Just then he heard the voice of an angel calling him, “Abraham!” He answered: “Here am I.” The angel said:
“Lay not thy hand upon the lad; neither do thou anything with him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
And Abraham looked and behold, there was behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering instead of his son.
BEOWULF CONQUERS THE MARSH MONSTER
An old legend in which a brave warrior overcomes a terrible menace by strength and skill.
Beowulf was the nephew of a king who ruled over a part of Sweden. He was a young man of great strength. No one could stand against him. At that time there was a monster named Grendel, half man and half beast that came out of the swamp every night and snatched away the warriors as they slept in the hall of the king, and carried them off to his lair and devoured them. No matter how the warriors tried to protect themselves, the terrible Grendel would break in the place where they were sleeping, seize one of them in his mighty arms and bear him away.
Beowulf heard of all this and set out with a band of trained warriors to help the king get rid of the monster.
The warriors entered the castle and prepared to lie down to sleep. Beowulf took off his armor, laid aside his helmet and handed his sword and shield to his servant. He wore only a silken coat. The warriors said to him, “Put on thy armor, and thy helmet, and take thy sword and shield, for Grendel is an enemy that will demand all thy strength.”
But Beowulf said to them: “I shall fight Grendel and conquer him with my own good hands and head, and with my strong heart.” He then lay down like the others, but not to sleep. He kept a lookout for the approach of the dreaded monster.