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| The translation of Beowulf that I read was divided into XLIII (43) episodes; they are are smaller than chapters. These dividers are not in the orignal text, they were added by the publishers of the book to make it clearer. These episodes help quite a bit with the plot of the story, by dividing it, the publishers made it easier to read. The begining of the story describes the ancestry of the characters and how Hrothgar built Heorot. Hrothgar was a descendent of Scyld Scefing. Hrothgar built a large hall that he called Heorot, and many nobles came and dined at Heorot. Then the monster Grendel came and ravaged Heorot. He casued it to remain unused and desolate at night for a long time. Thus he destroyed Hrothgar's kingdom for nobody wanted to come. Many heroes came to do battle with Grendel but none succeeded. Then Beowulf the Geat came and helped Hrothgar. He came from across the sea with a few trusted warriors, who themselves were heroes in their land. Beowulf came to rid Hrothgarof Grendel. When Beowulf reached Heorot, there was much rejoicing. Hrothgar gave many gifts to Beowulf when he came, for Beowulf was actually related to him. They sat at their benches and drank mead through the day. Then one of Hrothgar's servants, Hunferth, becomes jealous of the hero Beowulf and tries to trap him by telling of the story of Beowulf's match with Breca. Apparently Breca was a strong man who fought with Bewoulf at sea. The tale goes that after fighting in the ocean for 7 days, the tide that was swelled by melting snow came in and Breca had fulfilled his boast, and that he went ashore for he was near his town. However Beowulf tells that in truth he and Breca were friends in their youth and that the match was not a fight but merely friendly rivalry to see who could endure the sea longer. After this encounter with Hunferth, Hrothgar and his kinsmen left the hall for it was becoming dark, and they handed it over to Beowulf's control. Later that night Grendel aproached and, broke the door of the hall in. When Grendel first came in he grabbed a sleeping thane and ate him. This part is actually quite gory: "The monster thought not to be long about it, but for a first start seized quickly aon a sleeping thane, tore him taken unamaweres, bit into his bone-frame, drank the blood from the veins, and swallowed him down piece by piece." As Grendel took hold of his next victim, Beowulf took hold of him by the arm. Beowulf was to honorable to cary weapons and armor into the battle, for Grendel had no weapon besides his brute-strength, so Beowulf engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Then when Grendel realized the strength of the warrior on his arm, he tried to escape, however Beowulfs "hand-grip" kept him at bay, untill Grendel panicked and in his hast to "get-gone" he tore his arm from his body. Grendel then ran to the fens, or the moors, to his home. The story tells that as he lay there, he bled to death. So Hrothgar was rid of Grendel, and Beowulf became famous. Then when Hrothgar was told of Beowulfs deeds, he came and celebrated for many chapters with him. However Grendel's avenger soon came at night after the treasure giving. However after the treasure giving, the hero Beowulf was found a differant place to rest his head. So when Grendels dam came into the hall, many of Hrothgars warriors took up spears and burnies (shields). However after retrieving Grendel's limb, and eating the goodly warrior AEschere, Grendels mother escaped back to her lair... |
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| Episodes I-XX |
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