Anglo-Saxon Riddles

The Anglo-Saxons lived in southern and eastern England from about 600 – 1000 C.E. Quite a lot of their poetry survives and can be read today. Some was written in Latin, and some was written in Old English. There were great heroic epic poems like Beowulf, sad poems, love poems, religious poems, and others, including little riddle poems that were sometimes very funny.

There were three collections of riddles in Latin that we know about, all written by abbots and archbishops. Below are some by Aldhelm, who lived from about 640 to 709 C.E. The numbers refer to the number of the riddle in Aldhelm’s book. He wrote 100 riddles in all.

10. Long since, the holy power that made all things
So made me that my master’s dangerous foes
I scatter. Bearing weapons I have in my jaws,
I soon decide fierce combats; yet I flee
Before the lashings of a little child.

41. Now do not disbelieve me, though mine seem
Incredible speech, but open willing ears.
High, towards the clouds of heaven, at times I swell,
And should you take my head, my body too
Were gone; but if a heavy head me press,
Deep-sinking, half my bulk I seem to lose.

The more famous riddles, though, come from the Exeter Book. This is a very famous manuscript which has many of the best Anglo-Saxon poems in it. It was probably written during the first half of the eight century. Here are some of its riddles:

69. On the way a miracle: water becomes bone.

70. This creature is odd, its habits unaccountable.
It sings through its sides. Its neck is curved,
Skillfully carved, and above its back
It has pointed shoulders. It plays its fated part
As, gracefully, it stands by the roadside,
High and handsome, useful to men.

Answers: 10. A dog. You may have seen dogs that bark at strangers, but cower if the boy or girl that owns them scolds them.

41. A fluffy pillow. When you rest your head on it, it squishes down.

69. Ice, which is made of water but is as hard as bone.

70. A harp. If the pillar (the “neck”) is the front, then the empty spaces on either side of the strings are its “sides.” Pluck the strings, and it “sings through its sides.”

References Anonymous. The Exeter Book Riddles. Trans. Kevin Crossley-Holland. Penguin Books: New York, 1993.

Aldhelm, Saint. The Riddles of Aldhelm. Trans. James Hall Pitman. Archon Books: Hamden, Conn, 1970.