Week 12 story: The Summoning of Beowulf

Beowulf facing the dragon.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I walk into the summoning room yet again. I guess I need to summon more Heroic Spirits. When my instructor sees me, he says, “Are you alright?”

I respond in a sarcastic manner with, “Yeah, totally. You know how it is, having seven Heroic Spirits running around in my room is a blast!”

My instructor frowns and says, “That bad huh?” To this I respond with, “Yeah, it’s that bad: Pygmalion is constantly trying to sculpt more statues, Odysseus and Yamato are sparring all the time, Sindbad won’t shut up about his stories, Psyche and Cupid are constantly flirting with each other, and finally, Sun Wu Kung and Raja Rasula keep disappearing to who knows where.”

After hearing this, my instructor replies with, “Well, hang in there just a bit more. You only need to summon four more servants until we have collected enough data to make the final adjustments to the summoning system.”

I reply with, “Four more huh? Alright, then let’s get this over with.”

I perform the summoning ritual that has become second nature to me. What appears is-

“I am Beowulf, mighty warrior of the Geatsland, and have been summoned to the servant class Saber. May I great strength bring you victory, master.”

So says the tall, muscular, man standing before me. He’s wearing what looks like Viking armor, has his long brown hair tied back, and is wielding an impressive looking sword.

Beowulf, is it? He is a hero from ancient Geatsland that is said to have had the strength of thirty men. His legends say he used his great strength to fell a man-eating giant, Grendel, and the giant’s monster-mother. The legends go on to say that he bravely faced a fierce dragon and won but ended up losing his life in the process. Beowulf will make an excellent servant!

I say to Beowulf, “It’s nice to meet you Beowulf. Your strength will definitely be valuable. I can’t wait to work will such a strong hero!”

At my words, Beowulf frowns and timidly says, “I feel I must inform you, master, that I’m not the actually Beowulf but the personification of him. In other words, I am a false Heroic Spirit that has taken on the appearance of a real hero.”

Wait, What? I reply with, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to say? You’re not Beowulf but you have been summoned as Beowulf?”

Beowulf replies with, “Yes, that is correct. My real name is Wiglaf. In life I was a good friend of Beowulf but in death, I am summoned as him. Even I am not sure why this is”

Hearing this, my instructor speaks up, “These kinds of occurrences are possible. If the actually Heroic spirit cannot be summoned, a substitute will be summoned in its place. These substitutes are typically considered to be very similar to the actually Heroic Spirit. That is why Wiglaf is here.”

I see so that’s the case. Well, whatever. I’ve got enough oddities in my servants. What’s one more? I say to Beowulf, “So that’s why. Well, it doesn’t matter to me. Welcome Aboard, Beowulf.”

Beowulf responds with, “Thank you, master.”


Author’s Notes:
Here is my latest story. I didn’t write any stories in the Native American section because I couldn’t figure out a good way to write one with the way those stories were presented. So, I decided to wait until the next section. I went with Beowulf because he is pretty much a classic definition of what a hero is. That made his story pretty easy to write. However, I wanted some kind of twist in the story and that’s when I decided to have Wiglaf appear as Beowulf. I that it would be an amusing twist. Other than that, I didn’t alter anything of the original tale.

Bibliography. "Beowulf" from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs. Web Source.