Arts & Sciences
Riddle XLV. Dough
Translated by Cosette Faust Newton & Stith Thompson (1918) · From Exeter Book Riddles (selection)
In a corner I heard a curious weak thing
Swelling and sounding and stirring its cover.
On that boneless body a beautiful woman
Laid hold with her hands; the high-swelled thing
She covered with a cloth, the clever lord's daughter.
Codex Note
One of roughly ninety riddles preserved in the Exeter Book; this is one of a small selection translated by Faust & Thompson. The manuscript gives no solutions — titles here follow the translators' own guesses.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle XLV. Dough.” Translated by Cosette Faust Newton and Stith Thompson. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/27/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle XLV. Dough.” Translated by Cosette Faust Newton and Stith Thompson. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/27/.
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