Two Monsters and a Dragon: Beowulf

The Myth: Beowulf! A monster and his mum! Treasure! Magic swords! A dragon! Fabulous treasure from a lost race!
The Book: Beowulf
The Author:  Unknown, sometime in the eighth century. Possibly the ninth. No later than the eleventh. (Thanks, Wiki.)
This text: etext of a 1909 translation by F. B. Gummere in "English imitative meter".
Price: Nothin' (Kindle Free Library)


Beowulf kills a monster. Then he kills another monster. Fifty years later, he kills a dragon, and dies. Also, there are digressions into Geatish history and politics.

"So he came in the night?"
"Yeah, he wanted to give us a hand."
"And you...?"
"He found my hospitality disarming."
"By which you mean..."
"This is a fine hall, Hrothgar, I've got to hand it to you."
"Right. I get it."
"I ripped his arm off, is what I'm saying."
"I gathered. From the monster arm you're waving around."
"'cos I'm a champion of unarmed combat."
"Are you finished?"
"Yeah, I'm done."

Ok, yes, there's more to it than that. The poem is pretty awesome, all alliterative and bloody. The setting is detailed, the characterisation solid, the fighting visceral. The digressions are occasionally a bit weird, coming across as a sort of poetic product placement: "Have you considered such other fine poems as 'The Tragic Lay of Heremod' or 'The Epic of Freawuru'?" They may have meant more to an 8th-11th century audience.

But at the base of it, a hero fights monsters and wins. Then dies.
 
This is foundation stuff for the English language and well worth a read. And it's not that long. It took Redcrosse far more verbiage to kill his dragon, for example.