[ Beowulf ]
[ The Confessions ]
Hello
My name's Beowulf and I am here to answer your questions.
Let's begin.
[ Why did you decide to fight the Grendel without any weapons? ]
I had my honour to defend.
For you see, people have heard of my heroic deeds from lands far far away.
However,
Unferth (a servant to theKing Hrothgar).
He claimed that my bravery was false and challenged me.
He recounted a tale of when I lost a swimming competition to a man named Breka.
Well, I did have to remind him that the only reason I lost that challenge to him
was because I had to fight nine sea monsters after five days in icy water.
We can’t all be perfect now can we?
No, I decided that if I could defeat the Grendel with my bare hands
that I could then show Unferth and all those who didn't believe in me
that my bravery was to be believed in.
I was also given a sword by Unferth.
He gave me his sword that he said "would never fail anyone who used it".
Well, when I took it to fight the Grendel’s mother, it failed me
and I was once again left to defeat her with my bare hands,
as fate had decided.
[ Who gave you the courage to fight so fiercely? ]
I am a man of faith.
I believe that our Gods watch over us
and when deserved, they will guide us and protect us.
So I believe that fate
would guide me in this task.
If I was to die facing the Grendel,
then I would die, as fate had decided,
and I would receive a noble warriors death.
However, I also believe that if I was destined to defeat the Grendel
then fate would also make it happen.
Courage is within all of us, you just have to look inside.
As you have read in my story,
you know that I have been victorious against the Grendel.
I managed to rip the arm from the beast
and left it running out into the wilderness where it died cold and alone.
[ Why did you decide to save the village from the Grendel? ]
I travelled from my lands to the city of Heorot
to give aid to the King, Hrothgar.
Hrothgar would naturally have dispatched of this beast himself.
However, he's an old and weary king nowadays.
Also, I did owe him a favour
as he helped out my father once when they were younger.
[ Why would you help the Danes - they're a different tribe? ]
As I mentioned earlier,
I owed a favour to Hrothgar.
But, if I could also solve this problem for them,
there was a chance that they would then owe me a favour in the future
as a thank you for being their saviour.
And also, what hero doesn't love a great adventure.
Oh, the stories we can tell afterwards
and also the riches that they might bestow on me when I come back victorious.
[ Did your sword have a name? ]
In Anglo-Saxon times
swords were named after the person who made them
and also after the person who owned them.
They could be passed down in families from generation to generation.
I was given a sword by Unferth (that servant to King Hrothgar that I mentioned).
It's name is Hrunting and it means roughly today "thrusting".
So names could also be given to swords to help you find your bravery.
Things like, "skullcrusher" or "bloodbath".
I bet you could come up with some interesting names yourselves.
[ How did you feel as you waited in the hall for the Grendel to attack? ]
I had to be brave.
As night fell, I knew that the creature would be coming shortly.
Fate would either be with me or against me.
A hero's job is to use their skills to survive any obstacle that they come up against.
I do remember though, as the door creaked open,
a single bead of sweat fell down my forehead.
From that point on, I focused and readied myself
to defeat the Grendel.
[ How did it feel, as the King, to see the dragon burn down your villages? ]
Haha, you've jumped much further ahead in the story now.
For you see, I only became the King of the Geats
once the rest of the King and his family had been killed off
throughout various battles in history.
No, when I saw the dragon burning down my villages,
I was filled with anger.
We had done nothing to this creature,
well, apart from the thief who had stolen a goblet from the dragons lair.
My old heroic, fighting instincts came back to me.
For you see, at this point in the story
I was no longer the young man that you see before you now.
Fifty years had since past,
and I was much older, slower and greyer in the hair.
Nevertheless, as King it is my job to protect my people.
[ When fighting the dragon as King, how did you feel when your army left you? ]
I knew as we drew near to the dragons lair
that this might be a battle that I would not come out of alive.
But I was determined to do the best that I could for my people.
I took with me eleven of my most trusted warriors,
and also the thief that stole from the dragon in the first place.
As we drew near to the lair, I could smell the dragons breath.
As we came face to face with the beast,
my men did indeed desert me.
I was sad for an instant, but then those feelings soon departed.
For once a hero, always a hero.
Wiglaf did stay by my side (one of my trusted and most faithful warriors).
He encouraged me and helped me in the battle.
However, I was not to survive.
As I dealt the dragon its deathblow,
it inflicted upon me a mortal wound.
I was barely able to take ten steps before I collapsed on the floor,
and there soon after,
I died.
[As you lay dying, what thoughts went through your mind?]
It's a hard question to answer.
What does go through a person's mind in their final moments?
I mean, I was intensely proud of all of the things I'd achieved in my life.
I was also very proud that I'd been able to save my people from this dragon,
even if it meant myself dying in the process.
[ Beowulf's final thoughts ]
It is better to find bravery within than to pull away from a challenge.
Always look for your inner hero and let it guide you down the righteous path,
so that you can be your own warrior,
in whatever way you need to be.
[ Beowulf ]
[ The Confessions ]