Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/75

 This is a sprightly companion to the preceding and more conventional riddle. It describes the preparation and effects of malt liquor and is sometimes given the title of John Barleycorn, after the much later ballad of that name. The first part is notable for its jingling rimes:

From l. 6 on the text is puzzling and something may have been omitted by the copyist. Literally: &lsquo;it (the joy) clings, lingers, of those who before were living; for a long time they enjoy their pleasures and nothing gainsays (them). Then after death they begin to talk variously.&rsquo; This seems to mean that those who drink are happy and feel alive for a time; then they are overtaken, dead to themselves, and talk recklessly.

A creature came where many men sat at council with wise hearts. It had one eye and its ears were two; it had two feet and twelve hundred heads, a back and a belly and two hands, arms and shoulders, one neck, and two sides. Say what I&rsquo;m called.

A One-Eyed Garlic Seller; or so it would seem from a hint in Symphosius 94.

Not silent is my hall, nor I myself am loud . . . for us two the Lord ordained our ways together. I am swifter than he and at times stronger; he is more enduring. Often I rest; he must run on.