Download pdf stories of beowulf told to the children. The story of beowulf retold for easy reading abela. What qualification or achievement does beowulf have that makes him qualified to fight grendel. Hrothgar, king of the danes, or scyldings, builds a great mead hall, or palace, in which he hopes. Beowulf dives into the lake where the dragons live, and after terrifing adventures kills the mother. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3,182 lines of the epic poem, then this book is for you. History beowulf is the earliest major work in english. It opens in denmark, where king hrothgars splendid mead hall, heorot, has been ravaged for 12 years by nightly visits from an evil monster, grendel, who carries off hrothgars warriors and devours them.
Tolkien describes and illustrates many of the features of old english poetry in his 1940. Beowulf is an epic because it has action that consists of deeds of great valor, the setting of beowulf is in. In this image, from an 8thcentury vesparian psalter, we see an anglosaxon lyre. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3,182 lines of the epic poem, then this book. Find out about the history of this famous poem and how the story ends in this lesson. Why does beowulf leave this king to help out hrothgar. Course heros video study guide provides an indepth plot summary of the epic poem beowulf. Beowulf is cremated on his funeral pyre overlooking the sea, and then he is buried in a barrow containing the dragons treasure. It may be the oldest surviving long poem in old english and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of old english literature. The story of beowulf begins with hrothgar, the king of the danes. Beowulf and grendels mother wrestle and struggle together. Librivox recording of beowulf, translated by francis barton gummere 18551919.
Beowulf is an old english heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship. A prose translation, it captures the mood of the original without being selfconsciously archaic. Set in a time when men were knighted for achieving great feats, and great the feats of beowulf were. The black and white illustrations are stylized and sometimes a bit cartoonish, and nicely dimensionalize the story. Another similarity between the two cultures that some people may see in the most recent times is the idea of the bad guy or monster.
Beowulf old english modern english translation by francis b. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3,182 lines of the epic poem, then this book is for you, because here it has been retold in the form of an easy reading novel aimed at children and young people. One example of this is the life and death of beowulfs lord or king, hygelac, who raided the franks in 520 ce. Some months ago i read these words, and doubted if they were true.
Grendels mother whips out a huge knife and stabs at beowulfs shoulder, but the chainmail turns the blade and saves his life. This is a long outofprint retelling of the beowulf saga. Beowulf leaves his kingdom to wiglaf, the only knight to come to his aid. The story of beowulf, translated from anglosaxon into modern. Standing head and shoulders above his comrades, beowulf singlehandedly saved the land of the danes from a merciless ogre named grendel and from his seahag mother.
The noise from the hall irritates a demonic creature named grendel, who is outcast from the land. The source of the beowulf story is located at the british library, in london, ms cotton vitellius a xv, f. In the british museum there is a little book, worn and brown with age, spoiled by fire and water. Unexpectedly, young beowulf, a prince of the geats of southern sweden, arrives with a small band of retainers and offers to cleanse heorot of its monster. These are someof the reasons why beowulf is a great example of an early english epic. From the old testament, he is the brother of cain, also killed by cain, progenitor of mankind and humanity goodness. It has variously been dated to between the 8th and the early 11th centuries.
This is the story of beowulf as retold by strafford riggs. A bears face was doglike, or wolflike, and it often nosed into beehives to eat honey. Beowulf is the story, in epic poem form, of a great geat warrior who came to the aid of the danish king hrothgar in defeating a monster that was terrorizing his people. Mythical son of edgetho, higlacs nephew and followerbound warrior. Ii which tells of beowulfs reception among the danes, his encounter with grendel. Besides being a fine story, beowulf is of great interest because it is our earliest epic, that is, the oldest poem in the anglosaxon language which tells of noble deeds in noble words.
