and he says to Hrothgar that he is there on behest of his lord,

Hygelac, who has sent him to

rid Heorot of Grendel and Hrothgar recognizes the name Hygelac

says I knew him and I knew his family and he welcomes Beowulf in

as a courageous man coming to help him in his time

of need. He promises him to

this, that, and the other thing, but Beowulf says but what I really would like

is I would like first off that I, my men,

handle this demon, this creature this troll, all on our own

that we may be able to gain the glory. We'll deal with the

troll, with the Grendel, and protect

Heorot or cleanse Heorot and he asked then that if he

dies, that his body and his weapons be sent back to his lord, Hygelac,

and that if he wins glory, the glory also will go

to Hygelac as well and at the very end of his

speech, saying that I will do this, I will defeat Grendel,

I'll tackle this demon, he says let Wyrd take its course.

Wyrd is a concept which runs throughout the book, it's the concept

of fatedness, of the course of fate.

Not fate so much as we're all going to die or anything like that,

but rather, Wyrd as in that which is set down for us to do

and so is sort of like saying, let it be so or

as God wills it. Beowulf is saying here that whatever happens in this fight,

that's what's supposed to happen, he accepts it with

a certain amount of calm which registers, I think, a very

very great deal on the idea of him being a hero and controls himself

and ultimately he promises to Hrothgar that he will do this deed,

he will defeat the Grendel and he will free Heorot from the disaster of the

troll. So he says, "Wyrd evergoeth destined course."

And he accepts the fate that's laid down for him. Then he

is confronted by Unferth who ends up

suggesting that Beowulf is not that good, he is not going to be as good as he says

he is, and he will probably be defeated by Grendel

and Unferth poses a second challenge to Beowulf much like the original one

from the man there on the hills, the watchman.

We will see that in this next section.