Red bandReady now · Open and print today

Grendel

From Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race, by M. I. Ebbutt

This reader retells an episode from Hero-Myths and Legends of the British Race, a collection by M. I. Ebbutt first published in the early twentieth century. The story of Grendel is drawn from the Old English epic Beowulf, one of the foundational texts of English literature. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The episode is worth reading because it explores how a community responds when faced with a threat that conventional power cannot overcome, and because it presents evil not as an abstract concept but as a force that specifically targets joy, fellowship, and the bonds that hold a people together. It sets the stage for the hero's arrival and establishes the stakes of the conflict to come.

Band

Red · Complex language and analysisTypical starting range: ages 15–17

Length

long · about 1032 words in 4 sections · 2 pictures

Source

Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race, M. I. Ebbutt

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (11 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

Report a concern about this reader · What’s in a HummingRead reader