His ship funeral early in the poem is a significant ritual. But just when beowulf seems to have narrowly avoided death, he must fight a second demon, grendels mother. It is not known who wrote it, and there is no agreement as to when it was written. Get the entire beowulf litchart as a printable pdf. Access this video with closed captions at the following link. Beowulf summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. Hrothgar owns the heorot hall which is a mead hall for his warrior to drink and relax. The story of beowulf by strafford riggs 1933 this is a. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. At this point, beowulf begins a rollercoaster ride of wild emotional ups and. Epic poem by the beowulf poet translated by burton raffel.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the story of beowulf. This is a short but beautiful book, and the gummere translation really captures the feel of the old english. This is the story of beowulf as retold for young adults and children by strafford riggs. Which tells something of the youth and early manhood of beowulf, how he heard of the monster grendel, and of daneland. Pdf son of the black sword download read online free. Beowulf tells the story of a mysterious young warrior who saves the speardanes from the terrible monster grendel and his venomous mother. The story of beowulf by strafford riggs this is a long outofprint retelling of the beowulf saga. Beowulf was written in england, but is set in scandinavia. Occasionally a deviation has been made, but always for what seemed good and sufficient reason. Beowulf recounts the story of the valiant warrior of geats who comes to the aid of his neighbor, king hrothgar whose mead hall is being attacked by a dreadful creature called grendel. Liuzza associate professor of english, tulane university, presented at a conference held at kennesaw state university georgia in march, 2001, and reprinted on pages 234 of beowulf in translation. Beowulf by michael morpurgo overdrive rakuten overdrive. Back in sweden, beowulf becomes king of the geats and has a long and successful reign.
Estimates for the date range from ad 608 right through to ad, and there is no consensus. The story of beowulf myths, legend and folk tales from. Gummere 1910 the story of beowulf, retelling by strafford riggs 1933. The easy reading edition of the epic 3,182 line poem especially retold for children and young adults by strafford riggs. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3,182 lines of the epic poem, then this book is for you, because. Although the image itself is from a religious work depicting david, the psalmwriterperformer, it is helpful to see an anglosaxon lyre which scops storytellers would likely have used during a beowulf performance. English iv honors beowulf test on friday 921 learn with flashcards, games, and more for free. The poem has only one manuscript source, written about 1010. Beowulf is an epic poem with adventure, monsters, dragons, and, of course, a good hero.
The black and white illustrations are stylized and sometimes a bit cartoonish, and nicely dimensionalize. The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approximately, in modern measures, the venerable epic, beowulf. The saga of beowulf retold as a story for young adults book summary. Beowulf simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The story of beowulf by strafford riggs 1933, not renewed contents start reading. Teaching beowulf in translation, old english newsletter subsidia, vol. Whigh tells of beowulfs reception among the danes, his encounter with grendel. Parts of beowulfs story help us date it, at least peripherally. He brings back grendels head as a trophy the monster has meanwhile died of his wound, and is rewarded with many gifts by the grateful hrothgar. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Beowulf spots a huge, heavy, ancient sword from the days of the giants.
If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3,182 lines of the epic poem. The early english epic beowulf is filled with a marvelous hero, ghastly villains, far off lands, and deeds of great valor. Then the thought came to me that i would help to make them true, for beowulf is a fine story finely told, and it is a pity that there should be any who do not know it. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the. The saga of beowulf retold as a story for young adults. If you ever just wanted to know the story of beowulf without having to plough through the 3182 lines of the epic poem, then this book is for you. The story of beowulf index internet sacred text archive.
Beowulf fights and narrowly defeats grendel, aided by god and by his valiant decision to meet grendel in handtohand combat. Some old english people saxons called the bear a beewolf. Angry with the men in the hall, grendel sneaks in at night and kidnaps men, tearing them limb. His arm is hung as a trophy under the roof of heorot. Beowulf comes to the aid of hrothgars falling kingdom. But it is his third terrible battle, with the deathdragon of the deep, in which he truly meets his match. It is one of the most important works of old english literature. In this image, we see the opening words of the beowulf manuscript. Beowulf a hero s tale retold download pdfepub ebook. The story of beowulf kindle edition by strafford riggs. The mead hall was the big feasting hall of the king and sometimes even served as a living quarter for the king and his noblemen in medieval times in scandinavia.