Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/48
(Redirected from Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/48)
48 (k-d 73)
| I grew up in a field, lived where the earth and the sky fed me, till old in years they turned me aside, those who hated me, from the way that was mine, that I held while I lived. They altered my fashion, took me from the ground and against my nature made me bow at times to a slayer’s will. Now in my master’s hand . . . . . . . . . . cares for me well carries me in battle with skill by his will. It is widely known that I among the bold with a thief’s craft . . . . . . . . . . sometimes openly against a fastness I break forth where before was peace. Swift in movement he turns in haste away from that place, the warrior who knows what are my ways. Say what my name is. |
10 20 |
Ic on wonge aweox, wonode þær mec feddon hruse · ⁊ heofon wlonc oþþæt me onhwyrfdon gearum frodne þa me grome wurdon of þære gecynde þe ic ær cwic beheold onwendan mine wisan wegedon mec of earde gedydon þæt ic sceolde wiþ gesceape minū on bonan willan bugan hwilum · nu eom mines frean folme bysigo[…] […]dlan dæl gif his ellen deag oþþe æfter dome […]ri[…] […]ian mæ[…]þa fremman wyrcan w[…] […]ec on þeode utan we[…] […]ipe ⁊ to wrohtstæp[…] […] eorp eaxle gegyrde wo[…] ⁊ swiora smæl sidan fealwe […] þōn mec heaþosigel scir bescineð ⁊ mec […] fægre feormað ⁊ on fyrd wigeð cræfte on hæfte cuð is wide þæt ic þrista sum þeofes cræfte under hrægn locan · . . . . . 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. |
This is about all that remains of some twenty-nine lines. Supposedly a Lance or Spear, first as it grew in the ground, then as made into a weapon. “With skill by his will” is an attempt to represent cræft on hæfte; hæft means both the ‘haft’ of the spear and also ‘constraint,’ i.e., the spear is forced to fight.