Woden is mentioned also in the Anglo-Saxon poem on the magic herbs, and Ing in the Runic poem. In strictly heroic pieces however the only possible case is the reference to the passionate love of Geat in the Elegy of Deor (v. 15)[167]. Indeed, were it not for the Langobardic story we might perhaps suspect that the introduction of the gods in heroic poetry was a Scandinavian innovation. But as the case stands, although this story cannot properly be regarded as heroic, it is more likely that their non-appearance in the English heroic poems is due to a process of expurgation or elimination. From such passages as Beow. 175 ff. we may infer with probability that no definite reference to the gods would be tolerated after the courts had become Christian (cf. p. [53] f.).

In the poems which have come down to us the supernatural element is represented chiefly by what we may call monsters. This is especially the case in Beowulf, the main part of which is devoted to encounters with such beings. We can hardly obtain a better example than the hero's adventures in the first part of the poem. But it will be well at the outset to guard against the assumption that the story of Beowulf was in any way typical of early heroic poetry. Thus we have no satisfactory evidence that either the story of Waldhere or that of Finn contained supernatural elements of any kind, while even in that of Siegfried they are comparatively unimportant.

The story of Beowulf's adventures with the monsters seems to be derived from a folk-tale. In the Icelandic Grettis Saga, cap. 64-66, the famous outlaw Grettir, who died in 1031, is credited with performing almost the same exploits. The resemblance between the two stories indeed descends in some cases even to small points of detail. These, as well as the points of difference, may best be seen by giving an analysis of the two side by side.

Beowulf learns that King Hrothgar's hall has been attacked by night for twelve years and many of his warriors carried off and devoured by the monster Grendel. He comes and offers his services.Grettir learns that Steinvör has lost her husband and a trusted servant at two successive Christmases through mysterious nightly attacks on her house. He comes to her and claims hospitality at the third Christmas.
He is left in charge of the hall at night with his fourteen companions.He is left alone in charge of the hall at night.
Grendel (a male monster) attacks the hall, devours one warrior and engages in a desperate wrestling struggle with Beowulf.He is attacked by a huge female monster and a desperate wrestling struggle takes place.
Grendel finds Beowulf too strong and eventually escapes, but with the loss of an arm which Beowulf tears off.Grettir is dragged out of the house to a precipice over the river, where he eventually succeeds in chopping off one of the monsters arms. She falls over the edge.
Grendel's mother attacks the hall and carries off a Danish knight. Beowulf goes to the lake where the monsters were believed to dwell, in order to exact punishment.There is no further attack, but Grettir determines to examine the river from curiosity.
Beowulf dives into the lake and is seized by Grendel's mother who drags him into her cave, where there is a bright fire. Beowulf's followers and the Danes remain above on the bank.Grettir dives off the cliff into the river, just below a waterfall. He climbs up beneath the waterfall and finds a cave there with a fire in it. The priest Steinn waits for him on the cliff.
The monster overthrows Beowulf and attacks him with a dirk (seax); but he succeeds in chopping her asunder with a huge sword which he finds in the cave. After slaying her he comes upon the dead Grendel and cuts off his head. He also sees a quantity of treasure.Grettir on reaching the cave is attacked by a huge male monster armed with a heptisax[168]. This snaps at the first thrust; and as the monster reaches back for a sword which is hanging behind him, Grettir slashes him down the front. Afterwards he finds the remains of the two missing men in the cave.
The lake is stained with the monster's blood. All think that Beowulf has perished, and the Danes return home; but Beowulf's followers remain on the bank.The river is stained with the monster's blood, and Steinn, thinking that Grettir has perished, leaves the cliff.

