Introduction The motif of the "dis-arming" of the monster, so memorable in Beowulf's fight with Grendel, is the key feature of the first part of "The Hand and the Child" tale, in which the hand traditionally comes to kidnap a child; the absence of this kidnapping in Beowulf leads R. W. Chambers to dismiss the importance of the story as an analogue to the Old English poem (478-85). (1) As R. Mark Scowcroft analyzes the pattern of "The Hand and the Child" tale, however, it is not the kidnapping but the story's two-part structure that is key. In the first part of the story, a hall is repeatedly ...
