Exeter Riddle 22
MATTHIASAMMON
Date: Mon 21 Apr 2014Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 22
Ætsomne cwom LX monna
to wægstæþe wicgum ridan;
hæfdon XI eoredmæcgas
fridhengestas, IIII sceamas.
5 Ne meahton magorincas ofer mere feolan,
swa hi fundedon, ac wæs flod to deop,
atol yþa geþræc, ofras hea,
streamas stronge. Ongunnon stigan þa
on wægn weras ond hyra wicg somod
10 hlodan under hrunge; þa þa hors oðbær
eh ond eorlas, æscum dealle,
ofer wætres byht wægn to lande,
swa hine oxa ne teah ne esna mægen
ne fæthengest, ne on flode swom,
15 ne be grunde wod gestum under,
ne lagu drefde, ne on lyfte fleag,
ne under bæc cyrde; brohte hwæþre
beornas ofer burnan ond hyra bloncan mid
from stæðe heaum, þæt hy stopan up
20 on oþerne, ellenrofe,
weras of wæge, ond hyra wicg gesund.
Together 60 men came
riding to the bank on horses;
11 horsemen had
noble steeds, 4 had white ones.
5 The warriors could not pass over the water,
as they intended, but the sea was too deep,
the terrible tumult of the waves, the banks too high,
the streams too strong. Then the men began
to climb up on the wagon together with their horses,
10 to load under the pole; then the wagon carried the horses,
mounts and men, proud in spears,
to land across the bay of the water,
in such a way that no ox pulled it, nor the strength of slaves,
nor a draught horse, nor did it swim on the water,
15 nor did it wade along the ground under its guests,
nor did it disturb the waters, nor fly in the air,
nor turned back; nevertheless it brought
the warriors over the stream, and their horses with them
from the high bank, so that they stepped up
20 onto the other, strong in courage,
the men from the waves, and also their horses, unharmed.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folios 106r-106v 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 191-2.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 20: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), pages 80-1.
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