"Bear's Son Tale" () refers to an analogous group of narratives that, according to 's 1910 thesis, represent the fairy tale material reworked to create the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulfs first part, the Grendel-kin Story. Panzer collected over 200 analogue tales mostly from Eurasia.
The Bear's Son motif (B635.1) is exhibited only generally, not reliably. Exceptions include versions of "Jean de l'Ours", and the Grimms' fairy tale "Strong Hans" or "". Beowulf does not explicitly reveal a bear origin for its hero, but his name and great strength connect him to the animal closely.
Most of the tales are formally catalogued as either Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale type 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses" or ATU type 650A, "Strong John" or "Starker Hans".
Core characteristics
Studies comparing the poem Beowulf to the Bear's Son Tale see these common core characteristics: a hero is raised by or descended from a bear, with bear-like strength. He and companions must guard a dwelling against a monster (which Panzer calls "Der Dämon im Waldhaus"). The companions are defeated, but the hero wounds the creature, sending him to flight. In pursuit, the hero descends into a netherworld or underground domain. The hero often has a second round of adversaries.
Other common elements are a captive princess, betrayal by a close friend or ally of the hero, and magical weapons.<!--or talismans, and a smith as protective or persecutory figure.--> Some of these elements are paralleled in the Grendel story in Beowulf, others are not.
Parallel elements
Some of the traits in the Bear's Son Tale regarded as being paralleled in Beowulf will be explained further below.
Betrayal
The betrayal element (F601.3) transpires in the fairy tale version (see Jean de l'Ours) as follows: After the hero descends to the world underground and rescues the princess, he is betrayed by his companions, who instead of pulling him up by a rope, either cut it or release it so he falls to the bottom. The parallel to this in Beowulf, (according to Panzer and Chambers) is that after seeing blood come up from Grendel's mere (lake), the Danes only wait until nones (3 PM), and then they abandon the hero at the lake.
Magic weapon
The hero in the Bear's Son Tale may have a magic sword (motif D1081, usually found in Type 301A) or a walking-stick (Type 301B).