Exeter Riddle 84
MEGANCAVELL
Date: Thu 31 May 2018Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 84
Riddle 84 is translated by Beth Whalley, a PhD candidate at King’s College London. She works on (SOLUTION SPOILER ALERT!) water and waterways in early medieval culture and the contemporary arts.
Note that this riddle is another of the heavily damaged poems in the Exeter Book (so there are going to be A LOT of the ellipses below):
An wiht is on eorþan wundrum acenned,
hreoh ond reþe, hafað ryne strongne,
grimme grymetað ond be grunde fareð.
Modor is monigra mærra wihta.
5 Fæger ferende fundað æfre;
neol is nearograp. Nænig oþrum mæg
wlite ond wisan wordum gecyþan,
hu mislic biþ mægen þara cynna,
fyrn forðgesceaft; fæder ealle bewat
10 or ond ende, swylce an sunu,
mære meotudes bearn, þurh [……….]ed,
ond þæt hyhste mæge[…..]es gæ[….
………………] dyre cræft [.
………………………
15 .]onne hy aweorp[…………………….
..]þe ænig þara [……………………
……]fter ne mæg […………………
……..] oþer cynn eorþan […….
…………..] þon ær wæs
20 wlitig ond wynsum, [………..]
Biþ sio moddor mægene eacen,
wundrum bewreþed, wistum gehladen,
hordum gehroden, hæleþum dyre.
Mægen bið gemiclad, meaht gesweotlad,
25 wlite biþ geweorþad wuldornyttingum,
wynsum wuldorgimm wloncum getenge,
clængeorn bið ond cystig, cræfte eacen;
hio biþ eadgum leof, earmum getæse,
freolic, sellic; fromast ond swiþost,
30 gifrost ond grædgost grundbedd trideþ,
þæs þe under lyfte aloden wurde
ond ælda bearn eagum sawe,
swa þæt wuldor wifeð, worldbearna mægen,
þeah þe ferþum gleaw * * *(1)
35 mon mode snottor mengo wundra.
Hrusan bið heardra, hæleþum frodra,
geofum bið gearora, gimmum deorra;
worulde wlitigað, wæstmum tydreð,
firene dwæsceð,
40 oft utan beweorpeð anre þecene,
wundrum gewlitegad, geond werþeode,
þæt wafiað weras ofer eorþan,
þæt magon micle [………..]sceafte.
Biþ stanum bestreþed, stormum [……….
45 …………]len [………]timbred weall,
þrym[………………………..]ed,
hrusan hrineð, h[……………
………………]etenge,
oft searwum biþ [……………
50 ……………] deaðe ne feleð,
þeah þe […………………….
……]du hreren, hrif wundigen,
[……………………]risse.
Hordword onhlid, hæleþum ge[….
55 ……..]wreoh, wordum geopena,
hu mislic sy mægen þara cy[…]
On earth there is a creature born from wonders,
turbulent and fierce, she has a strong course.
She roars cruelly and proceeds across the depths.
She is mother to many great creatures,
5 the fair one travelling, she always hastens;
deep down is her tight grasp. No one may
with wise words make known her countenance
or the diversity of her kin,
the ancient creation. The father watches over all,
10 beginning and end, as the son,
glorious child of God through …
and that highest …
… secret skill …
…
15 … they cast away …
… any of them …
… may not after …
… other kindred … earth …
… which earlier was
20 beautiful and joyous, …
This mother is pregnant with virtue,
buoyed with wonders, laden with food,
bedecked with treasures, beloved by heroes.
Her strength is magnified, her might is revealed,
25 her form made worthy by her glorious uses.
This joyous glory-gem hastens to the bold.
She is eager for purity, bountiful, skill-swollen;
she is dear to the prosperous, helpful to the poor,
noble, extraordinary; boldest and strongest,
30 most covetous and greediest, she tramples on the foundation
of everything grown under the heavens
that men of old have seen.
So that she weaves glory, the power of earth’s children
as she is wise of mind * * *
35 a man more prudent of mind, a multitude of wonders.
She is harder than earth, older than heroes,
is more giving than gifts, more beloved than jewels;
she beautifies the world, produces plants,
extinguishes sin,
40 often from outside she casts a roof,
wondrously beautiful, throughout the nations,
that amazes men over the earth,
they are able greatly …
It is heaped up with stones, with storms
45 … timbered wall,
glory …
touches the earth, …
… near,
often is skillfully …
50 … nor feels death,
although …
… shaken, belly wounded
…
Un-close the word-hoard, for heroes …
55 …cover, open with words,
how diverse is power of those …
Notes:
This riddle appears on folios 127v-128v 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 236-8.
Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 80: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), pages 113-15.
Textual Note:
(1) Although there’s no problem with the manuscript at this point, the sense suggests that something is missing from the text here.
Tags: anglo saxon exeter book riddles old english solutions riddle 84
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