Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/33

 or who lifts and drives me,     when I may not rest, or who it is steadies me     when I become still.

I saw a being   in wondrous wise hold its plunder     between its horns, a vessel of light,     of shining beauty, bringing it home,     a spoil of battle. It wished to build    a bower in the burg and cunningly place it     &mdash;if so might be. Then a wondrous being    came over the roof, known to all children     of mortal men, recovered the spoil     and then brought back the unwilling exile. Westward it went, hurrying home    after the battle. Dust rose to the skies;    dew fell on the ground; night departed     and none thereafter knew its way,     whither it went.

Some strange solutions have been proposed, but the correct one is no doubt the monthly contest of Sun and Moon. The plunder is the old moon in the new moon&rsquo;s arms. The moon would like to make itself a home in the heavens, but the familiar sun comes up and the moon is routed.

''The books tell us    that this thing has been among mankind     through many ages clear and manifest. A special power it has much greater    than any men know.''

''It wishes to seek    all living beings one by one;     then goes its way; no second night     in the same place; but homeless roves     for ever and aye, the path of exile. It is none the poorer.''