Exeter Book, folio 106v.

British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.xv: “The Beowulf-Manuscript”

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Exeter Book Riddle 26

An enemy came and took away my lifeAnd my strength also in the world; then wetted me,Dipped me in water; then took me thence;Placed me in the sun, where I lost all my hair. The knife’s edge cut me--its impurities ground away;Fingers folded me. And the bird’s delightWith swift drops made frequent tracesOver the brown surface; swallowed the tree-dyeWith a measure of liquid; travelling across me,Left a dark track. A good man covered meWith protecting boards, with stretched skin over me; Adorned me with gold. Then the work of smithsDecorated me with strands of woven wire. Now may the ornaments and the red dyeAnd the precious possessions everywhere honorThe Guardian of peoples. It were otherwise folly. …Ask me my name…

(Translation by Paull F. Baum)

Exeter Cathedral Library 3501, folio 107r

Another Riddle

The creature ate its words-- it seemed to mestrangely weird when I heard this wonder: that it had devoured human speech. A thief in the darkness gloriously mouthed the source of knowledge-- but thee thief was not the least bit wiser for the words in his mouth.