Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/29

Badger. The coloring is not quite accurate, but near enough, and some allowance must be made for evasive detail. The word hildepilum in l. 28 properly means &lsquo;javelins&rsquo; or &lsquo;darts&rsquo; and has suggested that the porcupine was meant. But the riddler has a good answer. He has loaded his lines with epic compounds&mdash;six of them hapaxes&mdash;evidently to create an atmosphere of heroic battle. When the badger gets into the open he fights the dog as man to man.