One while the were in King Hrodgar's hall, a
minstrel was called upon to sing. He his harp, and sang of the
coming of Skiöld, the son Odin sent to live a life among
mortal men. He told how the had been on a shield
floating on the of the sea, how he had been and
carefully tended, and how he had a king and in
Jutland. He sang of Skiöld's life, of the he had left
to his children and grandchildren; and last of all he of Hrodgar,
Skiöld's most famous grandson, who, like him, was the of all
peaceful arts, the protector of all peaceful folk, and the punisher of
evil-doers.
Many were the king that night at Hirschhalle, so
called from the of a stag, which, in
stone, the battlements. At length the time came for the
warriors to for the night, and as there were too many of them
to be elsewhere, were up for them in the great
hall. Two and thirty men to sleep on the spread
for them; but next morning, when the came to them, they
were gone. The room was in confusion, here and there might be seen
stains of blood, and other of struggle.
King Hrodgar came himself as soon as he what had chanced, and
examined the place to try and out the of the
disaster. He the blood-stains through the hall, and out of
doors, and there, in the soft earth, he saw the of a
giant. The whole was clear to him now. He that the monster
Grendel, who had been the land by the of a great magician,
had at length returned. When it that Grendel had come
back, ten offered to keep watch in the hall, and the
giant if he to come in. Next they were gone. They had
either been in their sleep, or had not been to
withstand the monster. The Skiöldungs' people were and fearless,
so twelve other offered their services. Eleven of
them themselves to sleep in their armour, while the twelfth,
a minstrel, watch.
At midnight the came, his great lips, and slowly
dragging his along. The saw and all that took
place; but he neither speak move; he was, as it were,
paralysed with fear, and at last senseless. Next morning,
when with trouble they him to consciousness, he
either not, or would not, tell what he had seen. He up his
arms and his harp, pointed to the on the floor, and down
to the without a word or of to any one. A vessel
was on the point of for Gothland, so he on board, and had
soon left the ill-fated of Jutland behind.
