Reading notes: Beowulf, unit A

Beowulf. Courtesy of Helen Stratton.
Source: Wikimedia.

For this set of reading notes, I ventured into the epic tale of Beowulf. One thing I noticed in these stories is the sumptuous language and descriptions the author uses — everything is described in such detail. Since this story is lengthy and has lots of pieces, I would do a retelling with multiple parts of this tale combined. I think I would want to retell it in a more modern context, but keep the characteristics of all the main players in the story. 

Maybe Beowulf is a high school athlete who's pretty revered for his strength (a swimmer, to go with the legend about him beating Breca in the water), but who's expected to inherit the family wilderness guide business (a job that requires wits and strength). The other guides would be jealous because of their years of experience in the outdoors compared to his relative youth, and the company would have a rival wilderness guide business that covers different territory. 

At a company meeting one day, Beowulf's uncle, the head of the little adventure guide business, would invite a learned and revered guide to speak to the group, and the guide would detail the struggles he heard about from the rival business. That business would be terrorized by a terrible mountain creature — some enormous bear or wolf — and Beowulf would volunteer to go investigate and fight off the creature. In my version, Beowulf would go with only two or three coworkers, and armed with the finest survival equipment and weaponry.

Like in the original story, Beowulf and his companions would be greeted not unkindly at the rival company, but by men living in fear who have lost many of their companions to the monster. My story would end as Beowulf awakes the morning after his arrival and prepares to meet the beast in the wilderness with the blessing of the house. I think the only other change I might make is to tell the story from Beowulf's perspective. 

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry Pitz (1933). Web source.