Beowulf is the hero of the poem. He is a Geat, the son of Ecgtheow and the nephew of Hygelac. The story begins when Beowulf hears about the troubles Grendel has been causing to the land of the Danes. Grendel is a monster that has been terrorizing the Herot, which is Hrothgar's mead hall. Hrothgar is the loved and respected king of Danes. Beofulf and his men came ashore on the land of the Danes, they were greeted by a watchman, who led them to Herot. As Beofulf walked in, he was introduced to Hrothgar by one of his loyal nobles. This leads to a big conversation between Beofulf and Hrothgar, the king admits that he heard of Beowulfs great strength and tells about how he once helped Beowulf's father. Beowulf also has numerous arguments with Unferth about his victories. At that, the day ended, Beowulf and his men went to sleep.
             As the men were sleeping Grendel comes into the Herot ripping off the doors and gates. Grendel looks at so many men and thinks he's about to have a very big dinner. As the horrible beast creeps up, he eats one of Beowulf's men. As Grendel was moving on to his next victim, Beowulf snatched his hand and held it very tight. Grendel realizes that he has never met a man so strong before. Grendel gets really scared and wants to run, but Beowulf hangs on to his hand. Meanwhile the soldiers are trying to kill Grendel with swords, but regular weapons do him no harm. Beowulf held on to Grendel's hand so tight that he eventually ripped it off, and Grendel ran off into the night. After that Hrothgar throws Beowulf and his men a huge party and awards them with fine gifts and a a lot of gold. As the night came upon them, all men including Beowulf were dead asleep. In the dead of the night Grendels mother comes to Herot to avenge her son's death, she takes her son's hand and steals the very best warrior that Hrothgar had. As men awoke they were too late to run after Grendel's...