Free Beowulf by Neil Gaiman Page A

of GRENDEL’S ARM and is making a speech to Beowulf and everyone else.
    HROTHGAR
    This hall has been a place of sadness and misery and blood. From today the monster’s reign has ended. And we owe thanks to one man and one man alone: Beowulf. Come here, lad.
    He puts his arm around Beowulf’s shoulders. Beowulf grins out at the crowd. It’s hard to believe that this grinning, friendly guy is the same naked lunatic who ripped Grendel’s arm off the night before.
    HROTHGAR
    Beowulf, I love you like a son. With Grendel dead, you are a son to me. And a son deserves his reward.
    (to thanes)
    Come on -- bring it out!
    A couple of thanes haul out a closed chest.
    HROTHGAR
    Well, go on, open it.
    Beowulf opens the chest. It’s filled with gold and silver stuff -- goblets, rings, torques and so forth.
    Â 
    Beowulf turns to the crowd, grinning -- then, suddenly serious, like a politician or a statesman.
    BEOWULF
    I find it hard to find in my heart the words I should say to thank you, great king. And all of you, I wish you could have been there last night, when I killed the monster. And I wish his whole body were nailed to this wall, not just his arm. I was asleep when he arrived, growling like a wild beast…
    And as Beowulf tells them the story of his genius and ability we TRACK BACKWARDS down the hallway of Herot and
    89 OUTSIDE IN THE STOCKADE
    89
    BEOWULF’S VOICE gets quieter and the sound of the CRACKLING OF THE BURNING PYRE gets louder, and the WOMEN QUIETLY SOBBING, and we end on Wiglaf…watching his friends’ bodies burning up.
    CUT TO:
    90 INT. THE GREAT CAVE - GRENDEL’S MOTHER’S LAIR - NIGHT
    90
    CLOSE ON: Grendel’s very dead body.
    Â 
    We can hear Grendel’s mother, SINGING WORDLESSLY, a song of mourning, very gently and quietly.
    Â 
    Then she breaks off her song and she says to Grendel’s dead body…
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER (O.S.)
    He must come here to me. If he has the courage, as well as the strength, he will come.
    And with that she turns and walks into the pool, descending into its black depths…
    CUT TO:
    91 INT. HEROT - BEOWULF’S QUARTERS - NIGHT
    91
    Beowulf is looking at the treasure that he has been given. In the background we can hear a small amount of CELEBRATING from the hall. Beowulf is in his small room, though, examining his gold.
    Â 
    Queen Wealthow comes in. She stands in the open doorway, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, and says:
    WEALTHOW
    You are not celebrating?
    BEOWULF
    I am celebrating in my own way.
    WEALTHOW
    You will take our gold back to your own land. It does not matter. Nothing that is gold ever stays long.
    BEOWULF
    Steal away from your husband in the night. Come to me.
    WEALTHOW
    You are so beautiful, Lord Beowulf. But you are not meant for me. You have the mark on you
    (she reaches out and touches his forehead, as if showing a mark we cannot see)
    BEOWULF
    What mark?
    Wealthow does not answer. She touches her fingertips to her lips, and brushes her fingertips against Beowulf’s lips, as she turns to leave.
    CUT TO:
    92 INT. HEROT - HROTHGAR’S QUARTERS - NIGHT
    92
    Hrothgar is lying on the bed. The door opens, and Wealthow comes in. She begins to undress. Hrothgar stares at her, grinning.
    WEALTHOW
    If you touch me tonight, I will kill you.
    Her tone of voice tells us that she means it.
    CUT TO:
    93 INT. HEROT - BEOWULF’S QUARTERS - NIGHT
    93
    Beowulf is picking up handfuls of golden rings and chains and letting them fall, clinking, into the chest: they glitter in the candle-light.
    CUT TO:
    94 EXT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - NIGHT
    94
    The last lights go out in the hall. We hear a RUSTLING.
    CUT TO BLACK:
    95 INT. HEROT - BEOWULF’S QUARTERS - DAY
    95
    A WOMAN’S SCREAM shatters the stillness. Day shines in. Beowulf was asleep on the furs, fully dressed, surrounded by gold. He pushes himself up off the bed.
    CUT TO:
    96 INT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - DAY
    96
    Beowulf throws open a heavy carved