Question

Which is the best paraphrase for this passage from Beowulf ? —Then the sword / Melted, blood-soaked, dripping down / Like water, disappearing like ice when the world’s / Eternal Lord loosens invisible / Fetters and unwinds icicles and frost . . . a. God made the bloody sword turn to dripping icicles and frost. b. Beowulf loosened his grip on the bloody sword and it disappeared into the water. c. Beowulf’s bloody sword became liquid the way ice and frost do when God warms and melts them. d. God made the sword melt and freed Beowulf from the magic fetters that bound him.

Answer 1

Answer:

C.Beowulf’s bloody sword became liquid the way ice and frost do when God warms and melts them.

Explanation:

This is the excerpt from the famous Anglo-Saxon epic "Beowulf" set in the sixth century.

Beowulf travels to Denmark to help King Hrothgar defeat Grendel, a monster that terrorizes his kingdom and kills his people.

After defeating Grendel he faces his revenge-seeking mother, a swamp witch. After a long duel he beats her with help of a special magic sword.

The lines from the passage describe what happened to the sword after the duel. The sword, bloody from the duel, turned to liquid just like the ice, heated by God, turns to water.