Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/61

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Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963)
translated by Paull Franklin Baum
1190285Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book1963Paull Franklin Baum

61 (k-d 86)

A creature came     where many men
sat at council     with wise hearts.
It had one eye     and its ears were two;
it had two feet     and twelve hundred heads,
a back and a belly     and two hands,
arms and shoulders,     one neck,
and two sides.     Say what I’m called.
Wiht cwom gongan     þær weras sæton
monige on mæðle     mode snottre
hæfde an eage     earan twa ·
ii fet     xii hund heafda ·
hryc wombe     honda twa
earmas eaxle     anne sweoran
sidan twa     saga hwæt ic hatte

A One-Eyed Garlic Seller; or so it would seem from a hint in Symphosius 94.