Beowulf
The story of Beowulf (Part of episode 4, there are 12 episodes)
Background - Beowulf is a dragon slayer. He lived around 500 AD, and his name is found in genealogies of that time, so he is likely a real person. He has killed either 7 or 9 sea monsters according to who does the translation. The Danes build a big beautiful castle but they cannot use it because it is frequently visited by a monster called Grendel. Grendel kills as many as 30 people at a time. He sometimes even stays there during the day.
http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/beowulf3.htm
Came then from the moor
under the misty hills
Grendel stalking under
the weight of God's anger.
That wicked ravager
planned to ensnare
many of the race of men
in the high hall.
He strode under the clouds,
seeking eagerly, till he came to
the wine-hall, the treasure-hall
of men decorated in gold.
Nor was it the first time he
had sought Hrothgar's home.
But never in his life before
--or since--
did he find worse luck!
Came then to the building
that creature bereft of joys.
When he touched it with his hands
the door gave way at once
though its bands were forged
in fire. Intending evil,
enraged, he swung the door wide,
stood at the building's mouth.
Quickly the foe moved
across the well-made floor,
in an angry mood--a horrible light,
like fire, in his eyes.
He saw the many warriors in the building,
that band of kinsmen asleep
together, and his spirit laughed:
that monster expected
to rip life from the body of each
one before morning came.
He expected a plentiful meal.
(It was his fate
that he eat no more
of the race of men
after that night. . .)
The mighty one, Beowulf, watched,
waiting to see how that wicked one
would go about starting.
Nor did the wretch delay,
but set about seizing
a sleeping warrior unawares
and bit into his bone locks,
drinking the streams of blood,
then swallowing huge morsels
of flesh. Quickly he ate that man,
even to his hands and feet.
Forward Grendel came,
stepping nearer. Then
he reached for Beowulf.
Beowulf grasped his arm
and sat up. The criminal
knew he had not met
in this middle-earth
another with such a grip.
Grendel's spirit was afraid
and his heart eager
to get away, to flee
to his hiding place, flee
to the devils he kept
for company. Never had he met
a man such as this.
Beowulf then kept in mind
the speeches he had made
in the evening and stood
upright, firmly grasping
Grendel's hand until
the fingers broke.
The monster strove to escape.
Beowulf stepped closer. That
famous monster suddenly wanted
to disappear into the fens.
He realized the power of those hands,
the wrathful grip he was in.
Grendel felt sorry
he had made a trip to Herot.
That hall of warriors dinned.
All the Danes of the city,
all the brave ones, feared disaster.
The building resounded.
It is a wonder the wine-hall
withstood the battle,
that the beautiful building
did not fall to the ground.
But it was made fast,
within and without,
with iron bands
forged with great skill.
I have heard say
many a mead bench
adorned in gold
went flying when
those hostiles fought.
No wise man had ever thought
that splendid building could
be damaged (unless a fire
should swallow it).
The din rose louder, the Danes stood
in dreadful terror--everyone
heard lamentation, a terrifying
song, through the wall:
Grendel, Hell's friend,
God's enemy, sang in defeat,
bewailing his wound.
That man, mightiest
of warriors alive, held fast.
He would not
for any reason
allow his murderous visitor
to escape alive,
to keep the days of his life.
Beowulf's warriors brandished
many a sword, inheritances
from the ancient days,
trying to protect their chief,
but that did no good: they
could not have known, those
brave warriors as they fought,
striking from all sides, seeking
to take Grendel's soul, that
no battle sword could harm him--
he had enchantment against
the edges of weapons.
The end of Grendel's life was
miserable, and he would travel
far into the hands of fiends.
Grendel, the foe of God, who had
long troubled the spirits of men
with his crimes, found that
his body could not stand against
the hand grip of that warrior.
Each was hateful to the other
alive. The horrible monster endured
a wound: the bone-locks
of his shoulder gave way,
and his sinews sprang out.
The glory of battle went to
Beowulf, and Grendel,
mortally wounded,
sought his sad home
under the fen slope.
He knew surely that
his life had reached its end,
the number of his days gone.
The hope of the Danes
had come to pass--He
who came from far had
cleansed Hrothgar's hall
and saved it from affliction.
They rejoiced it that
night's work. Beowulf had
fulfilled his promise
to the Danes and all
the distress they had endured,
all the trouble and sorrow,
had reached an end.
The fact was plain when
Beowulf laid that arm
and shoulder down, there
altogether, Grendel's claw,
under the vaulted roof.
When I first read this I thought it was nonsense. You cannot kill a monster just by breaking its arm. However further research has revealed that was in fact a known method of killing these monsters. The first trick was to get under the monster. Once you are under its head it cannot bite you. Then the joints on the arms are very weak and flimsy. If you break the arm you can also break a major blood vessel and the creature will bleed to death.
In the end Beowulf is killed by a fire breathing dragon. It was so scary that all of his men ran away in fear of it. However when Beowulf fails to cut through the monsters neck it kills him. One of his men then gets up the courage to fight the dragon and kills it but it is too late for Beowulf.