Beowulf

'Rage-inflamed, wreckage-bent, he ripped open the jaws of the hall. Hastening on, The foe then stepped onto the unstained floor, Angrily advanced- out of his eyes stood An unlovely light like that of fire' Legends from the Ancient North Beowulf The Elder Edda The Saga of the Volsungs Sir Gawain and the Green Knight The Wanderer- Elegies, Epics, Riddles These are the great epic stories that inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Ringsand The Hobbit.Conjuring up a twilight world of quests, treachery, magic, evil and fellowship, they are the most ancient narratives from Northern Europe and bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Translated by Michael Alexander