Comparison between events and characters of Beowulf and The Saga of King Hrolf KrakiThere are so many similarities between the events and characters of the poem Beowulf and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki , an Icelandic saga representing 1000 years of oral traditions before 1300 when it was written. These similarities are so numerous that they cannot be attributed solely to coincidence. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature states that the hero of the poem Beowulf may be the same person as Bodvar Biarki, the leader of Hrolfr Kraki's knights (v1, ch3, s3, n13). George Clark in “The Hero and Theme” mentions: “The form of Beowulf taken as a whole suggests both the 'Bear of the Bear' type of folk tale (especially as we find it in Scandinavia) and the 'fighting myth' . . . .” (286). The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki would be both of these things. Jesse Byock says, "the earliest accounts of the characters in the Hrolf Saga come from Anglo-Saxon England, where writing in Roman letters had been adopted in the seventh century, several centuries earlier than in Scandinavia" (Byock xxiv). Beowulf opens with a brief account of the victorious Danish king Scyld Scefing, whose pagan burial on a ship is described. His body was transported aboard a ship, loaded with weapons and treasures: the ship fainted in the open sea. The reigns of Scyld's son and grandson, Beowulf and Healfdene, are mentioned, and then we meet Hrothgar, Healfdene's son. In the Saga of King Hrolf Kraki we also meet a Hrothgar, but his name is shortened to Hroar. Hroar ​​is a notable figure, much like in Beowulf, who rules the northern English kingdom of Northumberland until forced into a disastrous conflict. King Hrothgar builds a splendid hall, called......the center of the card......men and the kindest, the kindest to his people” (3181). The Icelandic saga, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, written in the 1300s, represents approximately 1000 years of oral traditions. The striking similarities between this saga and Beowulf are simply too striking to be dismissed as mere coincidences. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977. Clark, George. "The hero and the theme." In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge history of English and American literature. New York: Sons of G. P. Putnam, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000