About this design
The oldest Poem in the English language. English has certainly come on a long way since this -
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum
or
HARK! WE Have heard of the glory of the kings of men among the spear-bearing Danes in days of long ago. We have heard how the princes won renown!
The story itself is an Epic Poem, characterised by long journeys to overcome great dangers before returning home.
This design shows the arm of Grendel, a creature that has beset the hall of the Danish king Hrothgar. Beowulf cuts the creature's arm off and it later dies. Why the arm and not, say the head? Maybe the arm stands for strength and so removing Grendel's strength makes him weaker, hence he staggers away and later dies in a cave.
Other stories along the same lines repeat this universal story. A group of men band together to rescue a small community. The Seven Samurai springs to mind, with the monster there being the gun, of course.








