Legendary Beowulf: Strong And Courageous Prince Of Geats Fighting Grendel And Dragon Monsters

MessageToEagle.com | May 27, 2016 | Ancient World, Featured Stories, Myths & Legends | No Comments

A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com – His name Beowulf is among the greatest heroes of the English-speaking people and his story has been known for generations.

The hero and his battles are described in one of the most important works of Old English literature, ‘Beowulf’, an Old English epic poem of over 3,000 lines, written by an anonymous English poet, between the 8^th and 11^th century.

The poem originates from Central or North-East England.

There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, sites, and events in the poem can be historically verified.

The story is based in Denmark, where Hrothgar, the King of the Danes, whose grand hall, Heorot and his knights, have been attacked for 12 years by an evil monster, Grendel, the man-eating monster that is half-man and half-fiend.

Grendel – the descendant of Cain who represents evil and corruption – lives in the bottom of the lake in the vicinity of Heorot.

Unexpectedly, young and brave Beowulf, a ‘prince of the Geats’ of southern Sweden, arrives with a small group of warriors and offers his help to get rid of Grendel, an enormous creature with superhuman strength, which makes him undefeatable by the warriors of Denmark.

Having the strength of thirty men, Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed and kills him by pulling off one of the monster’s arms.

Then, the hero fights Grendel’s mother who dwells at the bottom of a lake.

He first uses Hrunting, a magical sword but Grendel’s mother is immune to its power, so Beowulf kills her with a sword from her own armory, which was crafted by giants.

Rewarded with gifts from the Danish king, Beowulf becomes King of the Geats, a North Germanic tribe inhabiting what is now Götaland (“land of the Geats”) in modern Sweden. He rules his country for fifty years.

In the fiftieth year of Beowulf’s reign, however, a great terror fell upon his land. A monstrous and dangerous fire-dragon with its blazing breath, began to terrorize people burning their houses and farms, men and cattle, with the flames from its mouth.

Accompanied by his young relative, Wiglaf, the only one of his warriors brave enough to stand by his side, Beowulf takes up his sword and shield for the last time, and kills the dragon.

Unfortunately, the aged king is mortally injured in the fight. After his death, he is ritually burned on a great pyre while his people wail and mourn him. Afterward, a barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory – The Beowulf Barrow.

There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, places, and events in the poem can be historically verified.

Written by – A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com Senior Staff Writer