Fitt XV — Hrothgar's Gratitude

Hrothgar goes up to the hall, stands at the pillar, and sees the steep-rising hall-roof gleaming with gold and Grendel's hand hanging from it. The sight breaks open the gratitude he has been holding for twelve years. He gives thanks at once to the Ruler — much evil has he borne, grief at Grendel's hands, but God can always work wonder upon wonder, Lord of Glory. Just lately he thought he would never find comfort for any of his sorrows; now a single brave warrior has accomplished what all of his excellent wisdom had failed to do. The theological attribution is absolute: this is God's work, not merely a hero's strength.

The personal expression of gratitude follows. Hrothgar says he will love Beowulf in his heart as his own son, and keep well from now on this new kinship. Beowulf shall never lack any of the earth-joys Hrothgar can give him. Often for lesser service, he says, he has given treasure to a less hardy hero, a weaker man in war. By deeds of distinction Beowulf has now gained a glory that will flourish forever and ever. The language of gift-giving and kinship — the poem's economic and emotional register simultaneously — is deployed at its fullest extension here: Hrothgar is adopting the hero into his household as the supreme expression of gratitude.

Beowulf's reply is characteristic. He would have liked to show Hrothgar the creature in person — he meant to bind him fast on the death-bed with fetters, so that the hated enemy would have lain low in a life-and-death struggle. But God did not will it; the foe was too swift. Still: the monster left his arm behind as a marker. The reply is not modest — it notes what Beowulf intended and why it was better than what happened — but it is honest about the outcome. The preparation for the great feast of reward begins, and Heorot is set right by hand: tapestries gleaming on the walls, the hall made whole again except for its torn hinges and twisted door-bands.