The following helpful outline of Beowulf is taken from a Web page by Syd Allen at:  http://www.jagular.com/beowulf/outlines.shtml

[Lines 1-52 are before section I and are sometimes referred to as the Preface or Prologue.] CONCERNING SCYLD THE SHEAF-CHILD. The poem opens with a prefatory section that gives the ancestry of the Danish king Hrothgar whose mead-hall is the scene of the first adventure of the poem. The founder of the line is Scyld Scefing, or Scyld Sheaf-Child, so named because of the tradition that as a child he had drifted, lying on a sheaf of wheat, in a boat filled with arms until the boat landed on the island of Skaney. From this frail child there developed a mighty king who ruled valiantly and well, respected by his own people and feared by his tribute-giving neighbors. After many years a son was born to him named Beowulf (probably the scribe's confused rendering of Beow or Beowa of the Anglo-Saxon genealogies and not the Beowulf of this poem). After mentioning the fame of this child, the preface concludes with an account of the death and elaborate funeral of Scyld, describing how he was laid in a ship loaded with parting gifts of arms and treasures and the ship set adrift on the waters which had borne him to the country's shores as a child.

I [lines 53-114]. The genealogy continues with a reiteration of the fame of Scefing's son Beowulf, his son Healfdene, and Helfdene's four sons Heorogar, Hrothgar, Halga, and Ela. Heorogar, as is implied later, ruled for a time but then turned over the government to his brother Hrothgar who build the great hall Heorot, a symbol of his fame and glory. But tragedy lurked in the darkness where the demon Grendel, one of the evil descendants of Cain, listened to the gleeman chanting lays of the glory of God.

II [lines 115-188]. Filled with rage, Grendel comes at night to Heorot, kills the thirty thanes sleeping there, and returns home with their slaughtered corpses. Daybreak brings woe to the ruler and his people upon their discovery of the monster's vengeance. The next night Grendel returns, the hall soon stands deserted (at night), and for twelve years, refusing to parley or to make peace, the demon prowls over the fen, raiding and destroying. The tale is soon noised abroad by the gleemen.

III [lines 189-257]. News of the calamity reaches the Jute Beowulf, a nephew of Hygelac, king of the opposite territory of West Gothland. Strongest and boldest of men, Beowulf chooses a band of fifteen heroic followers and with them sails to Hrothgar's realm where he is challenged by the Scylding coast-guard who is stationed on a cliff to keep watch.

IIII [lines 258-319]. Beowulf identifies himself as the son of Ecgtheow and describes his followers as Goths and hearth-companions of Hygelac. His mission, he says, is to assist Hrothgar, lord of the Danes, in overcoming his demon-foe. The coast-guard welcomes them, promises to guard their ship, and speeds them on their way to King Hrothgar.

V [lines 320-370]. Up the stone-paved street march Beowulf and his men. Arriving at the hall they are greeted with admiration by a noble Dane Wulfgar who asks them who they are. Beowulf again identifies himself, Wulfgar goes to Hrothgar, and, in courtly fashion, asks a hearing for the strangers.

VI [lines 371-455]. Hrothgar recalls that he had known Beowulf as a child and that he has heard of Beowulf's matchless strength. He bids Wulfgar to welcome the strangers and bid them approach. Beowulf introduces himself to King Hrothgar, explains his mission, and, as evidence of his capability, mentions his night of wrestling with the sea-monsters. If he loses his battle with Grendel, he remarks, there will be no need to bury his body or to feed him longer.

VII [lines 456-498]. Hrothgar continues to reminisce about Beowulf's father and his great feat, while apparently a warrior with the Wylfings, of killing Heatholaf. This account is followed by an obscure passage concerning his own settling of a quarrel with the Wylfings. He then turns abruptly to a description of the ravages wrought by Grendel and then, with equal abruptness, invites Beowulf to speak his own mind and welcomes Beowulf and his company as guests. The ale flows and the minstrel sings.

