Arts & Sciences
Riddle LI. Pen and Fingers
Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Everyman’s Library, 1926) · From Exeter Book Riddles (selection)
Four curious creatures I beheld travelling together; swarth, were their tracks, their marks very black. The support of the swift ones was quick in its course; it flew in the air, dived under the wave. Restlessly suffered the struggling warrior who points their paths to all four over the rich gold.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
One of roughly ninety riddles preserved in the Exeter Book; this is one of a further selection translated by R. K. Gordon. The manuscript gives no solutions — the title here follows the translator's own guess (numbering follows Tupper's edition, converted to this archive's Wyatt-based numbering).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle LI. Pen and Fingers.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/45/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle LI. Pen and Fingers.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/45/.
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