Beowulf 1: Grendel attacks Heorot. | English Literature I

Lesslie Hall, the translator, provides a running commentary on the text of Beowulf, giving summaries and paraphrases. These comments are set in brackets and presented in brown: [like this] Some unusual terms from Hall’s list are highlighted in yellow: henchman.

Hrothgar Builder of Heorot

. . . .

Then glory in battle to Hrothgar was given,

Waxing of war-fame, that willingly kinsmen

Obeyed his bidding, till the boys grew to manhood,

A numerous band. It burned in his spirit

To urge his folk to found a great building,

A mead-hall grander than men of the era

[He is eager to build a great hall in which he may feast his retainers]

Ever had heard of, and in it to share

With young and old all of the blessings

The Lord had allowed him to save life and retainers.

Then the work from afar was assigned

To many races in middle-earth’s regions,

To adorn the great folk-hall. In due time it happened

Early ’mong men, that ’twas finished entirely,

The greatest of hall-buildings; Heorot he named it

[The hall is completed, and is called Heorot, after the antlers of deer called hart which are displayed on the walls.]

Who wide-reaching word-sway wielded ’mong earlmen.

His promise he broke not, rings he lavished,

Treasure at banquet. Towered the hall up

High and horn-crested, huge between antlers:

[The Monster Grendel is madly envious of the Danemen’s joy.]

Bore it bitterly, he who bided in darkness,

That light-hearted laughter loud in the building

Greeted him daily; there was dulcet harp-music,

Clear song of the singer. He said that was able

[The course of the story is interrupted by a short reference to some old account of the creation.]

To tell from of old earthmen’s beginnings,

That Father Almighty earth had created,

The winsome wold that the water encircleth,

Set exultingly the sun’s and the moon’s beams

To lavish their lustre on land-folk and races,

And earth He embellished in all her regions

With limbs and leaves; life He bestowed too

On all the kindreds that live under heaven.

[The glee of the warriors is overcast by a horrible dread.]

So blessed with abundance, brimming with joy,

The warriors abided, till a certain one began to

Dog them with deeds of direful malice,

A foe in the hall-building: this horrible stranger

Was Grendel entitled, the march-stepper famous

Who dwelt in the moor-fens, the marsh and the fastness;

The wan-mooded being abode for a season

In the land of the giants, when the Lord and Creator

Had banned him and branded. For that bitter murder,

The killing of Abel, all-ruling Father

[Cain is referred to as a progenitor of Grendel, and of monsters in general.]

The kindred of Cain crushed with His vengeance;

In the feud He rejoiced not, but far away drove him

From kindred and kind, that crime to atone for,

Meter of Justice. Thence ill-favored creatures,

Elves and giants, monsters of ocean,

Came into being, and the giants that longtime

Grappled with God; He gave them requital.

GRENDEL THE MURDERER.

[Grendel attacks the sleeping heroes]

When the sun was sunken, he set out to visit

The lofty hall-building, how the Ring-Danes had used it

For beds and benches when the banquet was over.

Then he found there reposing many a noble

Asleep after supper; sorrow the heroes,

Misery knew not. The monster of evil

Greedy and cruel tarried but little,

[He drags off thirty of them, and devours them]

Fell and frantic, and forced from their slumbers

Thirty of thanemen; thence he departed

Leaping and laughing, his lair to return to,

With surfeit of slaughter sallying homeward.

In the dusk of the dawning, as the day was just breaking,

Was Grendel’s prowess revealed to the warriors:

[A cry of agony goes up, when Grendel’s horrible deed is fully realized.]

Then, his meal-taking finished, a moan was uplifted,

Morning-cry mighty. The man-ruler famous,

The long-worthy atheling, sat very woeful,

Suffered great sorrow, sighed for his liegemen,

When they had seen the track of the hateful pursuer,

The spirit accursèd: too crushing that sorrow,

[The monster returns the next night.]

Too loathsome and lasting. Not longer he tarried,

But one night after continued his slaughter

Shameless and shocking, shrinking but little

From malice and murder; they mastered him fully.

He was easy to find then who otherwhere looked for

A pleasanter place of repose in the lodges,

A bed in the bowers. Then was brought to his notice

Told him truly by token apparent

The hall-thane’s hatred: he held himself after

Further and faster who the foeman did baffle.

So ruled he and strongly strove against justice

Lone against all men, till empty uptowered

[King Hrothgar’s agony and suspense last twelve years.]

The choicest of houses. Long was the season:

Twelve-winters’ time torture suffered

The friend of the Scyldings, every affliction,

Endless agony; hence it after became

Certainly known to the children of men

Sadly in measures, that long against Hrothgar

Grendel struggled:—his grudges he cherished,

Murderous malice, many a winter,

Strife unremitting, and peacefully wished he

Life-woe to lift from no liegeman at all of

The men of the Dane-folk, for money to settle,

No counsellor needed count for a moment

On handsome amends at the hands of the murderer;

[Grendel is unremitting in his persecutions.]

The monster of evil fiercely did harass,

The ill-planning death-shade, both elder and younger,

Trapping and tricking them. He trod every night then

The mist-covered moor-fens; men do not know where

Witches and wizards wander and ramble.

So the foe of mankind many of evils

Grievous injuries, often accomplished,

Horrible hermit; Heorot he frequented,

Gem-bedecked palace, when night-shades had fallen

[God is against the monster.]

(Since God did oppose him, not the throne could he touch,

The light-flashing jewel, love of Him knew not).

’Twas a fearful affliction to the friend of the Scyldings

The king and his council deliberate in vain.

Soul-crushing sorrow. Not seldom in private

Sat the king in his council; conference held they

What the braves should determine ’gainst terrors unlooked for.

[They invoke the aid of their gods.]

At the shrines of their idols often they promised

Gifts and offerings, earnestly prayed they

The devil from hell would help them to lighten

Their people’s oppression. Such practice they used then,

Hope of the heathen; hell they remembered

In innermost spirit, God they knew not,

[The true God they do not know.]

Judge of their actions, All-wielding Ruler,

No praise could they give the Guardian of Heaven,

The Wielder of Glory. Woe will be his who

Through furious hatred his spirit shall drive to

The clutch of the fire, no comfort shall look for,

Wax no wiser; well for the man who,

Living his life-days, his Lord may face

And find defence in his Father’s embrace!