account of the creation.]}

To tell from of old earthmen's beginnings,
That Father Almighty earth had created,
40 The winsome wold that the water encircleth,
Set exultingly the sun's and the moon's beams
To lavish their lustre on land-folk and races,
And earth He embellished in all her regions
With limbs and leaves; life He bestowed too
45 On all the kindreds that live under heaven.

{The glee of the warriors is overcast by a horrible dread.}

So blessed with abundance, brimming with joyance,
The warriors abided, till a certain one gan to
Dog them with deeds of direfullest malice,
A foe in the hall-building: this horrible stranger[2]
50 Was Grendel entitled, the march-stepper famous
Who[3] dwelt in the moor-fens, the marsh and the fastness;
The wan-mooded being abode for a season
[5] In the land of the giants, when the Lord and Creator
Had banned him and branded. For that bitter murder,
55 The killing of Abel, all-ruling Father

{Cain is referred to as a progenitor of Grendel, and of monsters in
general.}

The kindred of Cain crushed with His vengeance;
In the feud He rejoiced not, but far away drove him
From kindred and kind, that crime to atone for,