Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/80

 Now I can tell  the assembled bookmen the names of both in runic letters. There shall be EED, two of these, and the bright SH tree, one on the line, and then two O'KS and two 'AILS likewise. Whoever has unlocked with the power of the key the clasps of the chest which held the riddle cunningly hidden from the learned in runes&mdash; now is revealed to them here as they drink how those two of low minds are called by name.

This is, as the author says, self-explanatory, if you recognize the runes: HANA (cock) and H&AElig;N (hen).

I saw &hellip; S R O H high-spirited, with gleaming head rinning swiftly over the fair land; it had on its back warlike strength. N O M rode not-mailed A G E W far traveling it bore strong on its way a bold C O F O A H  the course was the brighter, the journey of these. Say what I am called.

The first four lines are easy: S R O H, or &lsquo;horse&rsquo; written backwards, with an unarmed warrior on its back. The rest, five lines containing thirteen runes, is not easy. The text is certainly faulty and a great many emendations have been proposed. N O M is of course &lsquo;man.&rsquo; A G E W for wega, &lsquo;of ways,&rsquo; is genitive plural, but there is no syntax for a genitive. C O F O A H is for haofoc, &lsquo;hawk.&rsquo;  Thus the general idea is: &ldquo;I saw an unarmed warrior riding a spirited horse happily, with a hawk on his wrist.&rdquo;  (See the following riddle.)

I saw W and I going over the plain bearing B E. For them both as they went