Part
One of The Eternal Trial of Beowulf
In walked Beowulf, wearing shackles. Man, that dragon had done a number
on him
in the last battle. He looked really beat up. "Please rise for the
honorable judge," the bailiff shouted in the noisy courtroom. Everyone
quieted down and rose to their feet as the Judge walked to his bench.
"You
may all be seated," the Judge said in his stern, authoritative voice.
"The eternal trial of Beowulf will now begin. Beowulf is on trial for
three counts of murder concerning the deaths of Grendel, the Water
Witch, and the Fire Dragon." He then banged his
gavel off of the bench. The courtroom was full of witnesses, important
officials, and people waiting to see what would happen to Beowulf.
The first witness to the stand was King Hrothgar, who had been king of
the Danes
when all of the events mentioned in this trial took place. King
Hrothgar approached the witness stand, was sworn in, and began to
answer the questions
the defense was asking.
"Why exactly did Beowulf come to Daneland?
What were his reasons?" the defense attorney asked King Hrothgar as he
paced back and forth in front of the witness stand where Hrothgar was
seated.
"Well, I'll start from the very beginning, with our troubles
with Grendel." So King Hrothgar started telling the story of Grendel
the Ogre's reign of terror on the Danes.
I had this great hall built for all my treasures. It was named Hart
Hall. After the hall was finished, we had a feast and gathering in it
for several nights. One night after we had all drunk mead and
played music,
we went to sleep. Half my men and I awoke to the beautiful hall covered
in blood, The other half of my men were missing. I knew that the
only thing that could cause this much destruction was that horrible
ogre, Grendel. Grendel was this horrible creature that lived nearby
Daneland. He couldn't stand for anyone else to be happy because he
wasn't ever happy. I think that is why he killed my men, because we
were so happy and enjoying ourselves. The next night we did not
celebrate
or feast. Instead we went right to sleep to mourn our lost men.
I guess Grendel was not satisfied with the pain he had already caused
us because that night he came back and took more of my men. After two
nights of this terror, what was left of my men refused to sleep in Hart
Hall. My remaining men refused to sleep in Hart Hall for twelve years.
Twelve long years my beautiful creation was empty. Grendel tormented my
country the whole time. I was at a loss as to what to do. Then, one day
a very
noble young man who went by the name of Beowulf arrived at the shores
of my country and told me he had heard of our great terror and the evil
creature Grendel. He had brought his finest soldiers with him to help
Daneland win its freedom from this horrible creature. I knew of Beowulf
since he was a child and I also knew of his great strengths. I accepted
Beowulf's selfless offer of help and held a big feast for him that
night. That is the story of how Beowulf came to my country.
"So you are saying Beowulf's journey to Daneland was a selfless deed
for a country that wasn't even his?" asked the defense attorney.
"Yes, that's
what I'm saying," replied Hrothgar.
"That will be all for now," stated
the defense while walking back to his table.
"Does the prosecution have
any questions for the witness?" asked the Judge.
"No, your Honor, we do
not," replied the prosecution.
"The defense would like to call
Beowulf to the stand." Beowulf walked wearily up to the witness stand
to
be take his oath while his lawyer, the best in the eternal world, spoke
to him. "Beowulf, why did
you travel to such great lengths to help free Daneland from Grendel? I
don't understand why you made such a selfless move with nothing
promised in return."
"My family, specifically my father, has known King
Hrothgar since I was a small child. I knew I had the strength and
ability to defeat Grendel so I did so out of the goodness of my heart
for a family friend who was in need," replied Beowulf nervously. I
would be nervous too if everything I said could determine where I would
spend the rest of eternity.
"I have no more questions, your Honor." The defense went and sat
down.
"Prosecutor, do you have anything you would
like to add?" the Judge asked.
"No, I do not," the lawyer replied.
"Well,
that will be all for today. We will pick back up where we left off at
tomorrow. Court is adjourned," rang the Judge's stern voice throughout
the courtroom.
I finished writing down all the proceedings and began on
my way home. Whoo, I am tired after this long day on the job. Digby has
to get himself into bed and get some rest so I can bring you more
gossip and news tomorrow. Goodnight everyone.
Author's Note: In the original story,
this is actually two stories. Since they were both relevant to each
other I rolled them into one.Both of the original stories were long so
I wouldn't have been able to tell them in shorter length without
combining and leaving out unimportant details. By doing this I was able
to tell all the information about this specific event in one story,
saving room for my other stories. There is much more detail in the
first original story about how Grendel tormented the Danes but since
that really wasn't what Beowulf and King Hrothgar were being questioned
about in this story I chose to leave it out to keep the length below
the maximum limit. There was also greater detail about Hart Hall and
the happenings there in the original story. The second original story
that I rolled into this one told of how Beowulf came to Daneland. It
was much more detailed about Beowulf's arrival and the feast and gifts
given to him the night of his arrival. I kept all of the main events
the same but left out little details that added detail to
the
story. This story is the first day in the courtroom of
Beowulf's trial
so it provides a bit of pre-battle information that is necessary to
know, like why Beowulf came to save the Danes. In my next story, I will
begin to tell the story of Beowulf's battle with Grendel.
Back To The Coverpage...
Back to the Introduction...
Part Two of the Eternal Trial of Beowulf...
Part Three of The Eternal Trial of Beowulf...
Part Four of The Eternal Trial of Beowulf, The
Verdict...
Judge's Gavel. Image Source: VivirLatino
Grendel the Ogre Image Source:
The
Baldwin Project
Bibliography Information
Story: How Grendel the Ogre
Warred
With The Dane Folk.
Book: Stories of Beowulf Told To The Children.
Author: H.E. Marshall.
Year Published:1908
Web Source: The
Baldwin Project
Story: How Beowulf the Goth Came to Daneland
Book: Stories of Beowulf Told To The Children
Author: H.E. Marshall
Year Published: 1908
Web Source: The
Baldwin Project