Beowulf Summary and Analysis of Lines 194-709

Summary:
The news of the trouble in Denmark eventually
reaches the land of the Geats. The king of this
land, Hygelac, has a thane named Beowulf,
who announces that he is willing to help
Denmark. His elders encourage him, even
though they don't really want him to go.
Beowulf picks fourteen other men, all good
warriors, to travel with him. Beowulf's party
"flew on the water fast," riding the waves to
Denmark in their ship. Once they reach the
shore, they depart the ship with their armor
and weapons clinking. A coast watchman stops
their progress, demanding to know who these
warriors are and if they are friend or foe.
Beowulf announces himself as the thane of
Hygelac and the son of Ecgtheow, a man
known for winning battles. He asks the
coastguard to show him the way to Hrothgar's
castle, so that he may give him wise counsel.
The coastguard deems Beowulf worthy, and
takes him to the road that leads to Heorot.
Beowulf and his thanes march up the road.
When they reach Hrothgar's castle, they meet
the thane Wulfgar. Beowulf introduces himself,
and Wulfgar takes the information to Hrothgar.
Hrothgar is pleasedhe remembers Ecgtheow, and he
has heard that Beowulf is very strong. He also believes
that "the Measurer/ Maker of us all has urged
him here." Wulfgar allows the Geats to meet
Hrothgar.
Once at Hrothgar's throne, Beowulf introduces
himself as a hero who can crush water sprites,
among other things. Therefore he is equipped
to defeatGrendel, if Wyrd (or Fate) will have it
so. Hrothgar welcomes Beowulf as the son of
Ecgtheow, the man whom Hrothgar had helped
in settling a feud with the Wylfingas long ago.
When Hrothgar did that, he was a young man
and a new king. Now Grendel ravages his
countrybut then is not the time to dwell upon such
things. Instead, the Geats must join the Danes for a feast.
Thus the benches are dragged out, the mead flows, and the
minstrel sings.
During the feast, Hrothgar's thane Unferth tries
to discredit Beowulf. He accuses Beowulf of
losing a swimming contest with Breca. Beowulf
disagreeshe not only defeated Breca, he also fought off
heaps of sea-monsters, thanks to both God and Wyrd. What
heroic deeds have Breca, or even Unferth, done? Unferth
even killed his brothers, and he hasn't done anything to stop
Grendel. Upon hearing Unferth shamed by Beowulf,
the whole company laughs.
Soon afterwards, the queen Wealhtheow enters
the room, bearing a mead-cup. She offers it
first to Hrothgar, then to the rest of the
company. Finally she offers it to Beowulf. When
he takes it, he says, "I'll give you [Grendel's]

life blood/or finish my days/ here in Heorot." His words

touch Wealhtheow.
Eventually the party winds down, and Hrothgar
is ready for bed. Before leaving Beowulf,
Hrothgar wishes him luck and promises him all
the gold he has if he can defeat Grendel.
Beowulf says he will leave it to God. While his
friends worry about whether they will see their
homeland again, Beowulf lies down.
Analysis:
We receive the first bit of character
development of Beowulf in this part of the
poem. We learn that he is beloved of his
people, a faithful thane of Hygelac, and a
prince in his own right (through his father
Ecgtheow). He is respectful to everyone he
encounters, from the lowly coast guard to King
Hrothgar. Later, he even shows his respect for
women in his gentle words to Wealhtheow. The
rumor mill has told the Danish court that he is
actually a good, strong warrior. Finally, Beowulf
does believe in religion. He follows both the
ancient Germanic practices and the Christian
practices, as we see in his ability to leave it
entirely in the hands of God and Wyrd (the
Anglo-Saxon word for "fate"). In short, he
seems like just the man for the job, and
Hrothgar realizes it.
Of course, Beowulf still has to prove himself to
the company of the Danes. Enter Unferth, the
maker of discord. Unferth's job is to test the
actual valor of the warrior and his ability to
fend off a verbal attack. Beowulf not only
answers the challenge (yes, he did win the
contest), he also shows the extent of his
bravery (he defeated the sea monsters) and
discredits Unferth's truthtelling (Unferth is
nothing but a drunk murderer who can't act).
With his graceful and complete defense,
Beowulf proves himself to be the consummate
warrior, able to fight with words and swords
equally well.
The boasting match between Unferth and
Beowulf is the first in a series of told and retold
stories within the poem. Throughout the poem,
stories are told several times, with different
details appearing with each retelling. This
repetition of stories is very important. It reveals
the oral nature of the culturepeople learn most
legends and histories of their land through these stories. It
makes the people learn morals by examples of people
who did good or ill. Finally, the stories work as
tools for foreshadowing, especially within the
larger narrative. As we will learn, Beowulf's
ability to swim for long distances and long

