Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/60

60 (k-d 28)

There’s a bit of earth     beautifully sown with the hardest and the sharpest     and the grimmest that men own. Cut and cleaned,     turned and dried; pleached and wound;     bleached and bound; adorned and arrayed     and borne away to the doors of men.     Joy is within for living creatures.     It delays and it stays a long long while.     They live in joy and naught gainsays.     But after the death they start talking big,     chattering, chittering. It is hard for a wise man     to say what this is.

10

Biþ foldan dæl     fægre gegierwed mid þy heardestan     ⁊ mid þy scearpestan ⁊ mid þy grymmestan     gumena ge streona · corfen sworfen     cyrred þyrred bunden wunden     blæced wæced frætwed geatwed     feorran læded to durum dryhta     dream bið in innan cwicra wihta     clengeð lengeð þara þe ær lifgende     longe hwile wilna bruceð     ⁊ no wið spriceð ⁊ þōn æfter deaþe     deman onginneð meldan mislice     micel is to hycganne wisfæstum menn     hwæt seo wiht sy

This is a sprightly companion to the preceding and more conventional riddle. It describes the preparation and effects of malt liquor and is sometimes given the title of John Barleycorn, after the much later ballad of that name. The first part is notable for its jingling rimes:

mid þy heardestan     and mid þy scearpestan … Corfen, sworfen,     cyrred þyrred, bunden, wunden,     blæced, wæced … cwicra wihta.     Clengeð, lengeð …

2 4   8

From l. 6 on the text is puzzling and something may have been omitted by the copyist. Literally: ‘it (the joy) clings, lingers, of those who before were living; for a long time they enjoy their pleasures and nothing gainsays (them). Then after death they begin to talk variously.’ This seems to mean that those who drink are happy and feel alive for a time; then they are overtaken, dead to themselves, and talk recklessly.