Beowulf

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STORY PREFACE

Grendel, the dragon in Beowulf, is sleeping when a slave cannot resist the temptation to steal a golden cup. He "gets away with it" - for a time - until Grendel awakes and realizes the cup is missing. Illustration by Henrietta Elizabeth from a 1908 book Stories of Beowulf. Image online, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him
to hear the din of the loud banquet
every day in the hall, the harp being struck
and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings ...

Beowulf
Anglo-Saxon Epic
Seamus Heaney Translation

Sailing the short distance from Geatland to Denmark, the sixth-century warrior was sure he could help. His name was Beowulf. He would soon meet a monster - the “powerful demon” Grendel - who had terrorized the Danes for a dozen years.

The story of Beowulf and his exploits, told by long-ago poets, comes to us through a single manuscript written in Old English. Is the story true? Where (and when) was the manuscript written? And ... how could the story of Beowulf - about Scandinavian Geats, Danes and Swedes - become Britain’s national epic?

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Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

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Original Release Date: November, 2007
Updated July, 2012