The Tale of Beowulf. Translated by William Morris and A.
J. Wyatt. (Longmans and Co. 6s.)—Tales of the Heroic Ages: Siegfried and Beowulf. By Zenaide A. Ragozin. (Putnam's Sons.) —It is interesting to compare these two books and to see the same story from different points of view. It is a little difficult at first to understand the curious language of Mr. Morris's poem, but we are rewarded for making the effort by the quaint charm of such " passages as this, from Beowulf's defiance of the monster, Grendel
:- "Lo 1 each of us soothly abideth the ending
Of the life of the world. Then let him work who work may High deeds ere the death : to the doughty of war-lads When he is waiving shall it best be hereafter."
Miss Ragozin in an amusing preface gives her reasons for wishing that young people should read the classic literature of the imagina- tion. This version of the fascinating story of Siegfried will surely, as she hopes, please equally the young and " the old with young tastes."
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