Help needed identifying a myth please

[Buttonstoo]

DS (aged 9) is studying myths at school. He wants to find out more on the internet about a particular myth he did today but his memory is a bit scrambled!! - no change there!

Here are your clues:

He says it is "the oldest story in England"

Here it is as DS tells it to me "There are loads of people in a room. Everyone is asleep except one of them. Then the door bangs open and a 'monster' comes in and eats one of the sleeping people. The 'monster' then has a fight with the man who is awake and the 'monster' loses an arm but then walks away!"

DS thinks the monster's name begins with a 'G'

Any ideas??

[stoo_pid]

Beowulf. The monster is Grendel

[SueMaggie]

Grendel

[logman]

Armless Gorgon

[jno]

not exactly a myth but a story, some of the earliest writing in English. (Not modern English by any means.)

[Buttonstoo]

Thank you very much. This is not a story I have ever heard of. He will 'Google' Grendel tomorrow.

[Golem]

Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Forrest Gump) has just completed directing a version of Beowulf. It is currently in post-production and due for release in 2007. It's unlikely to be rated low enough for Master DS to be able to watch it when it comes out though - at least not for a few years.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442933/