Book is ix + 86 pp.; color illus. A collection of 9 medieval stories, all told by Osborne. The book's main content is preceded by an introduction (vi-ix), and is followed by "Notes on the Stories" (73-80), an "Artist's Note" (81-83), a select bibliography (84), and an index (85-86). The Beowulf story covers the Grendelkin episodes and concludes with Beowulf's return to Geatland for a long reign. Apart from an architectural frame on p. 8, "Beowulf" contains one picture (Beowulf grasping Grendel's arm, p. 12). In the "Artist's Note," Howell indicates that he was inspired in his depiction of Grendel by "the bizarre creations of the late-medieval painters Bosch and Dürer" (81).

The text of each tale is preceded by an epigraph-style excerpt from the original, in the original language and then translated; the excerpt at the head of "Beowulf" is ll. 710-11, replacing eth and thorn with "th" and æsc with "ae," thus:

Tha com of more     under mist-hleothum
Grendel gongan,     Godes yrre baer
                    —Old English—

Then up from the marsh,
under misty cliffs,
Grendel came walking;
he bore God's wrath
                    —English translation— (8)

No source is credited for the Old English text, but the subsequent translation, by Howell D. Chickering, Jr., is credited in the "Notes on the Stories" (73).

After its epigraph, the Beowulf retelling begins:

Long ago King Hrothgar of Denmark built a towering feast hall named Herot. There each night, he hosted a sumptuous banquet and showered his guests with glittering goldern treasures.

There was only one in Denmark who despised the joyous sounds that came from Herot. His name was Grendel, and he was a hideous monster who ruled the swamps and lowlands.

One dark night, during a glorious banquet, Grendel rose from his marshy lake. With gleaming yellow eyes, he prowled the misty moors until he came to King Hrothgar's great feast hall. (9)

And the story ends:

When the bright light of morning chased away the shadows, they celebrated Beowulf's victory once more. They knew now that the great hall was truly safe.

The old king wept as he said good-bye to Beowulf. He promised that there would be peace forever between their two lands.

Bearing gifts and treasures, Beowulf and his men sailed through deep waters back to their homeland. And for the next fifty winters, Beowulf was the wise ruler of his people. (16)

Not in MO2.

BAM.