devoured one o f the sleeping warriors, and then approached
Beowulf. A desperate hand-to-hand fight began. At first Beowulf's
courage fled:
The demon delayed not, but quickly clutched
A sleeping thane in his
swift assault,
Gulped the blood, and gobbled the flesh,
Greedily gorged on the lifeless corpse,
The hands and the feet. Then the fiend stepped nearer,
Sprang on the Sea-Great lying outstretched,
Grasping him close with his monstrous claw.
But Beowulf grapp led and gripped him hard,
Struggled up on his elbow; the shepherd o f sins
Soon found that never before had he felt
In any man other in al! the earth
A mightier hand-grip; his mood was humbled,
His courage fled; but he found no escape!
But soon, remembering the boast he had made at the banquet
and his glorious duty, Beowulf regained his courage, sprang to his
feet and went on fighting. It was so terrible that the walls o f the
palace shook. Beowulf managed
to tear off GrendePs arm, and
the monster retreated to his den howling and roaring with pain
and fury. He was fatally wounded and soon died:
Each loathed the other while life should last!
There Grendel suffered a grievous hurt.
A wound in the shoulder, gaping and wide;
Sinews snapped and bone-joints broke,
And Beowulf gained the glory o f battle.
Grendel, fated, fled to the fens,
To his joyless dwel ling, sick unto death.
He knew in his heart that his hours were numbered
His days at,an end. For all the Danes
There wish was fulfilled in the fall o f Grendel.
The stranger from far, the stalwart and strong,
Had purged of evil the hall o f Hrothgar,
And cleansed o f crime; the
heart o fth e hero
Joyed in the deed his daring had done.
The next night Grendel’s mother, a water-witch, came to
Heorot to avenge her son’s death. While Beowulf was asleep she
snatched away one of Hrothgar’s favourite warriors. Beowulf
decided to kill the water-witch too. He plunged into the water and
found the water-witch in her den beside the dead body of her son.
A desperate fight began. At first Beowulf was nearly overcome,
as his sword had no power against the monster. But fortunately
his glance fell upon a huge magic sword hanging on the wall.
Beowulf killed the monster with its help. Then he cut off the heads
o f Grendel and of the water-witch and carried them to the surface.
Heorot was freed forever. Hrothgar
poured treasures into
Beowulf’s hands.
At last the day carne for Beowulf to sail home. Everybody
regretted his departure. When Beowulf arrived in his own land,
he gave all the treasures he had brought to Hygelac and the people.
Beowulf was admired and honored by everybody. After the death
of Hygelac, Beowulf became the king of the Jutes.
For fifty years he ruled his country wisely and well until one
day a great disaster befell the happy land: every night there
appeared a fire-breathing dragon
who came and destroyed the
vil lages. Remembering his glorious youth, Beowulf decided to fight
and save his people, but of all his earls only Wiglaf, a brave warrior
and heir to the kingdom, had the courage to help him. In a fierce
battle the dragon was killed, but his flames burnt Beowulf. Beowulf
ordered Wiglaf to take as much treasure as he could carry and
give it to the Jutes. In his last hour he thought only o f his people,
for whose happiness he had sacrificed his life. Beow ulf s victory
over the monsters symbolized the triumph of a man over the powers
o f darkness and evil.
Q uestions
and Tasks
1. What can you tell about Britons and their language?
2. When was Britain conquered by Rome and what was its
result?
3. Why did Angles, Saxons and Jutes fight with one another?
4. What can you tell about “scribes”?
5. Why is the Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf' called, the
foundation-stone o f all British poetry?
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