Aldhelm Riddle 82: Mustela
ALEXANDRAREIDER
Date: Thu 14 Apr 2022Discolor in curvis conversor quadripes antris
Pugnas exercens dira cum gente draconum.
Non ego dilecta turgesco prole mariti,
Nec fecunda viro sobolem sic edidit alvus,
Residuae matres ut sumunt semina partus;
Quin magis ex aure praegnantur viscera fetu.
Si vero proles patitur discrimina mortis,
Dicor habere rudem componens arte medelam.
A multicoloured quadruped, I dwell in curved caves,
Undertaking fights with the dreadful race of dragons.
I do not swell with the beloved offspring of a husband,
Nor does my womb, pregnant by a male, produce progeny
As do the other mothers who receive the seeds of young;
Rather, what is more, my insides are made pregnant with child from my ear.
If indeed my baby should suffer the hazards of death,
I am said to have envisaged a new cure with my skill.
Notes:
This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.
Tags: riddles latin Aldhelm