Exeter Riddle 16
MATTHIASAMMON
Date: Thu 21 Nov 2013Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 16
Oft ic sceal wiþ wæge winnan ond wiþ winde feohtan
somod wið þam sæcce, þonne ic secan gewite
eorþan yþum þeaht; me biþ se eþel fremde.
Ic beom strong þæs gewinnes, gif ic stille weorþe;
5 gif me þæs tosæleð, hi beoð swiþran þonne ic
ond mec slitende sona flymað,
willað oþfergan þæt ic friþian sceal.
Ic him þæt forstonde, gif min steort þolað
ond mec stiþne wiþ stanas moton
10 fæste gehabban. Frige hwæt ic hatte.
Often I must struggle against the waves, and fight against the wind,
war against them both together, then I endeavour to seek out
the ground covered by waves; the land is alien to me.
I am strong in that fight, if I become still;
5 if it should go wrong for me, they will be stronger than I,
and, ripping, will straightaway put me to flight,
they want to ferry away what I am meant to protect.
I prevent them from that, if my end endures
and stones are able to keep me fixed
10 resolutely fast. Figure out what I am called.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folios 104v-105r 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), pages 188-9.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 14: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), page 77.
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