Mount your horse, and ride naked, before all the people, through the market of the town, from one end to the other, and on your return you shall have your request[16].
Clearly Leofric meant it as a joke for he considered his wife to be practically a religious woman. The very idea that Godiva would agree to his challenge took him completely by surprise. He was quite sure that his demure, modest wife would never do such a thing.
But Godiva thought that her nudity would be interpreted as a sign of her humility and repentance before God. She was not ashamed of her nudity. On Leofrics words Godiva replied:
But will you give me permission, if I am willing to do it?
I will, said he.
So great was Godivas compassion for the people of Coventry that she overcame her horror of doing this. The Countess sent a message through town that told everyone to close their shutters and stay indoors. Then she loosed her hair and let down her tresses, which covered the whole of her body like a veil, and then mounting her horse and attended by two knights, she rode through the market-place, without being seen[17], except her fair legs. So Godiva rode through town only clothed by her hair. She rode through the silent streets unseen by the people, who had obeyed her command because of their respect for her.
When she had completed the journey, she returned with gladness to her astonished husband, and obtained of him what she had asked. The Earl gave in and lowered the taxes of the town: he freed the town of Coventry and its inhabitants from the service, and confirmed what he had done by a charter.
However, only one man was unable to resist the temptation to peep at the Countess. It was a tailor named Tom who drilled a hole through his shutters, so that he might see Godiva pass[18]. He caught a glimpse of Lady Godiva, and before he could satisfy his gaze he was struck blind[19]. He was blinded by the wrath of Heaven. This is where the phrase Peeping Tom[20] for a voyeur[21] comes from. Toms nickname has become synonymous with pervert[22].
Leofric was forced to pretend the whole thing was a miracle, which in a way it was, since almost no one did see her nudity. But the worst thing about this was that he had to grant the tax break.
Lady Godiva, as Countess of Mercia, had personal charge over the good people of Coventry. Her name Godiva is the Latin form of the Saxon name Godgifu or Godgyfu, meaning Gods gift. There were many celebrations to remember Lady Godivas courage. A pageant is held annually in Coventry[23] to re-enact Lady Godivas original route through the town.
Beowulf[24]
Once, long ago[25], the Danish land owned a mighty monarch, Scyld Scefing[26], the founder of a great dynasty, the Scyldings[27]. This famous king Scyld had come to Denmark in a mysterious manner, since no man knew whence he sprang. As a babe he drifted to the Danish shore in a vessel loaded with treasures; but no man was with him, and there was no token to show his kindred and race. When Scyld grew up he increased the power of Denmark and enlarged its borders; his fame spread far and wide among men. He and his warriors sailed far over the sea, conquered many tribes and forced them to pay tribute to him. His glory shone undimmed until the day when, full of years and honours, he died.
When Scyld died, his men took his body to the shore of the ocean where, in the harbour, stood Scylds ship, ready for a journey across the ocean. They laid him on the deck of the ship. Then they brought there many treasures, also his weapons and armour, and put a golden banner high over his head. Then, with sad hearts, they let the ocean carry him away. Nobody ever knew what happened to that ship. The sorrowing people restored Scyld to the mysterious ocean from which he had come to them.
After Scyld, his grandson ruled the fierce vikings. The descendants of Scyld ruled and prospered till the days of his great-grandson Hrothgar[28].
Hrothgar was a mighty warrior and conqueror, who won glory in battle, and whose fame spread wide among men, so that nobly born warriors, his kinsmen, were glad to serve as his bodyguard and to fight for him loyally in strife. He was very successful in war and his warriors obeyed him gladly; they received much tribute, and soon his groups of warriors grew into a large and mighty army.
Then Hrothgar decided to build a great hall, the greatest and tallest and most beautiful in the world, in which he could hold feasts[29] and banquets, and could entertain his warriors and thanes[30], and visitors from afar. He sent orders to many tribes to come and help to build the hall. They came and very quickly the banquet hall was ready. So King Hrothgar constructed the great hall Heorot[31] for his people. In it he, his wife, and his warriors spent their time singing and celebrating. At the first grand feast that Hrothgar held in the great banquet hall, he gave many precious gifts of rings and jewels and other things to his thanes and warriors. The musicians played their harps, the bards sang, and there was plenty of the best food and wine on the tables. Thus Hrothgar and his men lived a joyful and happy life until a cruel stranger appeared among them.
What happened? Day by day[32] the feasting continued, until its noise and the festal joy of its revellers aroused a mighty enemy. Grendel[33] was a terrible troll-like monster, a man-eater, powerful, evil and cruel. This monstrous being, half-man, half-fiend, dwelt in the fens near the hill on which Heorot stood. Terrible was he, dangerous to men, of extraordinary strength, human in shape but gigantic of stature, covered with a green horny skin, on which the sword would not bite. His race, all sea-monsters, giants, goblins[34], and evil demons, were offspring of Cain[35].
Grendel was pained by the noise. He did not like people and he did not like the merry life in the banquet hall. Grendel was one of mankinds most bitter enemies[36]; his hatred of the joyous shouts from Heorot, and his determination to stop the feasting grew on. One night he went to the hall to see what the king and his men did there. The door was open and he saw a company of thanes and warriors sitting at the tables or lying on the floor, and all of them were asleep after the feast. Grendel attacked the hall and killed and devoured thirty of Hrothgars warriors while they were sleeping. But Grendel did not touch the throne of Hrothgar, for it was protected by a powerful god.
When dawn broke, and the Danes[37] from their dwellings around the hall entered Heorot, great was the lamentation, and dire the dismay, for thirty noble champions had vanished, and the blood-stained tracks of the monster showed but too well the fate that had overtaken them. Hrothgars grief was profound, for he had lost thirty of his dearly loved bodyguards, and he himself was too old to wage a conflict[38] against the foe a foe who repeated night by night his awful deeds.
The people were looking at the tracks of the terrible stranger on the floor of the hall. They knew that it was Grendel. He will come again and again, they said. We are not safe here now. Hrothgar and his people, helpless against Grendels attacks, abandoned Heorot. No champion would face the monster, and the Danes, in despair, deserted the glorious hall of which they had been so proud. Many of the thanes were frightened, and ran away and hid themselves in places where they thought the monster could not find them.
There were now fewer men in the banquet hall. And when Grendel came again one night, there was a very long struggle, but Grendel was a demon and had the strength of a demon. And so he killed some of the men and again ran away with them to the moor and devoured them.