Exeter Riddle 14
MEGANCAVELL
Date: Mon 28 Oct 2013Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 14
Ic wæs wæpenwiga. Nu mec wlonc þeceð
geong hagostealdmon golde ond sylfore,
woum wirbogum. Hwilum weras cyssað,
hwilum ic to hilde hleoþre bonne
5 wilgehleþan, hwilum wycg byreþ
mec ofer mearce, hwilum merehengest
fereð ofer flodas frætwum beorhtne,
hwilum mægða sum minne gefylleð
bosm beaghroden; hwilum ic bordum sceal,
10 heard, heafodleas, behlyþed licgan,
hwilum hongige hyrstum frætwed,
wlitig on wage, þær weras drincað,
freolic fyrdsceorp. Hwilum folcwigan
on wicge wegað, þonne ic winde sceal
15 sincfag swelgan of sumes bosme;
hwilum ic gereordum rincas laðige
wlonce to wine; hwilum wraþum sceal
stefne minre forstolen hreddan,
flyman feondsceaþan. Frige hwæt ic hatte.
I was an armed warrior. Now a bold
young retainer covers me with gold and silver,
twisted coils of wire. Sometimes men kiss me,
sometimes I call close comrades
5 to battle with my voice, sometimes a horse bears me
over the bounds, sometimes a sea-steed
draws me over the depths, brightly decorated,
sometimes one of the girls fills
my bosom, ring-adorned; sometimes I must lie
10 on boards, hard, headless, despoiled,
sometimes I hang decorated with ornaments,
appealing on the wall, where men drink,
comely army-attire. Sometimes battle-warriors
carry me on a horse, when I must swallow,
15 treasure-stained, breath from a certain one’s breast;
sometimes I proudly call with cries
warriors to their wine; sometimes I have to reclaim
stolen goods from enemies with my voice,
put to flight fiendish foes. Reveal what I am called.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folio 104r of The Exeter Book.
The above Old English text is based on this edition: Elliott van Kirk Dobbie and George Philip Krapp, eds, The Exeter Book, Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), page 187.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 12: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), page 75.
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