The Wondrous Tale of the Bee-Wolf

Once upon a time, JRR Tolkien wrote a fairy-tale retelling, an attempt to reconstruct an alternative version of the ancient poem called Beowulf*, and he called it Sellic Spell: 'strange tale' or 'wondrous tale'.

Once upon a time, on the long road home from the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf travelled with Beorn to his home and spent the winter with him before they crossed the mountains. On a winter's night while the snow fell, Beorn told a tale of his forebears.

The Wondrous Tale of the Bee-Wolf  (8635 words, gen) 


* flavoured with a 'foundling in a bear cave' plot device from Hrólfs saga kraka.