Exeter Riddle 73
VICTORIASYMONS
Date: Tue 30 Jan 2018Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 73
Ic on wonge aweox, wunode þær mec feddon
hruse ond heofonwolcn, oþþæt me onhwyrfdon
gearum frodne, þa me grome wurdon,
of þære gecynde þe ic ær cwic beheold,
5 onwendan mine wisan, wegedon mec of earde,
gedydon þæt ic sceolde wiþ gesceape minum
on bonan willan bugan hwilum.
Nu eom mines frean folme bysigo[.
…..]dlan dæl, gif his ellen deag,
10 oþþe æfter dome [.]ri[………
…………]an mæ[.]þa fremman,
wyrcan w[………………..
……]ec on þeode utan we[……
…………………..]ipe
15 ond to wrohtstæp[……………….
…………]eorp, eaxle gegyrde,
wo[……………………….]
ond swiora smæl, sidan fealwe
[………………..] þonne mec heaþosigel
20 scir bescineð ond mec [……..]
fægre feormað ond on fyrd wigeð
cræfte on hæfte. Cuð is wide
þæt ic þrista sum þeofes cræfte
under hrægnlocan […]
25 hwilum eawunga eþelfæsten
forðweard brece, þæt ær frið hæfde.
Feringe from, he fus þonan
wendeð of þam wicum, wiga se þe mine
wisan cunne. Saga hwæt ic hatte.
I grew on a plain, lived where the earth
and the clouds of heaven fed me, until the ones who were hostile to me
took me, wise in years,
from the native place which I previously held when alive,
5 changed my ways, shook me from the earth,
made it so that I must – against my nature –
sometimes bow in a killer’s service.
Now I am busy in my lord’s hand[.
…..] share, if his valour avails,
10 until after judgement […………
……………….] to advance,
to work [.………………..
……..] to the people let us [……
……………………..]
15 and to strife-stepping(?)[……………….
………….…], girded shoulders,
[…………………………]
and a small neck, dark sides
[………………..] when the bright battle-sun
20 shines on me and me […….]
nourishes well, and wields in war
with skill by the haft. It is widely known
that with a thief’s skill, I (go) alone among the bold,
into the brain-pan […]
25 at times I break forth openly
in a familiar fortress, that previously had peace.
Then eagerly he turns from that place,
bold for the journey, the warrior who
knows my nature. Say what I am called.
Notes:
This riddle appears on folios 126r-126v 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 233-4.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 71: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), pages 108-9.
Tags: anglo saxon exeter book riddles old english solutions riddle 73
Related Posts:
Exeter Riddle 20
Exeter Riddle 25
Exeter Riddles 79 and 80