Hrothgar, king of the Danes, held a great feast in his hall Heorot to celebrate the defeat of the monster Grendel – that had so long plagued him – by the warrior Beowulf. With the torn-off arm of Grendel before them in proof of Beowulf’s victory, the Danes celebrated and praised him, and the king’s poet told a saga of how, in times past, the Danes had been subdued by the Frisians, and then defeated them with new strength.