Exeter Riddle 53
MEGANCAVELL
Date: Tue 21 Jun 2016Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 53
This week’s translation post is brought to you by the fabulous Sharon Rhodes. Sharon has just completed her PhD at the University of Rochester (defending this summer!), where she worked on Old English, biblical translation and translation theory.
Ic seah on bearwe beam hlifian,
tanum torhtne. Þæt treo wæs on wynne,
wudu weaxende. Wæter hine ond eorþe
feddan fægre, oþþæt he frod dagum
5 on oþrum wearð aglachade
deope gedolgod, dumb in bendum,
wriþen ofer wunda, wonnum hyrstum
foran gefrætwed. Nu he fæcnum weg
þurh his heafdes mægen hildegieste
10 oþrum rymeð. Oft hy an yste strudon
hord ætgædre; hræd wæs ond unlæt
se æftera, gif se ærra fær
genamnan in nearowe neþan moste.
I saw a tree towering in a wood
with radiant branches. That tree was in joy
growing in the forest. Water and earth
fed him well, until he, wise in days,
5 came into a second, miserable state
deeply wounded, silent in his shackles,
racked all over with wounds, adorned with dark ornaments
on his front. Now he, through the might of head,
clears the path to another
10 treacherous enemy. Often they stole by storm
the treasure together; he was unhesitating and unflagging,
the follower, if the first was compelled to undertake
the journey, as a companion in confinement.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folio 113v 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 207.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 51: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), pages 99-100.
Tags: anglo saxon exeter book riddles old english solutions riddle 53
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