clears the woodland for his field, the plowman, or the plowshare (“the iron which, in the shape of an axe, bears ill-will to the tree”). See B. Colgrave, MLR xxxii (1937), 281–83. The beak or nose is the plowshare; the wagon is the fore-carriage; the sharp point underneath is the coulter.
- s33 ##
33 (K-D 91)
My head is forged with the hammer,
hurt with sharp tools, smoothed by files.
I take in my mouth what is set before me
when girded with rings I am forced to strike,
hard against hard, pierced from behind,
must draw forth what protects at midnight
the heart’s delight of my own lord.
Sometimes I turn backwards my beak,
when, protector of treasure, my lord wishes
to hold the leavings of those he had driven
from life by battle-craft for his own desire.
Key. (Cf. also 75 [K-D 44], which is Key with a difference.) “Delight” is represented in the manuscript by W, the rune wyn (‘joy,’ ‘pride’). Ll. 8 ff., “open the door so that the lord can stow the plunder of battle.”
- s34 ##
34 (K-D 58)
I know a thing with a single foot
doing deeds of might. It travels not
nor rides much, nor can it fly
through the clear air; nor does ship carry it,
a boat with nailed planks. It is nevertheless
useful to its master at many times.
It has a heavy tail and a small head
and a long tongue. It has no tooth;
part is of iron. It goes through a hollow.
It swallows no water, it eats nothing,
it desires no fodder. Often notwithstanding
