Book is xiv + 415 pp. A prose re-creation, in the style of a folktale, of what J. R. R. Tolkien believed to be the basic elements of the Beowulf story, in both neo-Old English (incomplete) and Modern English versions. He acknowledged it as an imaginative creation rather than a true reconstruction, as indicated in a note of his that Christopher Tolkien reproduces:

This version is a story, not the story. It is only to a limited extent an attempt to reconstruct the Anglo-Saxon tale that lies behind the folk-tale element in Beowulf—in many points it is not possible to do this with certainty; in some points (e.g. the omission of the journey of Grendel's dam) my tale is not quite the same.

Its principal object is to exhibit the difference of style, tone and atmosphere if the particular heroic or historical is cut out. (355; italics in original)

C. Tolkien presents the final form of the Modern English version (360-86), then a summarizing comparison of this version with the earliest manuscript version (387-403), and then the neo-Old English version as far as it goes in an apparently final form (404-14), with introductory comments and notes.

The Modern English version begins:

Once upon a time there was a King in the North of the world who had an only daughter, and in his house there was a young lad who was not like the others. One day some huntsmen had come upon a great bear in the mountains. They tracked him to his lair and killed him, and in his den they found a man-child. They marvelled much, for it was a fine child, about three years old, and in good health, but it could speak no words. It seemed to the huntsmen that it must have been fostered by the bears, for it growled like a cub. (360)

And ends:

Beewolf was now a mighty man in the land, and he fought for his King in many great wars, and gained him many victories. It is said that at times in the heat of battle he would put up his sword and cast away his shield and seize the captain of his enemies and crush the life out of him with his arms. The fear of his strength and his valour went far and wide. A great lord he became, with broad lands and many rings; and he wedded the King's only daughter. And after the King's day was done, Beewolf became king in his stead, and lived long in glory. As long as he lived he loved honey dearly, and the mead in his hall was ever of the best. (385)

The neo-Old English version begins:

On ǽrdagum wæs wuniende be norþdǽlum middangeardes sum cyning, þe ángan dohtor hæfde. On his húse wæs éac án cniht óþrum ungelíc. For þam þe hit ǽr gelamp þæt þæs cyninges huntan micelne beran gemétton on þam beorgum, ond hie spyredon æfter him to his denne, and hine þǽr ofslógon. On þam denne fundon hie hysecild. Þúhte him micel wundor, for þam þe þæt child wæs seofonwintre, and gréat, and æghwæs gesund, bútan hit nan word ne cúþe, ac grunode swá swá wildéor; for þam þe beran hit aféddon. (407)

And the portion of the neo-Old English version that is presented by C. Tolkien concludes:

"Lá! léofa Unfriþ!" cwæþ Béowulf. "Hwæt! Þu woffast béore druncen, dollíce gesegest eall on unriht! Eornostlíce wæs ic hit þe mín béot gelǽste, nealles se earma Breca. Þéah wæs ic þá giet cniht án. Sóþlíce is mín wæstm hwéne mára núþa. Ac uton nú gefrýnd weorþan!"

Þá nóm he Unfriþ úp, ymbfæþmode hine, and clypte hine leohtlíce (swá him þúhte). Wæs hit þéah þam óþrum genóg, and siþþan Béowulf hine alíesde, þá lét Unfriþ swíþe fréondlíce, þá hwíle þe Béowulf wæs him néah gesett.

Hraþe æfter þon ongann seo sunne niþer gewítan, wurdon sceadwa lange ofer eorðan. Þá arás se cyning; menn ónetton of þǽre healle. (413-14)

Dimitra Fimi, "Tolkien and Folklore: Sellic Spell and The Lay of Beowulf," Mallorn 55 (2014): 27-28.

BAM (1st U.S. ed.).