Week 12 Story: Beowulf: The End of Beowulf
One Last Fight
Beowulf was a great man and leader. He was known throughout the land as one to be
feared. He defeated the evil monster Grendel and its mother to solidify his place
in the world. As Beowulf started to age, he found that he no longer had the same
stamina and energy that he once did when he was younger. To counteract this
Beowulf started to study old battle plans and strategies from the enemies that
he had conquered. That way he would be a
more impressive tactician and could use that to his advantage come battle
time. Soon, when Beowulf turned 65, he
heard tales of a dragon that was destroying the outlying cities near his
kingdom. He knew that something must be down,
but he was not sure that he would have the strength for one last battle. He called together his generals and friends
and asked their opinions. They all
agreed that something must be done about the dragon and all turned to see what
Beowulf wanted to do. Beowulf said, “Men,
if we take on this dragon it is likely to be my last journey with you. When I was a young boy a seer foretold that
my death would come at the hands of great beast that breathed fire. We have never encountered this kind of
adversary before and I fear it may bring death to most of us.” The men told Beowulf they would stand by his
side until the day he died. Beowulf then
decided that they should go and stop this creature from destroying more lives. The journey was going to take about a week to
reach the dragons lair, so everyone paced themselves greatly as to not use up
too much energy. On the 14th
night they came across the dragon destroying a small farm and eating a
goat. Beowulf yelled, “Charge! Onward
men, destroy that foul beast.” Beowulf
and his men charged and what proceeded next was a massacre. The dragon was well rested and fed and was able
to easily kill many of Beowulf’s men with the swipe of his talons. Beowulf saw that they were no match between
the dragon, so they retreated to a neighboring city. He then proceeded to come up with a plan
where they would only attack the dragon at night time until it was destroyed. Unfortunately
for him, Beowulf did not realize it would be that easy.
Death
The battle between Beowulf, his men
and the dragon waged on for countless days. Eventually, Beowulf could see that his force
was being depleted and he was losing some of his very good friends. One night he devised a plan to sneak away and
face the dragon one on one. He prayed to
the God, Northwen, the goddess of strength, to grant him one last surge of
energy that would help him defeat the dragon and spare the lives of his men. As
Beowulf made the long trek into the dragon’s cave, he felt a rush of energy and
strength that he had not felt since he was a young man. As he was admiring the new sensations that he
was feeling he heard a snarl in the distance and saw two beady yellow eyes look
back at him. As soon as Beowulf put his shield up a blast of fire erupted out
of the darkness and headed straight toward him.
Luckily, Beowulf’s shield was able to stop the fire as he crept closer
to the dragon. As soon as Beowulf got
close enough, he drew his blade and started to swing wildly. His first couple strikes were true and injured
the dragon, but unfortunately that just made it more pissed off. The dragon was
swinging its talons at Beowulf, who was having to parrying while also trying to
find a way to kill the dragon. The battle went on for a little while, and
meanwhile back at camp, his closest friend John, noticed that Beowulf was
missing. John got up and yelled out, “Everyone
to arms, Beowulf has gone to fight the dragon!” As the men raced to get their
armor on and swords together, they heard a loud yell that sounded like it could
only come from a human. They had no idea what was transpiring so they raced crossed
the battled field and dead carcasses of their fallen comrades and into the cave
of the dragon. When they arrived, they saw that the dragon lay dead and Beowulf
seemed to be staggering as he was walking toward them. John raced towards him
and his heart dropped. Beowulf was holding
his intestines in his hands trying to keep them from spilling out. John yelled
out, “Quick bring the medic over here now! Beowulf is injured!” As soon as John
reached him Beowulf fell to the ground. Beowulf told John that his lie was over,
and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on. As the medics arrived and tried
to bandage him up Beowulf decided to use his last few breaths to tell John about
the fight. Beowulf whispered in John’s
ear about how the dragon had cut his stomach opened and how he played dead. As
the dragon crept over to investigate and was about to swallow him, Beowulf told
of how he rolled over and stuck his sword up the dragon’s mouth into its brain
killing him. As soon as Beowulf told finished telling John everything he died. John
and the surviving men carried Beowulf’s body back to his kingdom and once they
got their they held a 4-day festival of life for him. Beowulf had always said
that if he was to die, he wanted people to celebrate his life and not to mourn. Eventually Beowulf was entombed below his
castle and laid to rest. The great deeds and accomplishments of the strong
Beowulf were whispered across the world. Even to this day people still talk
about him.
Beowulf facing the Dragon. (1914)
Logan Marshall. Source: Wikicommons
Authors Note:
I wanted this story to focus on the
final battle of Beowulf’s life. I added
a lot more detail into the fight and even created some new characters to help
drive the narrative along. In the original story Beowulf just fights the dragon
and he get killed by it. His men are the
ones who eventually kill the dragon and I thought that was boring. I thought it would be a better prospective to
have Beowulf go out fighting in his final battle to defend his friends. It is
also noted in the mythology that he was a longer, so I wanted to give him friends
to make him more humanized. I feel that no one would really be able to respond or
sympathize with a loaner. Finally, I thought
it would be interesting to have Beowulf die the way that he was told he was
going to die when he was younger. I know
that never happened in the stories, but I thought it might spice up this story.
Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Beowulf: The End of Beowulf. Beowulf: The End of Beowulf
Hi Andrew! I really enjoyed your story! I read Beowulf when I was in high school and really liked it, so it was fun to read your story and remember all the things I'd learned. I love that you decided to spice it up by having Beowulf be the one to kill the dragon — I agree, it's boring that his men are the one who kill the dragon. I really liked the addition of the prophecy of the way he would die, too! The only thing I can see to suggest is that there are a few typos, so make sure to double-check that when you're writing!
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew! Great week 12 story. I remember reading Beowulf in high school. I wouldn’t say I remember everything, but I do remember it being a little boring because it lacked great detail. I think your retelling of this story goes above and beyond what I remember from the original. I enjoyed the way you had Beowulf die how he was original told he would. With all the detail that you added in between that and the ending, it did make the story more interesting! Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew! This was a great story with tremendous detail. I do not have much knowledge of Beowulf, but your story had more than enough detail that I felt like I knew he was all along. It was unfortunate to see him die, but I am glad that you added the detailed author's note to show how your story differs from the original.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew! I loved reading your story about Beowulf! I actually read a novel in high school about the villian, Grendel, so it gave me a very interesting perspective through which I could read your story. I thought you did a great job with providing detail into the emotions of Beowulf, and I can't wait to read more!
ReplyDelete