Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark,
nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him
to hear the din of the loud banquet
every day in the hall, the harp being struck
and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth
a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendour He set the sun and moon
to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for me,
and filled the broad lap of the world
with branches and leaves; and quickened life
in every other thing that moved.-Beowulf, Seamus Heaney translation, l.86-98
What drives Grendle absolutely nuts? Not just mirthful singing. That’s obnoxious enough, but not worth leaving the safety of his forest den for. No, what he really can’t stand is someone reciting Genesis 1. ARRRRRRRR!!!! It drives some folks just as bananas today.