Beowulf

Riders go out into the countryside to tell the good news of Beowulf’s triumph, and many joyful guests come to Heorot. (The narrative is careful to tell us that no one held anything against Hrothgar for not achieving this victory, as he was still a good king.) Minstrels compose songs about Beowulf, and also sing a fitting old song about the legendary Sigemund, the dragon-slayer, whose feats were similar.

Hrothgar gives a speech thanking Beowulf and adopting him as an honorary son. Beowulf regrets that he couldn’t finish Grendel off, but assures the crowd that the monster is “hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain,/limping and looped in it” and will soon be dead (65). The guests admire Grendel’s dangling arm. The envious Unferth lurks, shamed, in the background.

Everyone sets to refurbishing Heorot, which was almost destroyed in the battle between Beowulf and Grendel. The people hang the hall with tapestries woven with golden thread and repair structural damage. At last, everyone gathers for a huge victory feast, and Hrothgar’s brother Hrothulf joins them. However, the narrator gives us a hint of future discord: “Inside Heorot/there was nothing but friendship.