42 BEOWULF, GBENDEL AND HIS MOTHER 



his shoulder from the furious blow she gave. Suddenly 

 he saw lying on the floor a magic sword ; a huge weapon 

 with finest edge, forged of old in the time of the Jotuns, or 

 giants, whose work it was. No ordinary man could have 

 wielded that blade, but Beowulf seized it, and smote the 

 witch a fearful blow, almost cleaving her body in twain. 

 A bright light shone up at once in the cavern, which the 

 warrior now began to explore ; nor had he gone far before 

 he found Grendel lying on a couch, dead, so Beowulf cut 

 off his head. Meanwhile Hrothgar and the rest of the 

 Danes had been sitting watching the water, which 

 suddenly became thick and stained with blood ; they had 

 no hope that Beowulf survived. What, then, was their 

 astonishment and delight to see him swimming towards 

 them, breasting the waves with mighty strokes, and 

 bearing the head of Grendel with him. And now a 

 marvel befell ; the sword with which Grendel's mother 

 had been slain began slowly to melt away, just like 

 ice ; for the hag's blood was of such power that it 

 consumed the blade, until nothing was left but the hilt, 

 which was of gold, richly chased, and carved with strange 

 characters called ' runes.' Beowulf swam ashore, and 

 gave an account of his adventures ; four men, as we have 

 already said, bore Grendel's head to the Palace, where 

 the hilt of the magic sword was closely examined. The 

 characters graven upon it were found to be a description 

 of the battle between the Gods and the Frost-Giants, in 

 which the Giants were defeated and overwhelmed in a 

 flood. There is an account of it in an Icelandic poem, 

 called the ' Voluspa,' or the ' Song of the Prophetess,' 

 which describes the Northern ideas of the creation of the 

 world ; and tells how evil and death came upon man, 

 predicts the destruction of the universe, and gives an 

 account of the future abodes of bliss and misery. Thus 

 did Beowulf deliver the Danes from their misfortunes, 

 after which he returned home, and on the death of his 

 uncle, Hvgelac, became King of Gotland. 