periods will become very important in his

defeat of Grendel's mother.
The characters also provide foreshadowing for
each other in the poem. Hrothgar and Wulfgar
have a very close relationshipWulfgar serves
Hrothgar faithfully, while Hrothgar relies on Wulfgar for
sound judgement. Later this will resemble the
relationship between king Beowulf and his
faithful thaneWiglaf. One can also compare the
relationship between Beowulf as the young
warrior and Hrothgar as the young-warriorturned-old-powerless-king. Hrothgar almost
certainly indicates Beowulf's fate at the same
agepowerless, needing to rely on other thanes to help
him
The Origin of Life and Fire
(Bakuba and Boshongo Creation Story)
By: Francois de Villiers and Jordan Kalmov
The Origins of life and Fire

Origin: The story comes from the

Boshongo and Bakuba peoples of Zaire Africa.
Both villages relied heavily on fishing for their
economy. The people saw fire as important,
eating raw fish was ill-advised back in the day.

Characters:
BUMBA
- the white creator
KOY BUMBA
- the leopard
PONGO BUMBA - a crested eagle
GANDA BUMBA - a crocodile
YO
- the little fish
KONO BUMBA
- the tortoise
TSETSE
- the lightning
woman.
NYANYI BUMBA - the white heron.
BUDI
the goat
BEETLE
- insects.
LOKO YUMA - the white human like
Bumba
Characters
Bumbas 3 Sons:
Oldest son- created the white ants
Middle son- created seed plant
Youngest son- failed to create anything
except for one bird.
The Origin of Life and Fire
In the beginning water only existed and it was
dark. Bumba was alone. He started getting
stomach pains until he eventually vomited up

the sun. The sun produced heat, which caused

the water to float into the sky and become
clouds. So much water went into the sky that it
made the hills happy, so they came out of the
water and dried themselves off. The same
happened to the reefs and sandbanks. Again
Bumba felt pains in his stomach, he vomited up
the moon and the stars, and they brightened
the night
Bumba then vomited up the first
creatures; Koy Bumba, the leopard, Pongo
Bumba, a crested eagle, Ganda Bumba, a
crocodile, Yo, the little fish, Kono Bumba, the
tortoise, Tsetse, the lightning, Nyanyi Bumba,
the white heron, one beetle and finally Budi the
goat. After all of this he was not done. He then
vomited up humans, he vomited up many men
and women but only one of them, Loko Yuma,
was white like him. Bumba had completed his
work of creating the universe. The creatures he
made continued his work. They made creatures
that resembled themselves. Nyani Bumba, the
white heron, created all the birds. Ganda
Bumba, the crocodile created the iguana and
all the serpents. Yo, the fish, created all the
fish. Budi, the goat created all the horned
animals and the beetle created insects. The
creatures had finished their part in creating the
universe.
Bumba had 3 sons and they finished Bumbas
work. The oldest son created white ants. After
he was finished he died of creative strain. The
ants were so happy to be alive but seeing their
creators body they decided to honor him. They
dug into the earth and found black soil and
brought it up and buried him in it. The middle
son created a seed plant, which spread its
seeds all over and thats where plants came
from. The youngest son failed to create
anything except for one bird. Then the universe
was finished.
Tsetse, the lightning, started to cause trouble.
She started causing fires, so Bumba made her
live in the sky but even from the sky she could
reach the ground. Everyone on earth feared
her strikes. Even though Tsetse was bad, and
was moved to the sky, the people on earth had
to live without her fires which meant they had
to eat their meat raw and they couldnt make
good tools. Bumba felt bad for them so he

showed them how to hunt for the fire that lived

in the trees.

