Hwæt! Blame it on Beowulf!

The saga begins with a hearty "Hwæt!", which is "Lo" for those not fluent in old English. Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship, dating from between the 8th to the 11th century. Grendel was a monster, one of a giant race which survived the great flood. He is slain by Beowulf. It is believed that his origins stretch back to Cain, who killed Abel. Today's college students know Beowulf only as a character in a fantastic 3-D movie, filmed with over 200 special cameras! One of the producers of the movie, Robert Zemeckis, did not even like the poem, but enjoyed reading the screenplay. Because of an expanded budget, Zemeckis told the screenwriters to rewrite their script, because "there is nothing that you could write that would cost me more than a million dollars per minute to film. Go wild!" In particular, the entire fight with the dragon was rewritten from a talky confrontation to a battle spanning the cliffs and the sea.

When I was a college student, well before the advent of Audible.com, students actually read novels and poems. One of the required readings in our Introduction to English Literature course was "Beowulf. Now the course might have been palatable if our instructor had been J. R. R. Tolkien. You know him as the man responsible for the movie "Lord Of The Rings". Tolkien was a scholar, who, in 1936, gave a lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics". In this talk, Tolkien spoke against critics who played down the fantastic elements of the poem (such as Grendel and the dragon) in favor of using Beowulf solely as a source for Anglo-Saxon history.

The poem begins with the story of *Scyld Scefing, a great king who ruled by virtue of his power being greater than all others. None would challenge him. This kept the peace, and he was rewarded with tributes of gold. The son of *Scyld, *Beow(ulf), continued the rule. Some scholars believe he accomplished this by giving gold to the worthy. I disagree, as I will explain later, with the way the son bought the respect and loyalty of the people. No matter how, his fame spread throughout the North-lands and their prosperity grew.

• LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
• of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
• we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
• Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
• from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
• awing the earls. Since erst he lay
• friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
• for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
• till before him the folk, both far and near,
• who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
• gave him gifts: a good king he!

Beowulf has been the subject of much scholarly study, theory, speculation, discourse, and, at 3183 lines, it has been noted for its length. I repeat, the poem has 3183 lines. Now, for those who believe that the introduction, as presented, may suffer because of a poor translation, I give you the first few lines in the original Old English:

• Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum,
• þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon
• hu ða æþelingas         ellen fremedon.
• Oft Scyld Scefing         sceaþena þreatum,

Old or New English its still incomprehensible! Our professor was so boring, that until I saw the movie, I was not 100% sure that there really was a monster in the story! At some point during the semester we were required to pair up and give an oral presentation to the class. Unfortunately I and one of my friends were assigned the first work in the syllabus: Beowulf! Neither one of us had read more than a few stanzas, never mind the complete poem. We pulled an all nighter, smoked a lot of dope, played a lot of music, and found our "theme" in the following stanza:

• Astride his steed, the strand-ward answered,
• clansman unquailing: "The keen-souled thane
• must be skilled to sever and sunder duly
• words and works, if he well intends.
• I gather, this band is graciously bent
• to the Scyldings' master. March, then, bearing
• weapons and weeds the way I show you.
• I will bid my men your boat meanwhile
• to guard for fear lest foemen come, --
• your new-tarred ship by shore of ocean
• faithfully watching till once again
• it waft o'er the waters those well-loved thanes,

We focused on the words: "weed, steed, band, wafting, ship and ocean". We decided that "those well-loved thanes were early pot smokers on a holy quest. We started to put together a tape which included "Puff The Magic Dragon" and "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam" by Steppenwolf. Beowulf was all about the "noble weed". Scyld the Scefing, the old man, had banned weed from the kingdoms. Those well-loved thanes, with Beowulf at the helm of the ship, passed out the earliest known version of joints. Men and woman, young and old, would gather at the shore with the first hints of weed wafting in the wind. All pledged their loyalty to the young prince. I suppose we invented an early version of rap. Our presentation began with the old king Scyld the Scefing pushin' back his glasses. Music from Steppenwolf rages in the background. Scyld is sayin' casually:

"I was elected by the masses" And with that in mind he starts to unwind A vicious attack on the finest of grasses".

I mentioned that the course was NOT taught by J. R. R. Tolkien. The author of the Hobbit.  I believe Tolkien would have given us an "A". He was a man who created characters who enjoy at least seven meals a day, not including snacks, when they can get them - breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, tea, dinner and later, supper. He had to have knocked back a joint or two and experienced the inevitable "munchies". Our professor did not appreciate our presentation nor did he have the foresight to realize we had discovered a new art form. He was not a man who enjoyed elevenses. He gave us each an "F". By 5:00 AM we had decided that school sucks and were on the Massachusetts Turnpike hitchhiking for points "west". We would arrive at Fort Hayes, Kansas. During the 24 years it was an active military post, Fort Hays was the home of several notable characters from history, including Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Lt. Col. George A. Custer, Col. Nelson Miles, and the 9th and 10th Black Cavalries, better known as "Buffalo Soldiers." It is also the home of Fort Hayes State University and the next chapter in this ongoing saga: "Are these nuts and bolts extra?" 

Come back to this blog soon if you are planning to attend the next carnival in your area. I'll be writing about my experience helping to assemble the giant Ferris wheel at a carnival in Fort Hayes, Kansas.

You may enjoy reading: A five toed dragon cost you your head.

Also, may I recommend for your enjoyment: Send messengers to distant lands.

The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in the comic book Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc fans and historians call "The Galactus Trilogy".

Originally a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La, in order to save his home-world from destruction by a fearsome cosmic entity known as Galactus, Norrin Radd made a bargain with the being, pledging himself to serve as his herald. Imbued in return with a tiny portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic, Radd acquired great powers and a silvery appearance. Galactus also created for Radd a surfboard-like craft — modeled after a childhood fantasy of his — on which he would travel at speeds beyond that of light. Known from then on as the Silver Surfer, Radd began to roam the cosmos searching for new planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels finally took him to Earth, the Surfer came face-to-face with the Fantastic Four, a team of powerful superheroes that helped him to rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, the Surfer saved Earth but was punished in return with everlasting exile there.

Stan Lee enjoyed the character and decided to feature him in his own individual title in 1968. John Buscema was penciller for the first 17 issues of the series, with Kirby returning for the eighteenth and final issue. The first seven issues, which included anthological "Tales of the Watcher" backup stories, were 72-page (with advertising), 25-cent "giants", as opposed to typical 36-page, 12-cent comics of the time. Thematically, the stories dealt with the Surfer's exile on Earth and the inhumanity of man as observed by this noble yet fallen hero. The Silver Surfer comic book series became known as one of Lee's most thoughtful and introspective works. Englehart writes that Buscema and Lee were "pouring their souls into the series".

Waldo County, situated in mid-coast Maine along scenic Penobscot Bay, has genuine New England character evidenced by working port towns and quaint rural villages. Visitors are awed by the area's unspoiled beauty. From striking coastal views to sweeping mountain vistas, dramatic natural settings abound. In addition great care has been taken to preserve and refurbish numerous historic landmarks, homes and buildings. Consequently, the Maine of yesteryear is still found here.

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