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