beard but who has torn away. History and reception 's monumental study, Studien zur germanischen Sagengeschichte, Part I: Beowulf, sought to prove that Beowulf was an eighth century Anglo-Saxon reworking of the "Bear's son" motif, which has been present since antiquity and widely disseminated. Later, the Panzer hypothesis on Beowulf was supported by W. W. Lawrence and R. W. Chambers, who elucidated and expanded on it. John F. Vickrey, who took up the thesis in 2009, wrote that there were very few studies focusing on folklore origins of Beowulf for 40 years as of his writing. J. R. R. Tolkien was very interested in the idea of the bear-son folktale underlying Beowulf, and pointed to several minor but illuminating characteristics supporting the assumption: Beowulf's uncouthness and appetite, the strength of his grip, and his refusal to use weapons against Grendel. He also saw Unferth as a link between folktale and legend, his (covert) roles as smith and treacherous friend standing behind his gift to Beowulf of the "hafted blade" that fails. Critics of Panzer's thesis have argued however that many of the incidents he sees as specific to the Bear's Son Story are in fact generic folktale elements; and that a closer analogue to Beowulf is to be found in Celtic mythology and the story of the 'Monstrous Arm'. Tale group Panzer lists some 202 examples of Bear's Son Tales in his study, The "Strong John" subgroup includes more than 400 tales counted in the Baltic-Scandinavia area. The tale remained current in French Canada, but its original may no longer survive in France. North American examples Panzer's list did not include any North American examples, but "Bear's son" tales have been known to have disseminated to native North American populations, and these are considered to have European origins, an example being the Assiniboine story published as "The Underground Journey" by Robert H. Lowie in 1909. Other literary examples There are several other literary examples perceived as being related to Bear's Son Tales. One example regarded as particularly important to the Beowulf study is the bear-hero Bödvar Bjarki who appears as a companion to Hrólf Kraki in the legendary saga Hrólfs saga kraka. Another literary incident is in the Grettis saga, or the saga of Grettir the Strong. Also, there have been attempts to associate King Arthur with the bear, and thus with the Bear's Son Tales. An attempt to make