BEOWULF SCRIPT
CHAPTER 1
Narrator (Phoebe): At the feet of the royal couple sat Beowulf, at a table especially
prepared for the king’s earls. These were the most favored and beloved of all the
warriors of Geatsland. But many were the murmurs of jealousy and discontent
among the lords when they beheld young Beowulf in such a place.
Gabriel: (In an angry voice) Who is this sluggard Beowulf, that he should sit directly
below our King!
Gian: It is because he is the son of our King’s sister and brave Ecgtheow; and because
he has the strength in his arms and legs of thirty men.
Narrator (Phoebe): The older lords shook their grayheads disapprovingly and the
younger men sighed and scowled with jealousy.
Gian: Look you, you foolish ones. It is written in the stars that this Beowulf whom
you called sluggard will one day be famous in song and story for his deeds of
surpassing bravery and strength.
Narrator: But Beoowulf, unmindfull of the talk about him, sat in a gloomy silence.
His thought were deep and long.
CHAPTER 2
Narrator: The King himself appeared, wrapped in a rich mantle. He was an old man
with flowing white beard, strong hands and eyes that told their own story of
sleepless nights and harassed days. As the party approached Beowulf, the king, with
hands outstretched, advanced with firm steps toward the Geatish lords.
Hrothgar: I bid you welcome, O strangers, for I can see at once that you cam upon
a friendly errand into this unhappy kingdom. Tell mr, I pray, whence you have
journeyed, for my trusty Herald tells me that you ordered him to me, and would say
nothing of yourself or of your business. Speak, my friends, for it is not proper that I
should remain in ignorance of your identity.
Beowulf: I am Beowulf, Prince of Weders, son of Ecgtheow, and nephew to that
good man Hygelac, King of Geatsland. These my fellows have joined me in coming
to the land of the Danes, that we may deliver you from this arch-fiend Grendel of
whom we have heard dread things.
Hrothgar: Beowulf, son of Ecgtheo. Why! This is in truth the son of my old war-
brother, my friend! For Ecgtheow and I were comrades in arms many years ago,
before sorrow came to Daneland. I knew you Beowulf, when as a child you played
your father’s hearth, pulling the ears of his dogs so that they cried out in pain and
astonishment that one so young could have such strength in him.
Narrator: Thus speaking, Hrothgar turned to his attendants and bade them prepare
the Hall for Beowulf and his warriors, and there was preparation everywhere for
the feast that was to be held for these visitors far-off Geatsland.
CHAPTER 3
Narrator: When Wiglaf killed the dragon, he turned to Beowulf, who was dying. He
knelt at his side, took him dying in his arms, and loosened the helmet from his brow.
Wiglaf: Oh my dear master, leave us not in your hour of triumph.
Beowulf: Nay, tis not my triumph but that of a faithful friend, my Wiglaf. Take the
treasure, do what you will with it. But… let me have one piece of it about me as I
die. For I die soon, my friend… so haste you…haste.
Narrator: Then Wiglaf went into the dragon’s barrow and beheld there the greatest
treasure, surely, in all the world. And he selected from the heaped-up gold and jewels a
wondrous crown of glittering gems, and this he placed upon the brow of his king.
Beowulf: I die, and I forgive those others- those foolish ones who deserted me in
my hour. Farewell, good Wiglaf, my own true friend. Make a barrow for me upon the
Whale’s Headland. Farewell… and now I shall sleep… the longest sleep.
Narrator: And so died Beowulf, greatest and truest of all the early heroes of legend.
