37 (k-d 56)
| I was in there where I saw something, a thing of wood, wound a striving thing, the moving beam —it received battle wounds, deep injuries; spears caused the hurts of this thing; and the wood was fast bound cunningly. One of its feet was stable, fixed; the other worked busily, played in the air, sometimes near the ground. A tree was nearby, that stood there hung with bright leaves. I saw the leavings of the arrow-work brought to my lord where heroes sat over their drinks. |
10 |
Ic wæs þær Inne þær ic ane geseah winnende · wiht wido bennegean holt hweorfende heaþoglemma feng deopra dolga daroþas wæron weo þære wihte ⁊ se wudu searwum fæste gebunden hyre fota wæs biid fæft oþer · oþer bisgo dreag leolc on lyfte hwilum londe neah treow wæs getenge þe þær torhtan stod leafum bihongen Ic lafe geseah minum hlaforde þær hæleð druncon þara flan on flet beran |
The favored solution is Weaver’s Loom. The “striving thing” is the web still in the loom; it is injured by the needle or shuttle passing through it. The spears or darts “must be the teeth of the batten penetrating through the warp.” “The two feet can only be the weighted ends of the two rows of warp threads.” The tree with leaves is a distaff, with flax on it; and the standing warp explains the metaphor of feet. On this see the learned and well-documented article by Erika von Erhardt-Siebold, “The Old English Loom Riddles,” Philologica, Malone Anniversary Studies, Baltimore, 1949, pp. 9–17. Mrs. von Erhardt-Siebold includes with the Loom Riddles 50 (k-d 35), Coat of Mail, which is related insofar as chain mail resembles weaving; and 45 (k-d 70), which is usually solved as Reed Pipe (p. 37 below).