Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/81

81 (k-d 87)

I saw a marvelous thing;     it had a big belly mightily swollen.     A servant followed it, powerful and strong of hand.     Great I thought him, a goodly warrior.     He seized hold at once, with heaven’s tooth     . . . . blew in its eye.     It barked, weakened willingly;     would none the less . . . .     . . . .

Ic seah wundorlice wiht     wombe · hæfde micle · þryþum geþrungne ·     þegn folgade megen strong ⁊ mundrof     micel me þuhte godlic gum rīnc     grap on sona heofones toþe     . . . . bleowe on eage     hio boncade wancode willum     hio wolde seþeah niol […]

The rest is lacking. This looks like a variant of the preceding riddle. “Heaven’s tooth,” the bite of the wind, has been compared with As You Like It II, vii, l. 177.