Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten, mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold, fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard wonsæli wer weardode hwile, siþðan him scyppend forscrifen hæfde in Caines cynne.
My translation won't do this passage from Beowulf justice -- try reading the Old English aloud to hear what it sounds like -- but the passage means
That grim spirit was named Grendel, the notorious walker in the borderlands, who ruled the waste, the fen in its fastness; for a time he governed the region of monsters, the unblessed men, since the Creator had exiled him among the family of Cain.
no subject
Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten,
mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold,
fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard
wonsæli wer weardode hwile,
siþðan him scyppend forscrifen hæfde
in Caines cynne.
My translation won't do this passage from Beowulf justice -- try reading the Old English aloud to hear what it sounds like -- but the passage means
That grim spirit was named Grendel, the notorious walker in the borderlands, who ruled the waste, the fen in its fastness; for a time he governed the region of monsters, the unblessed men, since the Creator had exiled him among the family of Cain.