1. Wagadu:
A Soninke word meaning place of
herds, From earliest times the
Soninke gave this name to whatever
area they considered their homeland.
2. discord:
Quarreling and lack of harmony
3. Dierra:
The first Wagadu, ruled by the Fasa
dynasty
4. Agada:
The second Wagadu
5. Gana:
The third Wagadu, probably the great
Soninke kingdom of the fourth to the
thirteenth centuries, located between
the Senegal and Niger rivers.
6. Silla :

The fourth Wagadu, a small city-state

on the Niger. It is now a town in
Soninkeland.

7. Ghana

country on the northern coast of the

Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, bordered
by Burkina Faso, Togo, and Cte
d'Ivoire. It became an independent
member of the British Commonwealth
in 1957.

8. Lute:

stringed instrument widely played in

the 14th to 18th centuries and revived
in the 20th century; also, generically,
any stringed instrument having strings
that run in a parallel plane to the
soundboard and along a protruding
neck.

Ghanas Lute / Gassires Lute

Gassires Lute is an example of oral

literature from the Sudan region in
West Africa. The poem is one of the few
surviving pieces of an earlier epic, The
Dausi, most of which has been lost to

time. The epic retold the legends of the

Soninke people and was sung or
chanted by bards. Gassires Lute,
which was the opening section of The
Dausi, tells how a hero of the Soninke
became their first bard.

Ghanas Lute / Gassires Lute

Gassire's Lute is a West African epic

collected by Leo Frobenius and
published in his collection, Atlantis:
Volksmarchen und Volksdichtung
Afrikas (vol. 6, 1921). The English
translation is by Douglas Fox, published
in African Genesis (first printed 1937).
Alta Jablow wrote a study of the epic
that appeared in 1973.

This lyrical epic narrative tells the story

of a prince that becomes a bard.

"Gassire is a prince who would be the

successor of his father, but his father is
very powerful. Gassire wants to be king
very badly, and becomes a mighty
warrior to demonstrate his strength.

While the story has enchanted readers

since it first appeared, it should be
approached with dire caution.
Frobenius attributes it to the Soninke
people of West Africa, the people
associated with the Empire of Wagadu
or Ghana, and the name Gassire is in
fact the Soninke word for a bard/singer
(known as griots elsewhere in Africa).

While many of the stories Frobenius

collected can be confirmed by modern
research in the oral tradition, this story
stands alone and no analogue has yet
been reported.

QUICK SUMMARY

Gassire's lute tells the story of Gassire,

an arrogant warrior obsessed with
everlasting fame and immortality. He
gave up everything to gain immortality
through the Dausi, a song that would
allow his exploits to live forever.
During the story Wagadu rose four
times once through vanity. Once

through dishonesty. Once through

greed. Once through discord. The city
was full of human sufferings. Wagadu's
children " suffered from the illtreatment.

The first time Wagadu disappeared was

the vanity of the ruling elites. Life that
was not free from desire and passion,
was always involved with distress. If
desire is what lies at the root of all
human passion could be removed, then
passion would die out and all human
suffering would had ended. The first
disappearance could be avoided.
Gassire wanted to inherit the Fasa
kingdom and wished for the old man to
die, which happened to be King
Ngaanamba, Gassire's father.
So he goes out to the wisest man in the
Fasa kingdom, and asked when the
king would die and when he would
become king. The wise man told
Gassire that he would never get his
father's shield and sword, that he was
destined to carry a lute. Gassire was
outraged, but the wise man shrugged
and said, Your path in life is not that of
a king, or hero. When you hear the
music in the field you will understand
the nature of your journey. Each day,
when Gassire took one of his sons to
battle and each one was killed, seven
of them in total.
The Fasa people began to realize the
he didn't care for his sons and he was
choosing fame over life. And they no
longer praised him which made him an
outcast in his own kingdom.
One night while camping out,
Gassire couldn't sleep. So he decided
plucked the strings, the lute began to
play a beautiful battle song. At the
same moment his father passed away.
The lute began to play again and this
time all of Gassire's anger dissipated
and he wept with both grief and joy.
The song that he sang and the music
that he played were the most beautiful
things ever. The guilt was for his dead
sons and father the only happiness he

felt at the moment was that he would

be remembered for his battle song and
his heroic deeds.

