y,
called Denmark, and the messenger said, 'Which of all you brave men will
come over and help my master, King Hrothgar, who is in sore trouble?'
And the messenger told them how Hrothgar, for many years past, had been
plagued by a monster--the hateful monster Grendel--half a man and half a
beast, who lived at the bottom of a great bog near the king's palace.
Every night, he said, Grendel the monster came out of the bog with his
horrible mother beside him--a wolf-like creature, fearful to look
upon--and he and she would roam about the country, killing and slaying
all whom they met. Sometimes they would come stalking to the king's
palace, where his brave men were sleeping round the fire in the big
hall, and before anyone could withstand him Grendel would fall upon the
king's warriors, kill them by tens and twenties, and carry off their
dead bodies to his bog. Many a brave man had tried to slay the monster,
but none had been able so much as to wound him.

"When Beowulf and his friends had heard this story they thought a while,
and then each said to the other, 'Let us go across the sea and rid King
Hrothgar of this monster.' So they took ship and went across the sea to
Hrothgar's country, and Hrothgar welcomed them royally, and made a great
feast in their honour. And after the feast Hrothgar said to Beowulf,
'Now, I give over to you the hall of my palace, that you may guard it
against the monster.' So Beowulf and the brave men who had come over
with him made a great fire in the hall, and they all lay down to sleep
beside it. You may imagine that they did not find it very easy to get to
sleep, and some of them thought as they lay there that very likely they
should never see their homes in Sweden again. But they were tired with
journeying and feasting, and one after another they all fell asleep.
Then in the dead of the night, when all was still, Grendel rose up out
of the bog, and came stalking over the moor to the palace. His eyes
flamed with a kind of horrible light in the darkness, and his steps
seemed to shake the earth; but those inside the palace were sleeping so
heavily that they heard nothing, not even when Grendel burst open the
door of the hall and came in among them. Before anyone had wakened, the
monster had seized one of the sleeping men and torn him to pieces. Then
he came to Beowulf; but Beowulf sprang up out of his sleep and laid hold
upon him boldly. He used no sword to strike him, for there was no sword
whic