VIII [lines 499-558]. Hunferth [referred to in other translations as "Unferth"], jealous of Beowulf's glory, asks Beowulf if he is the one who was defeated by Breca, prince of the Brondings, in a swimming contest and dares him to spend a night in the vicinity of Heorot. Beowulf angrily replies with his own version of that youthful exploit, telling how, with naked swords to defend themselves from the sea-monsters, they swam together for five nights in the icy waters, then became parted, and Beowulf was attacked by a monster who dragged him to the bottom of the sea where Beowulf dispatched him with his sword.

VIIII [lines 559-662]. Continuing the story Beowulf describes successive slaughters until he killed nine of the monsters whose bodies were washed to the shore. He himself, fatigued by battle, was borne by the tide to the land of the Finns. Breca, he boasts, never achieved the equal of this feat. He rails an Hunferth as a murderer of his own brothers and as helpless before the fury of Grendel. He concludes by boasting that he will rid Heorot of the monster. Amidst the ensuing revelry Wealtheow, Hrothgar's queen, passes the cup first to her lord and then to all the people. Giving the cup to Beowulf she thanks God for his arrival. Beowulf's reply that he will conquer or dies pleases the queen. The celebration continues until Beowulf begs leave to retire. They all leave Beowulf alone in the hall after a parting speech by Hrothgar expressing his confidence in the hero.

X [lines 663-709]. Beowulf removes his armor and gives his sword to his thane, boasting that he will meet the unarmed monster on its own terms. He then lies down to sleep with his companions around him, none of whom expected to see home again. From afar in the night Grendel approaches.

XI [lines 710-790]. Grendel smashes open the door, bites and swallows one of the thanes, and springs at Beowulf who seizes the monster's arm. Grendel, never having felt such a grip, attempts to flee to the fen. The mead-hall barely withstands the vibration caused by his struggle to escape. The Danes are smitten with terror at Grendel's wail of defeat.

XII [lines 791-836]. Beowulf's companions draw their weapons and hack at the monster with their blades without effect. Finally, the monster's arm is wrenched from its socket. Bleeding to death Grendel escapes over the moor to his lair. Beowulf fastens the arm high up near the roof of the hall.

XIII [lines 837-924]. The next morning warriors gather from far and near to applaud the victory and to trace the monster's footprints across the moor to a blood-stained pool. The valor of Beowulf is praised by all. One of the thanes introduces a tale from the Nibelungen legend, recounting how Sigmund the Volsung with his son and nephew slew wild beasts in the forests and how, thereafter, when the nephew Fitela was not with him, Sigmund destroyed a great dragon with his sword and gained a great treasure. When this story is concluded all return to Heorot to view the wonder, the king and his queen with her maidens joining them there.

XIIII [lines 925-990]. Hrothgar praises Beowulf's achievement and gives glory to God. He promises to cherish Beowulf hereafter as his own child. Beowulf responds by acknowledging his chagrin that the dead body of Grendel is not in the hall, says that he had intended to hold his arm until his other hand could strangle him, regrets that he broke away, but expresses his agreement that the monster could not escape his doom by ripping loose his arm. Hunferth is silent as all declare that no weapon could perform what Beowulf has done with his bare hands.

XV [lines 991-1049]. The hall is cleansed, repaired, and refurnished with new golden tapestries. A great feast is held, and Hrothgar bestows a banner, breast-plate, and helmet upon Beowulf. After Beowulf drinks the king's health, eight stallions are brought into the hall, each bearing a jewelled saddle, to be added to Beowulf's trophies.

XVI [lines 1050-1124]. Hrothgar gives gifts to all of Beowulf's mean and offers to pay gold for the man whom Grendel had killed. The gleeman sings of a feud between the Frisians and the Danes (mentioned also in "The Fight at Finnesburg") in the course of which the Danish Hnaef (mentioned in "Widsith") is killed. Finn, the Frisian king, loses the battle to the Danish Hengest and concludes a truce. A funeral pyre for Hnaef is prepared on which Hildeburh, Danish wife of Finn, places her own sons with great lamentation.