Analysis: Gassire was like Gilgamesh he

was a ' bad ' hero who had a selfish
quest to be immortal. He never finished
his queste but he learned that he was
just a human. And that Gassire like all
of us realized we are all who we are,
and that we need to accept our flaws
but shouldn't let them stop us from
having goals or dreams.

The woman who fell from the sky

Woman Who Fell From The Sky
In the beginning, in the Sky World, a pregnant wife asked
her husband to fetch the delicacies she craved. But she
wanted the bark of a root of the Great Tree in the middle of
the Sky World, which none were permitted to touch.
Finally, however, he gave in, and scraped away soil to bare
the root of the Tree.
Underneath was a hole, and as the woman peered down
into it, she fell through. The birds helped transport her as
she fell, and the great Sea Turtle received her on his back.
Here, on the Sea Turtle's back, she planted bits of the roots
and plants she had brought from the Sky World. And she
walked across the turtle's back, planting, praying and
creating the Earth that we know as Turtle Island.
The woman who had fallen from the sky then had a
daughter, who became impregnated by the West Wind.
While in the womb, the daughter's unborn twins began to
quarrel about how they should emerge, the left-handed twin
refusing to be born in the usual way. Instead, he forced
himself out of his mother's left armpit, killing her as a
result.
The newborn twins then buried their mother, who became
Corn Mother, source of corn, beans and squash, the Three
Sisters of the Iroquois. From her heart grew sacred tobacco,
used to send messages and thanks to the Sky World.
The two brothers continued to compete with each other as
they created the animals and plants, and in the process,
represented different ways of living. Right-Handed Twin
created the beautiful hills, lakes, blossoms, gentle creatures;
Left-Handed Twin, the jagged cliffs and whirlpools, thorns
and predators.

Right-Handed Twin was always truthful, reasonable,

goodhearted, and "straight-arrow"; Left-Handed Twin lied,
fought, rebelled and made "crooked" choices.
Because Right-Handed Twin created human beings, he is
known as "Our Creator," and "The Master of Life."

and components, next it's the most complete

version , the myth of the 5 suns:
In the beginning there was nothing but a void,
nothing existed, in that void the Dual God

But Left-Handed Twin helped, and invented rituals of

sorcery and healing. The world they built included both
cooperation and competition, loving kindness and
aggression.

Ometeotl (also know as Ometecuhtli),

Omecihuatl,or the Oldest God), created
himself/herself. Ometeotl is called Dual God

After they finished their creations, the continued to

compete in other ways - by gambling, by playing lacross,
then fighting with clubs.

because He/She is male/female, bad/good,

One day, grasping a deer antler, Right-handed Twin finally

prevailed, and killed his brother, throwing the body of LeftHanded Twin over the edge of the earth.

When Ometeotl created himself/herself, it was

chaosd/order.

the beginning, since he/she was also able to

create and destroy, he generated ollin (Sacred

As a result, Right-Handed Twin rules day and the SkyWorld and Left-Handed Twin prevails over night and the
lower world.

Movement) to impulse everything.

Ometeutl then gave birth to four children that

Grandmother Skywoman was furious that Right-Handed

Twin murdered his brother, and accused him of
wrongdoing.
Angry, and believing that grandmother had always favored
the errant Left- Handed Twin, he cut off her head and threw
it up toward the sky, where it became the Moon.
Then he threw her body into the ocean, where it became all
the fish of the sea.

came to represent the four directions:

Tezcatlipoca (North), Huizilopochtli (South),
Quetzalcoatl (East) and Xipe Totec (West).
After they were burn, they started to create
things.
As they started the creations, they found a
problem, all of their creations would fall into

The Iroquois believe that both Left-Handed Twin and

Right- Handed Twin are necessary for the world to be in
balance.
This tension and struggle for balance between the two
brothers and principles of life is incorporated into Iroquois
festivals and cycles of life
Mexico-quetzalcoath

the void of nothing, and got eaten by the

dragon/serpent Cipactli, who carried on her
body the whole universe.
The Aztec creation myth says that the four
Gods decided that they wouldn't let their
creations being destroyed by Cipactli and

The Aztec creation myth has some variations,

decided to kill her. During the attack Cipactli

most likely was changed as time passed by,

ate Tezcatlipoca's foot, but finally Cipactli was

most of the versions have the same basic plots

destroyed.

