the.com/beowulf
a man punches a monster to death, then argues with its mother — literature's oldest action sequel.
means the oldest surviving english epic poem, about a hero who kills three monsters and dies fighting a fourth.
from written in old english sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries by an unknown poet, surviving in a single manuscript that nearly burned in a 1731 house fire — scorched edges still visible today.
only copyone manuscript survived, nearly cremated by accident
no authornobody knows who wrote it, or why
grendel's momscarier and smarter than her son, arguably
tolkien saved ithis 1936 essay made scholars take it seriously