The epic Nordic legend of the monster slayer - Iseult Gillespie

In 1731, a fire broke out in London’s Cotton Library.

To protect some of the world’s most prized manuscripts— including one-of-a-kind illuminated Bibles, centuries-old Arthurian literature, and even a copy of the Magna Carta— librarians frantically flung texts out of the windows.

But while they couldn’t save everything, they did manage to salvage the only known copy of a strange Scandinavian poem.

An epic written in Old English, “Beowulf” is known for its haunting monsters, dream-like language and paranoid perspective, in which violent threats are always waiting on the fringes of society.

The action begins in the great hall of Denmark, as King Hrothgar and his people celebrate what they hope will be the start of a peaceful new era.

But in the marshy moors outside the city, a grisly monster lays in wait.

Said to be a “misshapen man” descended from those who first unleashed evil into the world, Grendel was roused by the clamor of human joy.

He burst into the hall, devouring anyone he could snatch.

But while countless fell, his reign of terror was only beginning.