Book is xv + 408 pp. + plates; b/w illus., color frontispiece (reproductions of paintings). The frontispiece must be counted in the pagination as p. v, but all other plates are unnumbered. The Beowulf chapter has 3 illustrations (the first of the 4 contained in the 1909 edition, by Count Harrach, has been removed): "Beowulf Vows to Slay Grendel" by Evelyn Paul, opposite p. 4; "Beowulf Challenged by the Coastguard" by Evelyn Paul, opposite p. 6; and "Funeral of a Northern Chief" by F. Cormon, opposite p. 16. The Beowulf story follows a very brief introduction and contains brief extracts from the translations by Conybeare, Metcalfe, J. L. Hall, Keary, and Longfellow.

The retelling begins:

Hrothgar (the modern Roger), King of Denmark, was a descendant of Odin, being the third monarch of the celebrated dynasty of the Skioldungs, whose chief boast was their descent from Skeaf, or Skiold, Odin's son, who had one day drifted mysteriously to their shores. Full of excitement the people crowded round to look at this wonderful infant, who lay smiling sweetly in the middle of a boat, on a sheaf of ripe wheat, surrounded by priceless weapons and jewels. Now it happened that at that very time the Danes were seeking for a ruler. They therefore immediately recognised the hand of Odin in this mysterious advent, proclaimed the child king, and obeyed him loyally as long as he lived. Years went by, and at last Skeaf felt the sure hand of death closing upon him. Anxiously he called his nobles about him and explained to them the manner in which he must needs leave them. Obeying his orders, therefore, they prepared a boat, and decked it lavishly with gold and jewels. Then, seeing that all was ready, the dying monarch dragged himself on board and stretched his limbs on a funeral pyre, in the midst of which rose a sheaf of corn. So he drifted out into the wide ocean, disappearing as mysteriously as he had come. (1-2)

And ends:

Meanwhile the warriors were standing helplessly by, trying to conceal their grief over the death of their dear chief. Beowulf, seeing their sorrow, made one last effort to address them. In a faint but eager voice he spoke to them all of the love that he felt for them, and reminded them of the great deeds that had marked his reign. With some of his old fire he urged them to maintain the honour of their race, so that the name of Geate should still be known far and wide among all men as the symbol of courage and loyalty. Finally he expressed a desire to be buried in a mighty mound on a projecting headland, which could be seen far out at sea, and would be called by his name.

                                    "'And now,
Short while I tarry here—when I am gone,
Bid them upon yon headland's summit rear
A lofty mound, by Rona's seagirt cliff;
So shall my people hold to after times
Their chieftain's memory, and the mariners
That drive afar to sea, oft as they pass,
Shall point to Beowulf's tomb.'"
                         Beowulf (Conybeare's tr.).

These directions were all piously carried out by a mourning people, who decked his mound with the gold he had won, and erected above it a Bauta, or memorial stone, to show how dearly they had loved their brave king Beowulf, who had died to save them from the fury of the dragon. (16-17; double sets of quotation marks and attribution of verse extract as in original)

Not in Fry, MO1, GR, or MO2. See the entry for this book's 1909 edition for a correction of its bibliographic conflation with a different book by Guerber.

BAM.