< Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book < Annotated
70 (k-d 19)
| I saw … S R O H high-spirited, with gleaming head rinning swiftly over the fair land; it had on its back warlike strength. N O M rode not-mailed A G E W far traveling it bore strong on its way a bold C O F O A H the course was the brighter, the journey of these. Say what I am called. |
Ic seah · ᛋ ᚱ ᚩ ᚻ · hygewloncne heafodbeorhtne swist ne ofer sælwong swiþe þrægan hæfde him on hrycge hildeþryþe · ᚾ ᚩ ᛗ · nægledne rad · ᚪ ᚷ ᛖ ᚹ · widlast ferede rynestrong on rade rofne · ᚳ ᚩ ᚠ ᚩ ᚪ ᚻ · for wæs þy beorhtre swylcra siþfæt saga hwæt ic hatte |
The first four lines are easy: S R O H, or ‘horse’ written backwards, with an unarmed warrior on its back. The rest, five lines containing thirteen runes, is not easy. The text is certainly faulty and a great many emendations have been proposed. N O M is of course ‘man.’ A G E W for wega, ‘of ways,’ is genitive plural, but there is no syntax for a genitive. C O F O A H is for haofoc, ‘hawk.’ Thus the general idea is: “I saw an unarmed warrior riding a spirited horse happily, with a hawk on his wrist.” (See the following riddle.)
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