Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/53

 when I get to the top of the hill and turn on him with weapons of war, whom I formerly fled from.

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.
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The sea fed me; the water-helm was over me, and waves covered me, close to the ground. I was footless. Often toward the water I opened my mouth. Now people will eat my meat. They want not my skin. When they rip my hide with the point of a knife . . . . . . . . . Then they eat me uncooked. . ..

Oyster.