggles. In Beowulf, I would point to the Finnesburg Fragment, and then the various other islands in Bionicle such as Metru Nui.
Stick around long enough and I’m sure I’ll find a way to tie Beowulf and Bionicle to the other big Anglo-Danish lovechild, Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Well, that was more like a flowchart of notes but I hope that helps. As for the quotes I left in the beginning, both briefly give a sense of the ontology that these worlds are situated in. Beowulf’s opening lines are quite secular in their concerns, whereas the opening three paragraphs of Tale of the Toa (aka “The Legend of Mata Nui”) embellish the cosmic struggle between two brothers and that struggle’s consequences.
“Still, all hope was not lost. Legends told of six mighty heroes, the Toa, who would arrive to save Mata Nui.”
Overlay of a promotional image (copyright LEGO) and an illustration of Beowulf from A Book of Myths (1915) — “Wunung Cranic” meaning “living chronicle” in Old English
I would aliken the ‘mighty heroes’ alluded bold text to Beowulf’s “þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, / hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon” (2-3; Of great kings, a force to be reckoned, /How these princes performed vitality). Of course, there is a strong gendered difference — not all Toa are “kings” — Gali is gendered feminine, but I would hardly call this fair representation. There is also a shortage of women voices in Beowulf — but those featured such as King Hrothgar’s wife Wealhtheow are significant interpolators of the text.
But I think Beowulf (as a character) and the Toa’s strongest comparison is the fact that both these texts give us an impression that these aren’t the perfect heroes who know what they are doing the whole time. Beowulf doesn’t even show up until several hundred lines in the poem, and the Toa spend much of the first part of this short children’s novel just…vibing, trying to bond with each other and find their masks of power — akin to how rings are exchanged in Beowulf.
I’m gonna leave it at that now! More to come, and excuse the relative lateness on this post!