Exeter Riddle 16

MATTHIASAMMON

Date: Thu 21 Nov 2013
Matching Commentaries: Commentary for Exeter Riddle 16
Original text:

Oft ic sceal wiþ wæge winnan      ond wiþ winde feohtan
somod wið þam sæcce,      þonne ic secan gewite
eorþan yþum þeaht;      me biþ se eþel fremde.
Ic beom strong þæs gewinnes,      gif ic stille weorþe;
5     gif me þæs tosæleð,      hi beoð swiþran þonne ic
ond mec slitende      sona flymað,
willað oþfergan      þæt ic friþian sceal.
Ic him þæt forstonde,      gif min steort þolað
ond mec stiþne wiþ      stanas moton
10     fæste gehabban.      Frige hwæt ic hatte.

Translation:

Often I must struggle against the waves, and fight against the wind,
war against them both together, then I endeavour to seek out
the ground covered by waves; the land is alien to me.
I am strong in that fight, if I become still;
5     if it should go wrong for me, they will be stronger than I,
and, ripping, will straightaway put me to flight,
they want to ferry away what I am meant to protect.
I prevent them from that, if my end endures
and stones are able to keep me fixed
10     resolutely fast. Figure out what I am called.

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Notes:

This riddle appears on folios 104v-105r 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 188-9.

Note that this edition numbers the text Riddle 14: Craig Williamson, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977), page 77.



Tags: anglo saxon  exeter book  riddles  old english  solutions  riddle 16 

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