The whole story, with the exception of the original grievance or grudge of the Frisian king, which is not explained, and the first battle, which is taken as understood, is given in _Beowulf_ as the contents of one poem, delivered in one evening by a harper. It is more complicated than the story of _Hildebrand_, more even than _Waldere_; and more than either of the two chief sections of _Beowulf_ taken singly--"Beowulf in Denmark" and the "Fight with the Dragon." It is far less than the plot of the long _Lay of Brynhild_, in which the whole Niblung history is contained. In its distribution of the action, it corresponds very closely to the story of the death of the Niblungs as given by the _Atlakviða_ and the _Atlamál_. The discrepancies between these latter poems need not be taken into account here. In each of them and in the _Finnesburh_ story there is a double climax; first the wrong, then the vengeance. _Finnesburh_ might also be compared, as far as the arrangement goes, with the _Song of Roland_; the first part gives the treacherous attack and the death of the hero; then comes a pause between the two centres of interest, followed in the second part by expiation of the wrong. The story of _Finnesburh_ is obscure in many respects; the tradition of it has failed to preserve the motive for Finn's attack on his wife's brother, without which the story loses half its value. Something remains, nevertheless, and it is possible to recognise in this episode a greater regard for unity and symmetry of narrative than is to be found in _Beowulf_ taken as a whole. The Lambeth poem of _Finnesburh_ most probably confined itself to the battle in the hall. There is no absolute proof of this, apart from the intensity of its tone, in the extant fragment, which would agree best with a short story limited, like _Hildebrand_, to one adventure. It has all the appearance of a short lay, a single episode. Such a poem might end with the truce of Finn and Hengest, and an anticipation of the Danes' vengeance: It is marvel an the red blood run not, as the rain does in the street. Yet the stress of this adventure is not greater than that of Roland, which does not end at Roncesvalles; it may be that the _Finnesburh_ poem went on to some of the later events, as told in the _Finnesburh_ abridgment in _Beowulf_.