These were hard times, heart-breaking
the prince of the Shieldings; powerful counsellors,
the highest in the land, would lend advice,
plotting how best the bold defenders
might resist and beat off sudden attacks.
Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people. That was their way,
their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts
they remembered hell.
– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)
Lines 170-180: The poet admits, with some distaste, that the medieval Danes engage in pagan practices.