XVII [lines 1125-1192]. The Danish warriors return to their homes while Hengest remains all winter with Finn. When spring returns, aided by some of his men (who had either remained with him or had returned - the whole passage is very obscure) Hengest breaks the truce, kills Finn, and carries Hildeburh and much treasure back to the Danes. The gleeman concludes his song, the celebration continues, and Wealtheow takes the cup to Beowulf sitting between her sons Hrethric and Hrothmund.

XVIII [lines 1193-1250]. She presents Beowulf with gifts of corslet, rings, and a magnificent collar, subsequently given to Hygelac the Goth who wore it on his raid against the Frisians in which he was slain. She asks him to instruct her sons and wishes him joy, prosperity, and long life. At nightfall Hrothgar retires to his chambers while his thanes sleep in the hall, their armor by their sides, as they did before the ravages of Grendel.

XVIIII [lines 1251-1320]. While they are sleeping, Grendel's mother, seeking to avenge the death of her son, enters the hall. The warriors are roused and she departs, taking an old friend and counsellor of Hrothgar, named Aeschere, as well as the talon of her son with her. At dawn Beowulf, who had slept elsewhere, is summoned to attend Hrothgar.

XX [lines 1321-1382]. Hrothgar laments the death of Aeschere and recalls the tale, oft told, of the two monsters, male and female, whose home was a haunted pool in a wild and lonely fen. He promises Beowulf great rewards if he will succeed in finding the monster's abode and destroying Grendel's mother.

XXI [lines 1383-1472]. Beowulf nobly accepts the challenge. Hrothgar mounts a horse and, accompanied by Beowulf and a band of men, rides over the moor to a bloody pool where they see Aeschere's severed head. Sea-monsters swim in the pool; one of them is killed and dragged ashore. Beowulf dons his armor and grasps the sword Hrunting, loaned to him by Hunferth.

XXII [lines 1473-1556]. He makes a parting speech, asking that if he dies the treasures given him be bestowed upon Hygelac and the sword returned to Hunferth. Thereupon he plunges into the water. Nearly a day is required to reach the bottom where Grendel's mother seizes him and drags him to her lair. There, lit by the glow of firelight, he is able to see the monster. With a mighty blow he strikes her head, only to find the sword Hrunting powerless to wound her. Casting the sword aside he grips her shoulder with his hand, but by superior strength she throws him down, kneels upon him, and tries to thrust her dagger into his breast. Saved by his corslet, Beowulf springs to his feet.

XXIII [lines 1557-1650]. He espies a giant sword near by, seizes it, and thrusts it into the monster's throat, killing her. Hrothgar and his men waiting above see the pool stained with blood, conclude that Beowulf is slain, and return home, sick at heart. Beowulf's men remain, gazing hopelessly at the pool. Meanwhile, the blade of the giant sword is dissolved by the venomous blood of the monster. Beowulf, clutching the sword-hilt and the monster's severed head [here this summary of the story seems to mix up the fact that Beowulf has killed Grendel's mother with the fact that he cut off the dead Grendel's head -- the fact that it is Grendel's head is clear at line 1639 -- , that it is Grendel's blood which melt the sword and that it is Grendel's head that he brings to the surface of the pool -- the schoolbytes.com outline makes the same mistake in saying that it was Grendel's mother's head he carried to the surface --], rises to the top of the pool where he is joyously greeted by his companions. All return to Heorot where Beowulf lays the head down in front of the king and queen.

XXIIII [lines 1651-1739]. Beowulf relates his adventure to Hrothgar and presents him with the hilt of the sword, promising the king that all may now sleep safely in Heorot. The hilt is described as a giant's work, recording in runic letters the origin of the ancient war of the giants before the flood. Hrothgar praises Beowulf and preaches to him a sermon on the evil of pride.

