# Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/11

An annotated version of this text is available.
11 (K-D 40)
Eternal is the Creator   who controls this earth now on its foundations …   [and] holds the world. Strong is the Ruler   and King by right, mighty over all.   The earth and the heavens ​He holds and wields   as He encircles them about. Me he wondrously   made at the beginning when at the first   he established this universe. He bade me to live   long unsleeping that I slumber not   forever after. And me suddenly   sleep overcomes;10 both my eyes   are quickly closed. All this world   the mighty Lord moves with mastery   in all its parts; so that I at the world   of the mighty ruler all this universe   encircle about. I am so timid   that a fleeting phantom terribly can   fill me with fright; and I am everywhere   bolder than a boar when swollen with fury   it stands at bay. No banner-bearer   can overcome me20 throughout the world   save God alone who holds and rules   this high heaven. My fragrance is stronger   . . . . than any incense   or any rose in the field of earth   . . . . beautifully blooms;   I am stronger than that. Although the lily   is precious to men, and bright of blossom   I am better than it; thus the odor of nard   I (quite) overcome with my very sweetness   ever and everywhere.30 And I am fouler   than this black fen that here evilly   smells of filth. And I govern   under heaven’s expanse as the beloved Father   taught me at the start, that I must rule   with right justice over thick and thin,   and everywhere hold the form and feature   of every thing. I am brighter than heaven;   the high King bids me to hold and cherish   his secret treasures. I scan all things also   under the earth,40 ​the dirty dens   of evil spirits. I am very much older   than this universe or this middle-world   could ever be. I was yesterday born,   a child begotten to the glory of man,   from my mother’s womb. Fairer I am   than ornaments of gold, although they be covered   with delicate work. I am filthier too   than this foul wood or this seaweed   that lies cast up here. I am wider than the world   any and everywhere50 and extend farther   than this green meadow. A hand can seize me   and three fingers can easily embrace me   all round about. I am harder and colder   than the hard frost; the grim rime   when it comes on the ground. [I am] hotter than Vulcan’s   up-ascending fire and brightly   shining flame. I am on the palate   of men sweeter than the honeycomb   when filled with honey. Just so am I bitterer   than wormwood is60 that darkly stands   here in the forest. Feed I can   even more mightily and eat just as much   as an old giant, and I always can live   a happy life though I see no food   my whole life long. I can fly more boldly   than the pernex can or eagle or hawk   ever could. There is no Zephyrus,   that rapid wind, that can anywhere   so boldly move. The snail is swifter than I,   the earthworm faster,70 the swamp frog   more active in movement and the offspring of dung   is quicker in stirring, which we call “beetle,”   when we give it a name. I am heavier far   than the gray stone ​or a lump of lead   which is not small. I am much lighter   than this little bug which walks on the water   with dry feet; than the flint I am harder   which drives this fire from this strong,   this hard, steel. I am softer far   than the downy feather80 that here in the wind   flutters on the air. I am everywhere   broader than all the earth and farther extend   than this green meadow. I encircle …   all round about wondrously woven   with wonderful skill. Under me there is   no other more powerful wight   among living things. I am above   the creatures all which our Lord   did create who can me alone   by His eternal power90 restrain by force   from exceeding my bounds. I am greater and stronger   than the large whale which looks on the bottom   of the sea-deeps with dim vision;   I am mightier than he even as I am less   in my own strength than the handworm which   the sons of men in skilful manner   dig out with a knife. I have on my head   no white locks, cunningly curled,   but I am quite bald; nor could I enjoy   eyelids or eyebrows.90 But me the Creator   deprived of them all. Now wondrously   grow on my head so that they may   shine on my shoulders, full wondrously,   curly locks. I am bigger and fatter   than the masty swine, the grunting boar   in the beech forest that dark and rooting   happy lives, so that he …   . . . .
​This is a fairly close rendering of Aldhelm’s hundredth and final riddle, De Creatura. The method is the same as that in 50 (K-D 35), q.v., which is based on Aldhelm’s De Lorica and perhaps the same man was the translator: generally two lines for each of Aldhelm’s hexameters—at least through l. 79. This use of two lines for one is responsible for the thinness of the style, as bald and unconvincing as the present version. For example, compare the opening lines of the Latin:
The Creator, who established the ages on eternal pillars, the Ruler of kingdoms, who bridles the lightnings by his law, while the heights of the widespreading universe are swaying to and fro into space, formed me in various shapes, when in the beginning he founded the world. (Wyatt’s translation.)
The Anglo-Saxon translator omitted most of the classical allusions, except Vulcan (l. 56) and Zephyrus (l. 68), but retained the word pernix (Aldhelm l. 35), which he obviously did not understand. Then beginning at l. 83 there are further examples of his misunderstanding of the Latin, which suggests that a different translator took over. Moreover, after l. 79 there are two lines not in Aldhelm and then a skip of Aldhelm’s ll. 43–61, though some of the lines omitted are picked up at the end. Altogether Aldhelm has 83 hexameters; Riddle 40 has 107 lines, having left out some 25 lines of the Latin, partly of course because our Anglo-Saxon text is incomplete.
* ↑ An imaginary bird for Aldhelm’s pernix aquilis (swift eagle). Chaucer, House of Fame, iii, 302, made partridges’ wings out of Virgil’s pernicibus alis.
* ↑ This line repeats l. 5 above.