We've begun our research on this story by reading the original Beowulf (in translation, of course). Caleb is totally into it and won't let me stop reading. We're just to the part where Beowulf is going under the lake to confirm his kill of Grendel. Can't wait for Caleb to meet Grendel's mother.

We've also been researching new versions of Beowulf online, as well as representations of the monsters (I sent Caleb a few of them) , and I think the next step will be to read John Garnder's Grendel. This will give us all we need to know.

I'm starting to see Caleb's wisdom in keeping this story simple rather than trying to dovetail it perfectly with the poem...