Read the passage from Beowulf. Then it was like old times in the echoing hall, proud talk and the people happy, loud and excited; until soon enough Halfdane’s heir had to be away to his night’s rest. He realized that the demon was going to descend on the hall, that he had plotted all day, from dawn-light until darkness gathered again over the world and stealthy night-shapes came stealing forth under the cloud-murk. The passage features Anglo-Saxon culture because people are