Important details in the story of Beowulf versus Grendel
The idea that all dinosaurs and pterosaurs became extinct many millions of years ago, and that lack of fossils in
Mesozoic
strata supports that--that idea has a major problem:
circular reasoning.
The next two stories have Beowulf doing super-human exploits in battling two other monsters. These seem to be at least partially fictional.
What is the difference between the first battle and the
next two? Grendel's death involves many eyewitnesses. The second and third
battles do not. So, what’s the significance?
If there is any truth to this story, it would have been passed down by bards or
other storytellers. Long before this epic poem was written, storytellers may have spread the tale from its original location.
In the early stages of retelling, however, eyewitnesses
may have prevented changes from being made in the account of the battle with
Grendel. Since the second and third battles may have had few, in any, eyewitnesses other than Beowulf himself,
these probably became embellished.
And since Beowulf died soon after the third battle, who would object to exaggerations or speculations therein?