Beowulf by Neil Gaiman Page B

quite as under his breath as he thinks)
    "Wake me when the monster comes" -- what are we here for, then?
    BEOWULF
    (his eyes closed, to himself)
    Bait.
    CUT TO:
    63 EXT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - NIGHT
    63
    The moon is almost full, and is high in the sky. Night surrounds the hall of Hrothgar like a black velvet cloak. We can hear RAUCOUS SINGING, muffled, inside.
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    64 INT. HEROT - MEAD HALL - NIGHT
    64
    Beowulf is sleeping, naked, in front of the fire.
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    A couple of the thanes are having a knife fight with their hands tied together, and they have a small audience.
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    More of the thanes are standing around in a semicircle, arms linked, singing. The tune is rough-and-ready, rugby song type thing:
    THANES
    (singing in verse)
    There were a dozen virgins, All Friesians and Franks! We took ’em for a boat-ride, and all we got were wanks!
    (chorus)
    OOohh, We are Beowulf’s army, we are mighty thanes, we’ll steal your cattle, and take your girls, then we’ll do it all
    (more)
    THANES (CONT’D)
    over again!
    (verse)
    The prettiest of the virgins, she was the fairest swede! I told her I’d an urgin’, for where to spend my seed!
    (chorus)
    Singing we are Beowulf’s army, we are mighty thanes, we’ll steal your cattle, and take your girls, then we’ll do it all over again!
    (verse)
    The oldest of the virgins, she was a Vandal lass! I showed my mighty weapon, and she showed me her ass!
    (chorus)
    Singing we are Beowulf’s army, we are mighty thanes, we’ll steal your cattle, and take your girls, then we’ll do it all over again…
    They SING happily and obscenely, taking it in turns to alternate verses, all joining in on the choruses. They are all sweating -- the fire’s heat has turned the hall into a sauna, and anyway, they are drunk.
    CUT TO:
    65 EXT. HEROT - NIGHT
    65
    SLOW ZOOM OUT OF Herot, its heavy stones can’t hold the JUBILANT LAUGHTER of the rowdy Thanes. A monument to mankind’s resilience, it may hold out warring hordes but it can’t hold the BOISTEROUS SINGING inside.
    CUT TO:
    66 EXT. THE MOORS - NIGHT
    66
    The song inside the mead hall seems to echo through the moors as if it were some great parabolic transmitter amplifying the fete du soir.
    CUT TO:
    67 EXT. DARK FOREST - NIGHT
    67
    WE SLOWLY MOVE through a dark forest of primordial origin. The THANE’S SONG still resounding through the night, stillness carrying it beyond the realm of man.
    CUT TO:
    68 EXT. THE GREAT CAVE - NIGHT
    68
    SLOW ZOOM INTO the mouth of a great cave into which feeds a mighty torrent of water. The SINGING, now louder than ever, seems to be coming from inside the murky burrow.
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    The CHANTS have reached a fever pitch. Swollen to an amplitude of unprecedented intensity. Never before has a song of happiness seemed to warp into a TORTUROUS REQUIEM. An aria of joy and light, underscored by darkness and self doubt…
    69 INT. THE GREAT CAVE - GRENDEL’S LAIR - NIGHT
    69
    To hear it all there is GRENDEL, a deformed man of gargantuan size. His skin like stretched leather over ancient muscles. His hands clutched tightly over the sides of his oblong skullcap. His golden eyes pinched tightly shut, tears of blood drip from them. This is a monster born of pain. Once a man, now twisted into a caricature of insanity and depravity.
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    He writhes in pain at the song inside his head. His naked body scarring the sodden floor of the cave around him.
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    The dank walls, lichen covered and scared with roots, seem to close in on Grendel as if the monster were inside an immense trash compactor. A claustrophobic nightmare has manifested itself into Grendel’s twisted reality.
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    Indeed, the cave is growing smaller. Or is it that Grendel is growing bigger?!
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    The behemoth has grown so large he can barely fit into the room. The tiny bones of many Thanes litter the sarcophagus chamber, some bleached with age, others still ripe with their fruity flesh. Their