XXV [lines 1740-1816]. The sermon against arrogance continues, with Hrothgar pointing out the transitory nature of earthly things. He concludes by inviting Beowulf to sit at the feast, promising him more treasures in the morning. Beowulf joins the feast until, as the night deepens, all retire to rest. Eager to return home Beowulf and his men rise early in the morning. Beowulf returns Hrunting to Hunferth without a word of deprecation of the sword and approaches Hrothgar to bid him farewell.

XXVI [lines 1817-1887]. Beowulf praises Hrothgar's hospitality and promises his own and Hygelac's assistance in case of any future need. Hrothgar praises Beowulf's valor and wisdom and prophesies Beowulf's future rise to kingship. Beowulf, he says, has brought peace between their peoples. After more treasures are bestowed upon the here, he and his thanes depart for their boat.

XXVII [lines 1888-1962]. They board the ship, sail home, and carry the treasures to Hygelac's hall. Here is inserted a short account of Hygd, the daughter of Haereth and queen of Hygelac, who after her husband's death became the wife of Offa.

XXVIII [lines 1963-????]. Beowulf is greeted by Hygelac and Hygd. Hygelac asks about his adventures, confessing to grave forebodings when Beowulf had departed. With great brevity Beowulf touches upon his achievements and then tells how Wealtheow distributed gifts to the warriors while her daughter Freaware, betrothed to the son of Froda, passed the mead-cup.

XXVIIII. The Thorpe version says here that "This entire canto is missing, along with the last part of Canto XXVIII and the beginning of XXX." The Chickering version and the Penguin Classics version edited by Michael Alexander both have section XXVIIII starting at line 2039 and section XXXI starting at line 2144 and neither version mentions section XXX or explains why it is missing from their respective translations. Mitchell and Robinson suggest that the numbering should be: section XXVIIII starts with line 1999, section XXX starts with line 2039 and section XXXI starts with line 2144.

One of my books suggests that the section numbering may have become mixed up because the first scribe forgot to assign a number to the Preface and didn't realize his mistake until he had passed section XX, but since he had to eventually match up with the sections which were already written by the second scribe he skipped one of the section numbers.

Another reference also touched on the apparent fact that one of the pages near the end of what had been written by the first scribe had to hold so many words in order to fit on one page that there was no room to write one of the section numbers.

There are several issues related to the fact that what we now refer to as the "original" manuscript of Beowulf (contained within a manuscript we now refer to as "Cotton Vitellius A. xv.") was written down by two scribes who worked at the same time, the first scribe writing the first part of the story and the second scribe writing the second part. The two parts had to match up in pagination and section numbering, the two scribes used different styles of handwriting and we can see in the manuscript cases in which the second scribe has gone over and corrected parts of what was written by the first scribe. In any case, this mixup with the section numbering around sections XXVIIII, XXX and XXXI is one of the things which apparently resulted from two people writing two parts of the story at the same time.

XXX [lines ????-2143]. After a reference to a feud with the Heathobards which will be ended by the marriage of Froda and Freaware, he resumes in more detail the story of his fight with Grendel, the death of Aeschere, and his conquest of Grendel's mother.

XXXI [lines 2144-2220]. He continues to describe the gifts given him by Hrothgar, some of which he gives to Hygelac and Hygd and accepts in return from Hygelac a precious sword that belonged to Hrethel. The story turns suddenly to the succeeding years, mentioning the death of Hygelac and Heardred and the accession of Beowulf to the throne. After fifty years of wise government Beowulf is forced to confront a new danger in the shape of a fire dragon whose concealed treasure has been pilfered.

XXXII [lines 2221-2311]. The thief had stolen from dire necessity. The treasure had been hidden there by some nobleman of bygone days. For three hundred years the dragon guarded the hoard until the robber, in trouble with his lord, stole a cup to take to his master to appease him. The dragon discovered the theft and ravaged the dwellings round about with fire.

