“tee not true" Taid. “A few minutes from now I'm, going to cary you back to Hrothgz, safe and souid. So ‘auch for pot. kill myself” he whispered. He shook violently now. “Up to you," I answered reasonably, “but you'l admit ic amay ser at least rile cowardly to some “is fts closed and his teeth clenched; then he relaxed and Lay Bt | waited for him to find an answer. Minutes passed. Ie came to me that he had quit He had glimpsed a glorious ideal, had struggled toward it and seized it and come to understand i, and was disappointed. One could sympa thize, Hie was asleep. 1 picked him up gently and carried him home. I Inid thea atthe door of Hrothga's meadhall, sill aslep, killed the two guards 101 wouldnt be misunderstood, and left. He lives on, biter, feeb challenging my midnight raids from time to time (\nee times this summer), erazy with shame that he alone is always spared, and furiously jealous of the dead I laugh when I see him. He throws himself st me, or he cunningly sneaks up behind, sometimes in Uisguise—a goat, a dog, a sickly old woman—and I roll ‘on the or with laughter. So much for heroism, So much {for the harveevirgin. So much, also, for the alternative visions of blind old poets and dragons Go Balances everything, ring out ime like a elms sheep- boat, keel to hellwaed, mast upreared to prick out heave’ ye: He hel (Sigh.) My enemies define themselves (as the Aragon said) on me. As for myself, I could nish them off ina single night, pull down the great carved beams and ‘rush them in the meadhall, along with their mice, cheir tankards and potatoes—yet I hold back. I am hardly blind to the absurdity. Form is funtion. What will we call the Hothgar-Weecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked? (Dos lite dance, beast. Shrug it off. This looks like a rice place—oooh, myl—Aat rock, moonlight, views of dis- tances! Sing! 4Pry poor Hroshger, Grendel foe! Pity poor Grendel, 0,0,01 Winter soon (whispering, whispering, Grendel, has it eccured to you my dear that you ae era2y?) (He claps ands delicately over his head, point the toes of one foot—asiel horrible nails! takes a step, does a Grendel is rany, 0,0,01 Thinks old Hrothger Makes it snow! Balance is everything, tiding out chyme Pity poor Grengor, Hrothdel’s foe! Down goes she whiripook: Eek! No, no! Ie wil be winter soon. “Midway through the cwelfh yar of my idiot war. “Twelve is hope a holy number. Number of escapes from traps a [He searches the moonlit world for signs, shading his pet agsint the dime, standing on one shaggy foot, just slightly bloodstined, one toe missing from an old encoun. er with an as, Three dead trees on the moor below, burned sp alive by lighting, are ominour portent, (Oh man, ut portentsl) Also tees. On a frottiten hill inthe distance, men on horses. “Over here!" he scream. Weaver his amt, They hesitate, feign deafness, ride away north. Shoddy, he observes, The whole chilly univere, shoddy.) Enough of that! A night fo tearing heads of, bathing Jn blood! Excep, alas, he has killed his quota forthe sa- son, Cae take care ofthe gol-egg-laying goose! There is no limit to desire but desie's needs. (Grendel's law.) ‘The seent of the dragon, Heavy all around me, almost Visible before me, lke my breath. 1 will count my numberes blesings one by one 1. My teeth are sound, 1. The soof of my eave is sound. 1. Ihave not committed the ultimate act of sili: 1 have not killed the quen, 1 Yeu (He lies on the clifledge, sratching hit belly, and thoughfuly watcher his thoughtfully watching the queen.) [Not easy to define, Mathematically, perhaps a torus, loosely cylindrical, with swellings and constrictions at in- 43tec knobbed—that st ay, surface generated, more Kes, bythe revluins ofa conic about an ais ying in its plane, and the oid thus enclosed, Ii dif, of cours, tobe precise. For on thing, the problem of de termining how much i queen and how much queealy radiation, The monster laugh “Time Space croesetion: Wealtheou, aed Ie was the second year of my raiding, The army of the Sepding was weakened, decimated. No more the rumble of Heathga’s honemen, siding a midnight, chainmail jangling inthe whieling wind, cloaks yng ot like witn- pling wings, wo rescue py tbue givers (0 lien to me Ail!) He could’ protect his own ball, much les hes. eat down my visits, conserving the game, and watched them. Natuce lover. For weks all day and far into che ight, he met with his eounslrs, aking, praying, moan ing. Became aware, listening to them, that Iwas not hie nly heat. Far to the eat of Heothgar’s hall there was 4: new hall building, its young king guning fame. Ae ethgar had done, this younger king was systematically burning and plundering nearby ball extending the circle fhe uibue power. He was striking now at the outer im cof Hrothgacs sphere; it was only & mater of time before du struck Hrodhgar. The counselors aed and drank and at ‘wept, sometimes Hrothgar'allics among them, The Shaper sang songs. The men stood with their braceeted arms around one another’ shovldert—inen who not long before hhad been the bixerest of enemierand I watched it all, wringing my fingers, smiling rage. The leaves turned re. ‘The purple blooms of thistles beeame black behind the people's houses, and migrant birds moved through, ‘Then, fom all corners of Hrothgar’s spre of infiuence and from towns beyond—the vassal’ vasale—an army be- ‘ganto form. They came walking or riding, oxen dragging their wagonloads of shies, «pears, tents clothes, food. ‘Every night when I went down to look there were more of them. Cartwheels tall as 2 man, with rough, square spokes. Bigrhoofed gray horses spackled like wolves, that rolled their eyes and whinnied at my footfall, lagued with men as if strapped to their business by harness I could not see. Horns cracked out in the darkening stillness; grind- stones screeched, The crisp sit rcked with th of their cooking. ‘They made camp in a sloping pasture rimmed by enor- mous oak trees and pines and nut wes, 2 steam moving down through the center, over steps of rock. Where the forest began, there was a lake. Every night there were new groups of campfires to push away the frost, and soon there was hardly a place to and, there were #9 many men and animals. The gras, the withering leaves were fll of whis afersmell 45ping, bu the campground was hushed, mufled by their presence, a if blighted. I watched from my hiding place. ‘They talked in mumbles or not at all, Message carriers moved from fre to fire, aking sofly with the leaders. ‘Theis rich furs shone like bird? wings in the Belight. Heavily guarded, che younger soldiers pushed through the crowd and, all night long, washed clothes and cooking ware inthe stscam until the water was thick with dirt and grease and na longer made a sound as it dropped toward the lake, When they slept, guards and dogs watched over them in herds. Before dawn, men rose to exercise the hore, polish weapons, or move out with bows in search of dee “Then one night when I went down to spy, they were ‘gone, vanced like starlings from a tre. I followed their trail—footprints, hoofprints, and wagon rts esting 2 wide