There can scarcely be any doubt that these two stories are connected in some way. Some scholars indeed hold that the Icelandic story is derived from the other; but the discrepancies seem to me to be too great for this to be probable. Moreover there is another Scandinavian story which has to be taken into account. This is contained in Orms Tháttr Storolfssonar[169], a document which dates from the fourteenth century, and also in later ballads from Sweden and the Faroes. According to the story Ormr was an Icelander who lived towards the end of the tenth century. Like Beowulf and Grettir he had a reputation for laziness in his youth. In his time an island called Sauðey off the coast of Norway was inhabited by the monster Brusi and his mother who had the form of a black cat. One of Ormr's friends, a Dane named Asbiörn, lost his life in an attack upon them. Ormr then set out to avenge him. When he reached the monster's den the cat assailed him fiercely with her claws, but he ultimately succeeded in destroying her. Then he had an encounter with Brusi, whose head he tore open with his hands, afterwards cutting the 'blood-eagle' upon his back. In the den he found a large amount of gold and silver. The later forms of the story add several features which recall the adventures of Beowulf, especially in regard to the situation of the den and the cannibalistic propensities of the monsters.

Here again we have in all probability only another form of the same story. But it is to be observed that there is no special affinity between the two Scandinavian versions, while the setting and the names of the characters are entirely different in all three. Yet if one version was really the source of the others it is difficult to believe that every trace of its original connections could have vanished. With far more probability we may conclude that the story once existed independently, i.e. in the form of a folk-tale, and as a matter of fact we possess an Icelandic folk-tale which contains most of the principal features, though the hero has been split up into five brothers[170]. In its original form the tale was probably only a specialised variety of the type familiar to us through Jack the Giant-killer. Stories of this kind seem to have been particularly popular in Norway—a fact due perhaps in part to the survival of isolated savage communities among whom cannibalism may not have been entirely unknown[171]. We meet with them sometimes in quite unexpected places. Thus in the account of Thóroddr Snorrason's mission to Jemtland in St Olaf's Saga (Heimskr.), cap. 151, we find a graphic and circumstantial story of a female monster who killed and devoured eleven merchants in the inn where the envoy was resting. Thor too, the chief Norwegian deity, came to be regarded essentially as a giant-killer, his origin in the thunder being entirely, or almost entirely, forgotten.

It is no serious objection to our view that Grettir seems to be a perfectly historical character; for no one will contend that the story of his doings at Sandhaugar is true, any more than a number of other exploits with which he is credited. The same remark applies to the story of Thóroddr, whose father, the magistrate Snorri (Grettir's contemporary), was perhaps the best known and most influential man in Iceland. We have seen that in the true folk-tale the hero is nameless; but his adventures are liable to become linked with the names of historical characters—just as in our own day everyone knows of remarkable persons who have had associated with them stories which really were in existence before their time. In Grettir's case exceptionally favourable conditions for such association were provided by the man's great strength, by the unruly disposition which he showed from his childhood and by the many thrilling adventures which he doubtless did experience during his long outlawry. Indeed, though the saga in its present form was not composed until nearly three centuries after his time, we might naturally expect that many untrue stories about such a person would be in circulation even before his death.

Just as the folk-tale became attached to the historical Grettir, so it may have been associated with another person in earlier times. Now the only character in Northern tradition who has been identified with Beowulf is a certain Boðvarr Biarki, a warrior in the service of Hrólfr Kraki. The identification is denied by many scholars, but there are two points in the story of Biarki which seem to me to lend great probability to it. In the first place as Beowulf goes from the land of the Geatas (Gautar), where his uncle is king, to the court of the Danish king Hrothgar, so Biarki goes from the land of the Gautar, where his brother is king, to the court of Hrólfr Kraki, i.e. Hrothwulf, Hrothgar's nephew and colleague. Secondly, at a later time Biarki, like Beowulf, assists the Swedish prince Aðils (Eadgils) in his victorious campaign against Áli (Onela), though he is represented not as king of the Gautar but as Hrólfr Kraki's emissary.

On the other hand it is true that no resemblance to the story of Beowulf is shown by the Scandinavian accounts of Biarki's origin and death. In Hrólfs Saga Kraka[172], which dates only from the fourteenth century, Biarki is said to have been born in Norway. His father was called Biörn ('bear') and his mother Bera ('she-bear'). The former indeed was actually turned into a bear by witchcraft. Further, from the time of his arrival in Denmark Biarki remained in the service of Hrólfr till the end and lost his life in the final attack made upon that king. A reminiscence of his ursine antecedents appears in the last scene. When the enemy are attacking the king's hall Biarki cannot be roused out of slumber, but a huge bear (the warrior's spirit) is seen fighting among the king's knights.