XXXIII [lines 2312-2390]. The dragon vomits embers which consume everything in their path including Beowulf's own mansion. Beowulf orders the fashioning of an iron shield, the aging hero of Heorot not fearing to join combat with another monster. Allusion is made to other feats of Beowulf: how when Hygelac was killed in Friesland, Beowulf, bearing thirty sets of armor on his back, escaped by swimming. When he was offered the kingdom of Hygd, who had no confidence in the powers of her son Heardred, he refused the honor and acted as advisor to Heardred until be came of age. When the prince was slain in battle by rovers who had overcome the king of the Scylfings, Beowulf ascended the throne.

XXXIIII [lines 2391-2459]. Further allusion is made to Beowulf's friendship with Eadgils whom he aided. Returning to the immediate problem, the story resumes with an account of Beowulf's going forth with twelve companions to view the dragon, guided by the unfortunate thief who had started the trouble. They sit some distance away from the hoard while Beowulf calls to mind the sad story of the accidental death of Herebeald, the oldest of Hrethel's sons, by an arrow shot from the bow of his brother Haetheyn.

XXXV [lines 2460-2601]. Beowulf then turns to a song of the war between the Swedes and the Goths after the death of Hrethel. In this war Haetheyn was killed; Ongentheow was also slain at the hand of Eofer. Beowulf then refers to his battle with Daeghrefn whom he killed. After a brief farewell, he prepares to fight the dragon. Bearing sword and shield he approaches the fiery blasts of the monster. He strikes with his sword but to no avail, nor does his shield offer him as much protection as he had hoped.

XXXVI [lines 2602-2693]. A young kinsman, Wiglaf, comes to his aid with armor given him by Onela, heirlooms of Eanmund whom Wiglaf's father Weohstan had killed in battle. Wiglaf calls up the others to give assistance and dashes recklessly into the flames. Reinvigorated, Beowulf swings his great sword Nægling at the dragon's head. The sword breaks and the dragon fastens its fangs in Beowulf's neck.

XXXVII [lines 2694-2751]. As Beowulf bleeds, Wiglaf strikes lower at the dragon. The fire lessens and Beowulf draws his knife and cuts the dragon in the middle: the two blows kill the dragon. Beowulf is aware that his death is near, caused by the venom. He sits down while Wiglaf loosens his helmet and brings water to refresh him. Beowulf makes a parting speech and asks Wiglaf to let him see the hoarded treasure so that he may die more tranquilly.

XXXVIII [lines 2752-2820]. Wiglaf views the jewels, gold, bowls, helmets, rings, and a golden banner. He returns with some of the spoil to find Beowulf on the point of death. After bathing him with water he listens as Beowulf gives praise to God and directs the building of a funeral barrow on Hrones-naes. Giving Wiglaf his helmet, ring, and byrnie, Beowulf expires.

XXXVIIII [lines 2821-2891]. The men who had retreated to the forest now reappear and are bitterly reproached by Wiglaf.

XL [lines 2892-2945]. Wiglaf bids a messenger spread the news of Beowulf's death. The messenger predicts that the news will bring war with the Frisians and Franks, reminding them of a previous war with the Swedes and the killing of Haetheyn.

XLI [lines 2946-3057]. He continues with a description of Ongentheow's last battle with Hygelac and bids his hearers to prepare a funeral pyre. They all go to view with amazement the dead king and the slain dragon.

XLII [lines 3058-3136]. A homily on the evils of hoarding and the uncertainty of life is followed by Wiglaf's eulogy of Beowulf and directions to bring wood. Choosing seven of the best of the king's thanes, he returns to the dragon's lair where they load a wagon with treasure.

XLIII [lines 3137-3182]. A mighty pyre is prepared, hung with armor as Beowulf had commanded. The immense pyre is kindled amidst universal lament. A mound is raised on a cliff to be seen by sailors. Inside the mound is buried the treasure as twelve warriors ride around it singing praises of Beowulf and bemoaning his death.