The Gods then pulled Cipactli's body in the four

Quetzalcoatl sent a hurricane that blew the

directions, setting the universe within her body

monkeys away.

free, from her head was created the thirteen

heavens, her tail formed the Underworld, her

Another God that turned into Sun was Tlaloc,

middle body formed Earth, from her eyes were

God of rain and water, but the Age of this Sun

created caves and fountains. Flowers, plants

came to an end, again thanks to Tezcatlipoca.

and tyrees came from her hair, rivers from her

He stole Xochiquetzal (Tlaloc's wife), for this

mouth, hills and valleys came from her nose

reason he refused to send any more rain.

and shoulder created mountains, and more

Gods were created as well.

The people beg for rain and drought started to

swept Earth, still griffing, Tlaloc made rain fire,

But something was missing, the Gods

burning naway the world, and the Gods

thought,and that something was the Sun, but

decided to replaced him.

the Sun couldn't just be created, it could only

come from the sacrifice of a God, Tezcatlipoca
being the chosen one, the Aztec creation myth
says.
But Tezcatlipoca was not strong enough and
became only half Sun. During this age (First
Sun age), the Gods, using ashes created giants
and fed them with acorns.
After some years, Tezcatlipoca and
Quetzalcoatl got into a fight, being the Sun
knocked out at the end, as revenge,
Tezcatlipoca sent jaguars to kill all of the
giants.
The Second Sun, was Quetzalcoatl, during the
Age of this Sun, humans were created and
they lived on pion nuts. Sadly all the calm
just lasted for a few years. People started to
become corrupt, and as punishment (or maybe
revenge against Quetzalcoatl), Tezcatlipoca
turned all humans into monkeys. Full of anger,

The Age of the Fourth Sun started when the

Goddess Calchiuhtlicue (Tlaloc's sister) was
chosen, this made Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatlipoca jealous, and they struck her down
the sky.
When Calchiuhtlicue was falling down, the
Aztec creation myth says, water came down
from the sky and flooded the Earth, destroying
everything, leaving the world in darkness.
During the Fourth Age, more Gods were
created and when the Sun felt, all the new and
old Gods got together to chose which God
should be the new Sun.
The God Tecuciztecatl (Son of Tlaloc and
Chalchiuhtlicue) offered himself, but at the last
minute, he got scared to jump into the sacred
fire, so teh Gods picked the humble God
Nanahuatzin.

When Nanahuatzin jumped, he was the most

impressive Son of all, making Tecuciztecatl
jealous, who also jumped right after
Nanahuatzin, creating two Suns on the East.
The world was too bright and hot because of
the two Suns, so the Gods threw a rabbit to
Tecuciztecatl's face, his light dim and became
the Moon.
Also, the Gods noticed that Nanahuatzin was
too weak, and he was motionless, so they gave
him their own blood, so he could have the
energy for him to travel through the sky.
Thanks to the Aztec creation myth,now you
know that when you look up to the sky, you
are watching the humble God Nanahuatzin, the
Fifth Sun.
Children of the Sun

This partial legend was told by Garcilasco Inca de la Vega,

who claimed to have been taught when a child the official
Inca legends by his uncles, members of Inca aristocracy.
In past centuries all of the earth consisted of great
mountains and brushwood. People lived like animals
without religion or polity, and without houses or cities.
They did not clothe their bodies, or did they know how to
work cotton or wool for garments. By chance they lived by
two or threes in caves and hollows and crevices in rocks.
Like beasts they ate wild plants and roots, the fruits
produced by bushes without cultivation, and human flesh.
They covered their bodies with, leaves, bark, and skins of
animals; others went naked. In other words, they lived like
wild animals, brutes, and even had their women in
common.
Their Father the Sun, seeing the people living this way,
took pity on them; and sent from the sky to earth one of his
sons and one of his daughters to instruct them in the
knowledge of the Father the Sun so they might adore him
and have him as their God. The son and daughter also were
to give the people laws and prescriptions whereby they

