Beowulf by Neil Gaiman Read Free Book Online Page B

Hrothgar’s and Beowulf’s, are preparing themselves for a brawl to break out between the two men.
    BEOWULF
    I swam against Brecca.
    UNFERTH
    (loudly)
    But victory was his , not yours. A mighty warrior who cannot even win a swimming match. Speaking only for myself here, I not only doubt that you will be able to stand for a moment against Grendel, but I doubt you will even have the guts to stay in the hall all night.
    He grins up at Beowulf. This is a drama, being enacted for everyone else, and we should get REACTION SHOTS from some of the people around -- Wealthow and Hrothgar, but also the commoners. Beowulf’s Thanes, however, are not interested in any of this -- they’ve heard this a thousand times.
    BEOWULF
    I find it difficult to argue with a drunk. And it is true that I did not win the race…
    DISSOLVE TO:
    46 THE MEMORY OF THE RACE WITH BRECCA
    46
    Beowulf is a tiny Jan Svankmajer doll, swimming in stop-motion animation a race with Brecca, another doll. Bony, strange, nightmare creatures, like marine versions of the Wonderland inhabitants of Svankmajer’s “Alice”, rise up from beneath Beowulf, and drag him down beneath the sea.
    BEOWULF (V.O.)
    (continuing)
    We swam for five days, neck and neck. And I was the more powerful swimmer. I was conserving my strength, for the final stretch. Then a storm blew up, and with the storm, came sea monsters.
    We HEAR the Thanes in the hall MURMURING with approval.
    Â 
    We watch the little Beowulf killing the monsters, one by one.
    BEOWULF (V.O.)
    One of them seized me in its jaws, and dragged me to the bottom. I hacked at it with my sword, and killed the huge beast with my own blade. Again and again the monsters attacked, dark things from the sea’s dark depths. I was to have been their banquet. When morning came they were lying on the shore, their guts spilling crimson into the salt-water. Luck was with me, perhaps, but still, I killed nine of them. I did not win the race, but I braved their hot jaws, making those lanes safe for seamen, and survived the nightmare.
    DISSOLVE TO:
    47 INT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - DAY
    47
    EXTREME CLOSE ON: Beowulf’s face. We see something in his eyes that reveals that what we have just been told may not be the truth.
    Â 
    He shuts his eyes, remembering something else…something forbidden.
    DISSOLVE TO:
    48 THE MEMORY OF BIRTH
    48
    Beowulf is swimming beneath the sea. And he sees something GOLDEN and glittering, and he swims after it. It appears
    from the glimpses we get of it, to be a beautiful golden woman, underwater. She is not a mermaid, but there is something inhuman about her. However, we only glimpse her in tiny fragmentary moments, never getting a good look.
    DISSOLVE TO:
    49 INT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - DAY
    49
    Beowulf shakes himself out of the memory, forcing it somewhere deep back into his subconscious. He begins to walk, continuing.
    BEOWULF
    They sing of my battle with the sea monsters to this day, my friend. And they sing no such songs about Brecca.
    UNFERTH
    (magnificently unimpressed)
    Of course. The sea monsters. And you killed, what, twenty was it?
    BEOWULF
    Nine . But…will you do me the honor of telling me your name?
    UNFERTH
    I am Unferth, son of Ecglaf.
    BEOWULF
    Unferth? Son of Ecglaf? Your fame has crossed the ocean ahead of you. I know who you are…
    Unferth does not know if Beowulf is telling the truth. But he starts to preen a little…
    BEOWULF
    Let’s see…. they say you are clever. Not wise, but sharp. And they say that you killed both of your brothers when you caught them having knowledge of your mother, “Unferth Kinslayer”.
    (laughs)
    A crime for which you will roast in agony forever.
    After a protracted moment of hate, Unferth throws himself at Beowulf, growling. Beowulf steps aside and Unferth, bad leg and all, trips and falls to the floor of the hall. Beowulf crouches beside him. And, with a captive audience, he continues.
    BEOWULF
    I’ll tell