iii + 117 pp. Number XIV in the Penguin Epics series of small paperbacks with colorful covers. Reproduces in full Alexander's verse translation in its 2001 form, but without introductory materials or other paratexts; there are no notes, appendices, or aids of any kind other than this statement following the copyright page: "Beowulf is the most significant surviving Old English poem. It is set on the North Sea coasts of the fifth and sixth centuries and tells of the struggles of Beowulf to defend his people. Beowulf survives in a single manuscript from about 1010 but was first composed generations earlier" (iii).

Back cover copy:

WHEN AN EVIL MONSTER TERRORIZES THE LAND, ONLY ONE MAN CAN STOP HIM…

A new horror stalks the ancient kingdom of the Danes. Grendel, a hideous beast, has crawled from hell to lay waste to the country and devour its people. His reign of slaughter seems unstoppable.

The mighty warrior Beowulf comes forward to fight this demonic enemy. But Grendel has a powerful and deadly ally. Can Beowulf survive the rage of a fiendish mother who will destroy anyone who harms her child?

The translation begins:

Attend!
We have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark,
how the folk-kings flourished in former days,
how those royal athelings earned that glory.

Was it not Scyld Shefing that shook the halls,
took mead-benches, taught encroaching
foes to fear him—who, found in childhood,
lacked clothing? Yet he lived and prospered,
grew in strength and stature under the heavens
until the clans settled in the sea-coasts neighbouring
over the whale-road all must obey him
and give tribute. He was a good king! (1; italics as in original)

And ends:

Then the warriors rode around the barrow,
twelve of them in all, athelings' sons.
They recited a dirge to declare their grief,
spoke of the man, mourned their King.
They praised his manhood and the prowess of his hands,
they raised his name; it is right a man
should be lavish in honouring his lord and friend,
should love him in his heart when the leading-forth
from the house of flesh befalls him at last.

This was the manner of the mourning of the men of the Geats,
sharers in the feast, at the fall of their lord:
they said that he was of all the world's kings
the gentlest of men, and the most gracious,
the kindest to his people, the keenest for fame. (117)

BAM.