Final answer:
Beowulf was passed down orally for about 500 years before it was written down, reflecting the strong oral tradition of the Germanic peoples who valued stories of warriors and their fates.
Step-by-step explanation:
Beowulf, the epic poem, was transmitted orally for approximately 500 years before it was finally transcribed in written form. The Germanic peoples, who told this story and others like it, cherished their oral culture celebrating warriors facing their fate and did not rely on written records for passing down these tales. This tradition of storytelling ensured that epics such as Beowulf, the Song of Hildebrand, and the Song of the Nibelungs were preserved through successive generations before they were captured in writing.