DOC 9 -- Beowulf

Beowulf is the oldest epic in English. Drawing from Danish history and folk tales, it was composed, probably in the early 8th century, by a Northumbrian poet.  In this section, the monster Grendel attacks the Danish King Hrothgar's great hall called Heorot.  After several years of successful attacks against the Danes, Grendel is unaware that the warrior Beowulf of the tribe known as the Geats has arrived to assist the Danes in their struggle against Grendel.

     XI
     THEN from the moorland, by misty crags,
     with God's wrath laden, Grendel came.
     The monster was minded of mankind now
     sundry to seize in the stately house.
     Under welkin [1] he walked, till the wine-palace there,
     gold-hall of men, he gladly discerned,
     flashing with fretwork. Not first time, this,
     that he the home of Hrothgar sought, --
     yet ne'er in his life-day, late or early,
     such hardy heroes, such hall-thanes, found!
     To the house the warrior walked apace,
     parted from peace; the portal opended,
     though with forged bolts fast, when his fists had struck it,
     and baleful he burst in his blatant rage,
     the house's mouth. All hastily, then,
     o'er fair-paved floor the fiend trod on,
     ireful he strode; there streamed from his eyes
     fearful flashes, like flame to see.
     He spied in hall the hero-band,
     kin and clansmen clustered asleep,
     hardy liegemen. Then laughed his heart;
     for the monster was minded, ere morn should dawn,
     savage, to sever the soul of each,
     life from body, since lusty banquet
     waited his will! But Wyrd [2] forbade him
     to seize any more of men on earth
     after that evening. Eagerly watched
     Hygelac's [3] kinsman his cursed foe,
     how he would fare in fell attack.
     Not that the monster was minded to pause!
     Straightway he seized a sleeping warrior
     for the first, and tore him fiercely asunder,
     the bone-frame bit, drank blood in streams,
     swallowed him piecemeal: swiftly thus
     the lifeless corpse was clear devoured,
     e'en feet and hands. Then farther he hied [4];
     for the hardy hero with hand he grasped,
     felt for the foe with fiendish claw,
     for the hero reclining, -- who clutched it boldly,
     prompt to answer, propped on his arm.
     Soon then saw that shepherd-of-evils
     that never he met in this middle-world,
     in the ways of earth, another wight [5]
     with heavier hand-gripe; at heart he feared,
     sorrowed in soul, -- none the sooner escaped!
     Fain would he flee, his fastness seek,
     the den of devils: no doings now
     such as oft he had done in days of old!

         Then bethought him the hardy Hygelac-thane
     of his boast at evening: up he bounded,
     grasped firm his foe, whose fingers cracked.
     The fiend made off, but the earl close followed.
     The monster meant -- if he might at all --
     to fling himself free, and far away
     fly to the fens, -- knew his fingers' power
     in the gripe of the grim one. Gruesome march
     to Heorot this monster of harm had made!
     Din filled the room; the Danes were bereft,
     castle-dwellers and clansmen all,
     earls, of their ale. Angry were both
     those savage hall-guards: the house resounded.
     Wonder it was the wine-hall firm
     in the strain of their struggle stood, to earth
     the fair house fell not; too fast it was
     within and without by its iron bands
     craftily clamped; though there crashed from sill
     many a mead-bench -- men have told me --
     gay with gold, where the grim foes wrestled.
     So well had weened the wisest Scyldings [6]
     that not ever at all might any man
     that bone-decked, brave house break asunder,
     crush by craft, -- unless clasp of fire
     in smoke engulfed it. -- Again uprose
     din redoubled. Danes of the North
     with fear and frenzy were filled, each one,
     who from the wall that wailing heard,
     God's foe sounding his grisly song,
     cry of the conquered, clamorous pain
     from captive of hell. Too closely held him
     he who of men in might was strongest
     in that same day of this our life.

     XII
     NOT in any wise would the earls'-defence
     suffer that slaughterous stranger to live,
     useless deeming his days and years
     to men on earth. Now many an earl
     of Beowulf brandished blade ancestral,
     fain the life of their lord to shield,
     their praised prince, if power were theirs;
     never they knew, -- as they neared the foe,
     hardy-hearted heroes of war,
     aiming their swords on every side
     the accursed to kill, -- no keenest blade,
     no farest of falchions [7] fashioned on earth,
     could harm or hurt that hideous fiend!
     He was safe, by his spells, from sword of battle,
     from edge of iron. Yet his end and parting
     on that same day of this our life
     woful should be, and his wandering soul
     far off flit to the fiends' domain.
     Soon he found, who in former days,
     harmful in heart and hated of God,
     on many a man such murder wrought,
     that the frame of his body failed him now.
     For him the keen-souled kinsman of Hygelac
     held in hand; hateful alive
     was each to other. The outlaw dire
     took mortal hurt; a mighty wound
     showed on his shoulder, and sinews cracked,
     and the bone-frame burst. To Beowulf now
     the glory was given, and Grendel thence
     death-sick his den in the dark moor sought,
     noisome abode: he knew too well
     that here was the last of life, an end
     of his days on earth.

        [1] Clouds.
        [2] Fate.
        [3] King of the Geats.  Thus, "Hygelac's kinsman" is Beowulf.
        [4] Went quickly; hastened.
        [5] Being; creature.
        [6] Danes.
        [7] Swords.

[Source: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html]