Exeter Riddle 71

MEGANCAVELL

Date: Mon 16 Oct 2017
Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 71

Judy Kendall, Reader in English and Creative Writing at Salford University, returns with a translation of Riddle 71.



Original text:

Ic eom rices æht,     reade bewæfed,
stið ond steapwong.     Staþol wæs iu þa
wyrta wlitetorhtra;     nu eom wraþra laf,
fyres ond feole,     fæste genearwad,
wire geweorþad.     Wepeð hwilum
for minum gripe     se þe gold wigeð,
þonne ic yþan sceal     …fe,
hringum gehyrsted.     Me …i…
…go…                     dryhtne min…
…wlite bete.

Translation:

I am owned by a rich lord,     clothed in red,
a hard and high promontory.     Once the home
of fair-faced flowers;     now the leavings of fury,
of fire and file,     held fast,
gilded with wire.     At times he groans
before my grip     the one who bears gold,
then I shall destroy
decked with rings.     Me
master of mine
… make good the face.

Click to show riddle solution?
Cupping-glass, Iron Helmet, Iron Shield, Bronze Shield, Sword or Dagger, Sword-hilt, Iron Ore, Retainer


Notes:

This riddle appears on folio 126r 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 232.

Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 69: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), page 107.



Tags: anglo saxon  exeter book  riddles  old english  solutions  riddle 71 

Related Posts:
Commentary for Exeter Riddle 65
Commentary for Exeter Riddle 66
Commentary for Exeter Riddle 81