ABSTRACT

If now in that grey prehistory from which the legend stems, memory of the earlier state was still alive among the people, it would be very natural that the moor would still be counted as part of Grendel’s kingdom, as formerly a district by the sea, very natural that superstitious imaginations should be attached to it. Müllenhoff has already said (1849:425), ‘At its base lies the fatalistic belief that…where water once was, there will water come again. Now the monsters have indeed been…thrust back and forced to stay out in the lagoon or on the farthest strand, but step by step they advance.’