Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/7

7 (k-d 68, 69)

I saw the wight     going on its way. It was splendidly,     wonderfully arrayed. The wonder was on the wave;     water became bone.

Ic þa wiht geseah     on weg feran heo wæs wrætlice     wundrū gegierwed :⁊ Wundor wearð on wege     wæter wearð to bane :⁊

Possibly Running Water, becoming ice in winter. The original has wiht (wight), which may be a thing or a creature; and there may be a pun in wĕg, with a short e, meaning way, and wēg with a long e, meaning wave. Moreover, the scribe placed the usual sign marking the end of a riddle after the second line as well as after l. 3; and futher, since the first two lines are almost the same as those of 72 (k-d 36), q.v., it has been held that they represent the beginning of a riddle the rest of which is lost. The third line alone would then be a riddle by itself; which Tupper calls “admirably complete.” Norman E. Eliason (Philologica, Malone Anniversary Studies, Baltimore, 1949, pp. 18–19) has argued for a single riddle, describing Christ walking on the water; but later he withdrew the suggestion.