Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/39

39 (k-d 65)

I was alive but said nothing;     even so I die. Back I came before I was.     Everyone plunders me, keeps me confined,     and shears my head, bites my bare body,     breaks my sprouts. No man I bite     unless he bites me; many there are     who do bite me.

Cwico wæs ic ne cwæð ic wiht     cwele ic efne seþeah ær ic wæs eft ic cwom     æghwa mec reafað hafað mec on headre     ⁊ min heafod scireþ biteð mec on bær lic     briceð mine wisan monnan ic ne bite     nympþe he me bite sindan þara monige     þe mec bitað

Onion. Cf. 74 (k-d 25), which is also Onion with salacious overtones.