The water was infested
With all kinds of reptiles. There were writhing sea-dragons
And monsters slouching on slopes by the cliff,
Serpents and wild things such as those that often
Surface at dawn to roam the sail-road
And doom the voyage.
– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)
Lines 1425-1430: The sea monsters in the lake where Grendel’s mother lives.