Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/71

W and I is for wicg, &lsquo;horse&rsquo;: B E for beorn, &lsquo;man&rsquo;; H and A for haofoc, &lsquo;hawk&rsquo;; TH for &thorn;eow, &lsquo;slave,&rsquo; or &thorn;egn, &lsquo;thane&rsquo;; F and AE possibly for f&aelig;lca, &lsquo;falcon&rsquo;; EA for ear, &lsquo;ground&rsquo; or ea, &lsquo;water&rsquo;; S and P for spere, &lsquo;spear.&rsquo; In brief: &ldquo;I saw a man riding along on horseback with a hawk which was his joy (and pride). They were all happy, the man, the horse, the servant, and the hawk also; it flew over the water (or the ground).&rdquo; F in the last line must be a mistake for P.