Week 11 Story: Beowulf and Grendel

Once upon a time in a place called Danesland, there was a certain creature whose name was Grendel. When Grendel was born and the other monsters saw him, they were taken aback by his looks. Grendel was not easy to look at, not even for other monsters. Despite his physical appearance he showed great promise among the monsters because his strength was abnormal, even among them. As a child, Grendel wrought havoc to small human villages with ease.

Grendel would've been content to live out his life among the other monsters, but those wretched humans caused so much noise. In addition to Grendel's superior physical strength, his senses were also extremely sensitive. The older he got, the more his strength and senses increased. Eventually, the humans learned of Grendel's existence and sought to kill him.

King Hrothgar of the Danes sent his best men to kill Grendel. As they clambered their way through the forest looking for Grendel's den, Grendel watched them from the dark. "They are loud even when they are trying to sneak around," Grendel thought, "I can't stand it anymore!" With that last thought Grendel charged the men and one by one tore them to pieces. The only one to survive was Unferth, who was King Hrothgar's best friend.

Unferth had played dead until Grendel had finished killing his companions and then got up and made his way back to Heoret, Hrothgar's fortress. Unferth ran up to Hrothgar and said, "This is a terrible monster unlike any we have faced before! He kills without any remorse! He cannot be stopped!" Troubled by Unferth's words, Hrothgar decided to send for aid from their neighbors in Geatsland. However, it just so happened that the messengers had to pass through Grendel's territory in order to make their way to Geatsland.

Year after year, all the messengers were killed until twelve long years had passed. Then, one messenger decided to take the long way around by crossing through the dragon's territory. After a long and arduous journey the messenger made it to Geatsland. The warriors of Geatsland loved fighting and were enticed by the messenger's stories from the lands outside of theirs. But, once the messenger told of Grendel and his terrorizing, only one warrior stood up and announced that he would go to Hrothgar's aid. "Beowulf! Beowulf!" The Lords of Geatsland cheered.

Beowulf returned to Danesland with the messenger and a company of men specially appointed by King Hygelac of Dane. With the messenger as their guide they made their way safely to Heoret. Once they arrived Hrothgar welcomed them with open arms and let them know where Grendel lived. After spending the night resting and restoring their strength they got up and headed out to find Grendel.

Grendel watched Beowulf and his company as they stomped through the forest. When they finally stopped to make camp for the night, Grendel decided to attack. Grendel ran right up behind two of Beowulf's men, grabbed their heads and then popped them in one fluid movement. The rest of the men, besides Beowulf, stood up and armed themselves with their swords and shields. Rushing Grendel, they were each slaughtered until only Beowulf himself was left.

The two circled each other, waiting for the other to make a fatal mistake. His impatience getting the best of him, Grendel charged Beowulf. Grendel swung his arms wildly trying to snatch Beowulf up. Beowulf ducked and slipped through each of Grendel's attempts to grab him and then managed to take Grendel's back. Beowulf began to choke Grendel as hard as he could, but Grendel reached up, took hold of Beowulf and threw him against a tree. Beowulf knew that if he didn't do something quick, he would be torn apart just like his companions. Just then he noticed a sword half-covered in dirt. He waited until Grendel was right on top of him before he swung the sword from its hiding place and chopped Grendel's right arm completely off.

"Arggghhhhh!" Grendel cried as he fell to his knees.

Beowulf walked right up to Grendel and said, "Your bloodletting days are over, demon! I am ripper, tearer, slasher, gouger. I am the teeth in the darkness, the talons in the night. Mine is strength and lust and power! I am Beowulf!" And with that Beowulf drew his sword above his head and brought it down on Grendel's neck.







Author's Note: I used the Beowulf unit by Strafford Riggs as my main source inspiration for this story. In the original, the story is told from the perspective of Geatsland and all I did was switch this to the perspective of the Danes. I kept all the characters names the same and kept their roles relatively the same as well. Some differences were that Unferth never confronted Grendel and the messenger was never sent by King Hrothgar. Also, Grendel's perspective isn't told in the original, so I wrote a little about that in the beginning. The biggest change is how I had Beowulf and his company actually go after Grendel and try to kill him in the forest. Lastly, I took Beowulf's last quote from the Beowulf animation that I found on YouTube.

Bibliography: Beowulf by Strafford Riggs

Image: Beowulf and his men by Henry Pitz (1933) from the Untextbook