Beowulf

Beowulf. 2010 translation, 3 hours. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

The most famous Anglo-Saxon epic tale, Beowulf tells the story of Beowulf, a hero who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes. The great ogre Grendel has been besieging Hrothgar’s hall in his capital and has killed many when Beowulf arrives with his crew of men from Geats to assist the Danish king. In a violent battle, Beowulf outsmarts Grendel and manages to slay him. Grendel’s mother, wishing to avenge the death of her son, attacks the hall the following night and kills Hrothgar’s most favored warrior. Beowulf once again sets forth and this time he dives at the bottom of the lake to find her lair. In an epic battle, Beowulf is eventually triumphant over Grendel’s mother and he cuts Grendel’s head, whose corpse also laid in the cave.

Beowulf returns home with prestige and wealth, and becomes king of his countrymen. Many decades pass when a slave steals a cup from a dragon’s lair. That dragon, mighty angry at this, comes out looking for his missing loot and burns everything along the way. Beowulf, now old and wizened, sets forth with his warriors and confronts the dragon alone at first before being joined by a courageous fighter, manage to slay the dragon but not before being mortally wounded.

The conflict between good and evil runs deep in this epic story which inspired much poetry and literature, and fans of fantasy will appreciate its precursor nature.