< Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book < Annotated
20 (k-d 9)
| In those first days my father and mother left me for dead: there was no life yet, no life within me. Then a kindly kinswoman faithfully covered me with her own clothing, held me and cherished, kept me warmly, even as gently as her own children— until beneath her, as my destiny willed, I waxed into life with my alien fellows. My friend and protector nourished me then till I grew and grew able to go forth by myself. Because of this now her own dear children, sons and daughters, were fewer, alas. |
10 |
Mec on þissum dagū deadne ofgeafum fæder ⁊ modor ne wæs me feorh þa gen ealdor in innan þa mec ongon welhold me gewedum weccan heold ⁊ freoþode hleosceorpe wrah snearlice swa hire agen bearn oþþæt ic under sceate · swa min gesceapu wæron ungesibbum wearð eacen gæste mec seo friþemæg fedde siþþan oþþæt ic aweox widdor meahte siþas asettan heo hæfde swæsra þy læs suna ⁊ dohtra þy heo swa dyde |
Cuckoo certainly. The pleasure is not so much in guessing—we are not asked to guess—as in following the double meanings.
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