might live as men in reason and comity, that they might

dwell in houses and cities, learn how to till the earth,
cultivate and harvest food-plants, domesticate animals and
enjoy the fruits of the earth like rational beings and no
longer like animals.
The Father the Sun sent his two children to Lake Titicaca,
eighty leagues from Cuzco, and told them to pass where
they would and wherever they stayed to eat or to sleep they
should sink into the soil the rod of gold which he gave
them. This rod, a half yard long and two fingers thick, was
to serve as a sign, for where it sank into the earth with a
single blow there they were to stop and found the sacred
city of the Sun.
The finality of his instructions concluded with, When these
people are finally reduce to our service, they shall be
maintained with reason and justice in devotion, clemency
and tenderness, playing in all things a loving father to his
beloved children, modeling yourselves on the Father who
looks to the well-being the world, since he gave men his
light by which they see and warm themselves when they
are cold and make their pastures and fields to grow, their
trees to bear and their flocks to multiply. The Father brings
rain and fair weather in their season and transverse the
whole surface of the earth in order that he may see the
needs of the world to succor and provide for them as the
supporter and protector of men. It is his will that his
children were to imitate him in teaching and aiding the men
who lived like beasts. His children were to be lords and
kings over all races that benefited from their instructions
and good government.
Following his instructions their Father sent them to Titicaca
and they began their journey. They journeyed north;
wherever they stopped they tried to emerge the rod of gold
in the earth. They were unable to bury it until they came to
a small roadside inn seven or eight leagues south of Cuzco,
now known as Paccari-tambo or the Inn of the Dawn. It
was close by on the highland of Huanacauri that they sank
the goldern rod never to be seen again. And from this
height the first monarchs came; each went his own was to
collect and draw people to them to teach them. The prince
went north while the princess went south.
They taught the people living like brutes the ways of
civilization and the ways of their Father. The learning
process began as the primitive people saw these two people
clothes and adorned with the ornaments that the Father the
Sun had bestowed on them, with their ears pierced and
drawn low as it became the fashion of their descendents.
The people were soon won over by what they saw and
heard because the promises of these new people, soon to
become their kings and queens, came true. All things were
done in the reverence of the Sun, and the people began
worshiping these children of the Sun, and followed
wherever their Kings led them.
The Inca civilization began this way. Through the
knowledge of cultivation and harvesting there was food to

feed the hungry. Houses were built and cities were

developed. The male monarch taught the men what they
needed to know such as the things of agriculture, making
the instruments, instructed in methods of irrigation, and
even taught them how to make footgear. The Queen, or
female monarch, instructed the women in womanly offices
such as sewing and weaving cotton and wool, making
garments for themselves, and their men and children. In
other words all knowledge came from the first Inca
chiefs. A.G.H

their crafty intelligence, stealth, and voracious

appetite. However, American Indian coyote
characters vary widely from tribe to tribe. In
some Native American coyote myths, Coyote is
a revered culture hero who creates, teaches,
and helps humans; in others, he is a sort of
antihero who demonstrates the dangers of
negative behaviors like greed, recklessness,
and arrogance; in still others, he is a comic
trickster character, whose lack of wisdom gets
him into trouble while his cleverness gets him
back out. In some Native coyote stories, he is
even some sort of combination of all three at
once.

\coyote analysis

Among the Pueblo tribes, the coyote was

believed to have hunting medicine. Zuni
hunters kept stone effigies of coyotes as one of
their six hunting fetishes, associating coyotes
with the west and the color blue. Coyotes are
also used as clan animals in some Native
American cultures. Tribes with Coyote Clans
include the Cahuilla tribe, the Mohave, the Hopi
(whose Coyote Clan is called Isngyam or Ishwungwa), the Zuni (whose Coyote Clan name is
Suski-kwe,) and other Pueblo tribes of New
Mexico. Some tribes, such as the Pomo, also
had a Coyote Dance among their tribal dance
traditions

The coyote is one of several North American

animals whose name has Native American
origins. The word "coyote" was originally a
Spanish corruption of the Nahuatl (Aztec) word
for the animal, coyotl. From there it was
borrowed into English.
Sponsored Links

Coyote is a major mythological figure for most

Native American tribes, especially those west
of the Mississippi. Like real coyotes,
mythological coyotes are usually notable for