Hwaet, Listen!
Beowulf the brash king,
Beowulf the bright king.
Listen!

Back when I was a young man there
was a great and noble king called
Hrothgar. After many years of fighting
ferocious wars, he felt he needed
to settle down to a comfortable
retirement. And so he built a beautiful
Great Hall where his people could meet,
speak, feast, dance, share tales of war
and sing specially-composed oratorios
about celebrated heroes. People would
flock from villages far and wide to
see the majesty of Hrothgar's Hall.