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name.
    HROTHGAR
    Wealthow! Unferth! Everybody! Help is at hand! Beowulf is here! Treasure -- we must give him fine gifts. And food, and drink, they will have been long at
    (more)
    HROTHGAR (CONT’D)
    sea -- bestir yourselves, you ungrateful louts!
    CUT TO:
    39 EXT. HEROT - VILLAGE - DAY
    39
    Beowulf and his men are standing around. Beowulf stands like a statue.
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    His men, behind him, are staring at a pretty girl, YRSA, who is eating a large, slightly over-ripe plum with gusto and relish. Juice runs down her chin and onto her cleavage.
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    HONDSHEW, one of Beowulf’s more ornery Thanes, stares at her and licks his lips, but whether it’s food or companionship he’s after we do not know.
    YRSA
    Nice Spear.
    Hondshew swallows with an almost audible GULP.
    Â 
    Wulfgar, the King’s herald, comes out.
    WULFGAR
    Hrothgar, Master of Battles, Lord of the North Danes, bids me say that he knows you, Beowulf son of Edgethow, knows your ancestry, and bids you welcome. You, and your men, shall go in to him.
    (pause)
    Your weapons shall wait out here for your return.
    Wiglaf, Esher, Hondshew and the others look at Beowulf for guidance. None of the Geats is going to put down his weapon until and unless Beowulf tells them so.
    Â 
    There is a CLATTERING, as Beowulf’s sword and spear hit the ground. He pulls a dagger from his belt and throws it so the blade sticks in the ground.
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    His men copy him. The weapons fall to the floor. They follow Beowulf into the Hall. Wulfgar waits for the last man to go in. Then he glares at the plum girl, Yrsa.
    WULFGAR
    Woman! Have you nothing better to be doing?
    She makes no reply, but with her little finger, wipes the drip of plum-juice from her breast, and licks it from her finger.
    CUT TO:
    40 INT. HEROT - THRONE ROOM - DAY
    40
    The WHOLE COURT is assembled here now. Queen Wealthow and THE QUEEN’S WOMEN, GUARDS and COURTIERS. Unferth is there, but he is standing in the shadows to the right of the throne, and is not visible.
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    Hrothgar hugs Beowulf to him, proudly.
    HROTHGAR
    Beowulf! How is your father?
    BEOWULF
    He died in battle with sea-raiders, two winters’ back.
    HROTHGAR
    He was a brave man. Need I ask why have you come to us?
    BEOWULF
    They say that there is a monster who comes to this hall at night.
    WEALTHOW
    And there have been many brave men who have come here, and have drunk too much of my Lord’s mead, and have sworn to rid his hall of our nightmare. And the next morning, there was nothing left of any of them but blood to be cleaned from the floor and the benches and the walls.
    BEOWULF
    I have drunk nothing. Yet. But I will kill your monster.
    HROTHGAR
    (overly enthusiastic)
    He will kill the monster! Did you hear that? Grendel will die!
    BEOWULF
    Grendel?
    HROTHGAR
    The monster is called Grendel.
    BEOWULF
    Then I shall kill your Grendel. I, Beowulf, killed a tribe of giants in the Orkneys. I have crushed the skulls of sea-serpents. And this…this troll of yours shall trouble you no longer.
    The Queen is about to say something doubtful about all this, but Hrothgar, who takes Beowulf at face value, announces to the hall…
    HROTHGAR
    A hero! I knew that the sea would bring us a hero! Will you go up to the moors, then, to the cave by the dark pool, and fight the monster in its den?
    The Queen, Wealthow, looks doubtful.
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    Unferth glares from the shadows.
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    Hrothgar raises his eyebrow, wanting to hear Beowulf tell of how he’ll kill Grendel.
    Â 
    Beowulf steps forward and waves his hand.
    BEOWULF
    I have fourteen brave Thanes with me. We have been long at sea. I think it is high time, mighty Hrothgar, to break open your golden mead, famed across the world; to let the scop chant, and to feast and boast and to make merry, in this great hall of yours.
    Hrothgar squints.
    HROTHGAR
    But…that will bring the beast here.
    Beowulf says nothing, but a huge Cheshire smile spreads across his face. A smile that’s much