ing-place, bearing his booty,
In peace to devour it."

[Illustration: "The demon of evil, with his fierce ravening, greedily
grasped them"]

When dawn broke, and the Danes from their dwellings around the hall
entered Heorot, great was the lamentation, and dire the dismay, for
thirty noble champions had vanished, and the blood-stained tracks of
the monster showed but too well the fate that had overtaken them.
Hrothgar's grief was profound, for he had lost thirty of his dearly
loved bodyguard, and he himself was too old to wage a conflict against
the foe--a foe who repeated night by night his awful deeds, in
spite of all that valour could do to save the Danes from his terrible
enmity. At last no champion would face the monster, and the Danes, in
despair, deserted the glorious hall of which they had been so proud.
Useless stood the best of dwellings, for none dared remain in it, but
every evening the Danes left it after their feast, and slept
elsewhere. This affliction endured for twelve years, and all that time
the beautiful hall of Heorot stood empty when darkness was upon it. By
night the dire fiend visited it in search of prey, and in the morning
his footsteps showed that his deadly enmity was not yet appeased, but
that any effort to use the hall at night would bring down his fatal
wrath on the careless sleepers.

Far and wide spread the tidings of this terrible oppression, and many
champions came from afar to offer King Hrothgar their aid, but none
was heroic enough to conquer the monster, and many a mighty warrior
lost his life in a vain struggle against Grendel. At length even these
bold adventurers ceased to come; Grendel remained master of Heorot,
and the Danes settled down in misery under the bondage of a perpetual
nightly terror, while Hrothgar grew old in helpless longing for
strength to rescue his people from their foe.

Beowulf

Meanwhile there had come to manhood and full strength a hero destined
to make his name famous for mighty deeds of valour throughout the
whole of the Teutonic North. In the realm of the Geats (Goetaland, in
the south of Sweden) ruled King Hygelac, a mighty ruler who was
ambitious enough to aim at conquering his neighbours on the mainland
of Germany. His only sister, daughter of the dead king Hrethel, had
married a great noble, Ecgtheow, and they had one son, Beowulf, who
from the age of seven was brought up at the Geatish court. The boy was
a lad of great stature and ha