Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/42
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42 (k-d 47)
| A moth ate words. To me it seemed a remarkable fate, when I learned of the marvel, that the worm had swallowed the speech of a man, a thief in the night, a renowned saying and its place itself. Though he swallowed the word the thieving stranger was no whit the wiser. |
Moððe word fræt me þæt þuhte wrætlicu wyrd þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn þæt se wyrm forswealg wera gied sumes þeof In þystro þrymfæstne cwide ⁊ þæs strangan staþol stælgiest ne wæs wihte þy gleawra þe he þam wordū swealg · |
Book-moth. Developed from Symphosius 16, Tinea or Bookworm: “A letter was my food, yet I know not what the letter is. In books I lived, yet I am no more studious on that account. I devoured the Muses, yet so far I have made no progress” (Wyatt’s translation).