Beowulf Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair. Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon, some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his "thegns" or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon to its lair at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish
Beowulf in front of him. In the way that it is currently bound, the "Beowulf" manuscript is followed by the Old English poem "Judith". "Judith" was written by the same scribe that completed "Beowulf" as evidenced through similar writing style. Worm-holes found in the last leaves of the "Beowulf" manuscript that aren't present in the "Judith" manuscript suggest that at one point "Beowulf" ended the volume. The rubbed appearance of some leaves also suggest that the manuscript stood on a shelf unbound, as is known to have been the case with other Old English manuscripts. From knowledge of books held in