Caedmon

þa stod him sum mon æt þurh swefn
Then stood by (lit. at) him some(or a) man through dream
ond hine halette ond grette ond hine be his noman nemnde:
and him hailed and greeted and him by his name called:

'Cedmon, sing me hwæthwugu.'
'Caedmon, sing me something.'

Þa ondswarede he ond cwæð:
Then answered he and quoth:

'Ne con ic noht singan ond ic forþon of þeossum gebeorscipe ut eode ond hider gewat,
No can I nought sing and because of this feast[notice the beor, or beer in the middle of the word] (I) out went and hither went
forþon ic naht singan ne cuðe.'
because I nought sing no could.'
[Literal translations make the original sound totally stupid, but we can see double negatives are as old as English itself.]

Eft he cwæð, se ðe wið hine sprecende wæs:
Again he quoth, he that with him speaking was:
[notice the -end gerund form, now dead in English :(. Not in German, though.]
[I think sprecende should be something like /'spɾɛtʃendə/. 'C' was /tʃ/ in a few cases. English spelling was born to be arbitrary. But it makes sense if you think of Modern German sprechende, which is almost identical.]

'Hwæðre þu meaht singan.'
Nevertheless (lit. whether) thou must (lit. might) sing
(might was must, whether was nevertheless.. Que zona.)

Þa cwæð he:
Then quoth he:

'Hwæt sceal ic singan?'
'What shall I sing?'

Cwæð he:
Quoth he:

'Sing me frumsceaft.'
Sing me (of) creation/origin/genesis [I guess this frum- means first, maybe something like Ur- or Proto-]

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'Sing me frumsceaft.'
/sing me ˈfrʊmʃæaft/

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'Sing me frumsceaft' devia bastar como argumento que justifica o estudo do Anglo-Saxão.