In the cave Beowulf notices the body of Grendel: ⌠The body bounded wide when it suffered the blow after death, the hard sword-swing; and thus he cut off his head■ (Norton, 47).  The monster's blood comes to the surface of the water.  The people by the shore of the mere fear that the blood they see is that of Beowulf.  Hrothgar and the elders painfully deliberate whether or not Beowulf will return alive to the king.     The Danes go back to Heorot, while the Geats remain to wait for Beowulf with hearts full of hope.  With Grendel▓s head and ⌠the hilt, bright with the jewels,■ Beowulf emerges from the water: ⌠the sword itself had already melted, its patterned blade burned away: the blood was too hot for it, the spirit that had died there too poisonous■ (Norton, 48).  The Geats are very delighted to see him alive and thank God for his victory.  Because of its weight and size, it takes four men to carry the head of Grendel to the hall of Heorot. There, Beowulf addresses Hrothgar with the news of his victory, which he attributes to God▓s protection. ⌠Then Grendel▓s head was dragged by the hair over the floor to where men drank, a terrible thing to the earls and the woman with them, an awful sight: the men looked upon it■ (Norton, 48).       To Go Back to the First Page