Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/74

 in 44 (K-D 31), which just precedes it in the manuscript, and may be only a careless mechanical repetition on the part of the scribe.

I am honored among men both near and far; brought from the groves and inhabited hills, from vales and from downs. By day I was borne on wings through the air and happily wafted to the shelter of roofs. Then they bathed me in butts. Now I bind and I scourge and I overthrow the young to the ground and the elders sometimes, and this he soon finds who takes me on and attacks me with violence;  he falls on his back unless he flees from his folly. Robbed of his strength, though strong in speech, he is deprived of his powers, and control of his mind, of his feet and his hands. Ask what my name is who bind men to the ground, the foolish after fighting, in broad daylight.

Mead&mdash;the blossoming trees, bees, honey, stored to ferment, and then&hellip;.

There&rsquo;s a bit of earth beautifully sown with the hardest and the sharpest and the grimmest that men own. Cut and cleaned, turned and dried; pleached and wound; bleached and bound; adorned and arrayed and borne away to the doors of men. Joy is within for living creatures. It delays and it stays a long long while. They live in joy and naught gainsays. But after the death they start talking big, chattering, chittering. It is hard for a wise man to say what this is.