GRENDEL, from BEOWULF

One of the greatest pleasures in reading is the Easter egg type in-joke, the subtly placed reference to another literary work. I'm always delighted by these, as I was a few days ago when re-reading GUARDS, GUARDS. A group of would-be heroes is studying the sign announcing the 50,000 dollar reward offered for the slaying of the Ankh-Morpork dragon, and bemoaning the city's cheapness. “You spend that much in nets,” when one comments on the generally poor qualities of quarries nowadays.

So quickly that I'm barely conscious of it, my mind decodes the next few lines. “And monsters is getting more uppity these days. A guy killed one and stuck its arm up over the hall.” What? Why not its head? Extremely odd. Isn't there something very faintly familiar about this?

The next speaker says: “Pour enco-ra-jay las ortas,” a horrid pidgin French. What does this mean? To encourage the other monsters to behave? As an example to them? This comment delays gratification and deepens the confusion. We're not in doubt long, however:

“And the the very next day its mum came down to the hall to complain. Its actual mum! I ask you.”

A flash picture, from a recent movie, of Angelina Jolie's back, her long braid whipping around like a tail, bangs through my brain as I catch the joke:
OHH! I know what this is! This is Grendel and Grendel's mother!
Terry Pratchett has neatly riffed on one of the literary ancients, BEOWULF, decades after the last time I'd thought of it. This almost justifies my having to study the epic poem in high school. But then, if we'd had Angelina Jolie's bare back to enco-ra-jay us, BEOWULF would never have been forgotten in the first place.