By boasting and talking about false abilities that he no longer has, however, Beowulf ends up putting himself in a difficult situation when he faces a physically difficult threat. The epic poem Beowulf recounts the classic struggle of an aging man refusing to accept the fact that he does not have the same heroic abilities as when he was younger; since he cannot show off his youthful physical abilities, he relies on the power of his tongue. Before Beowulf is introduced into the story, the Danish people are suffering under the reign of the current villain, Grendel, and need a young hero to come to their aid; although Beowulf's first victory grants him heroic status among the Danish people, in doing so he is forced to live up to that status for the rest of his life. The Danish people lived in a peaceful kingdom ruled by King Hrothgar until Grendel, described by the narrator as "a demon from hell" (100), unleashed a rampage of murder, forcing the people to live in a peaceful kingdom.