Editing Exeter Book (section)

==Riddles==
{{main|Exeter Book Riddles}}
Among the other texts in the Exeter Book, there are over ninety [[Anglo-Saxon riddles|riddles]], written in the conventional [[Alliterative verse|alliterative]] [[Old English literature#Form and style|style of Old English poetry]]. Their topics, which range from the religious to the mundane, are represented in an oblique and elliptical manner, challenging the reader to deduce what they are about. Some of the riddles are [[double entendre]]s, setting out entirely innocent subject matter in language filled with bawdy connotations, such as Riddle 25 below.

Two Exeter Book riddles are presented below, with Modern English translations alongside the Old English originals. Proposed answers to the riddles are included below the text.

=== Riddle 25 ===
{{Verse translation|lang=ang|
Ic eom wunderlicu wiht · wifum on hyhte
neahbuendum nyt; · nægum sceþþe
burgsittendra nymthe · bonan anum.
Staþol min is steapheah · stonde ic on bedde
neoðan ruh nathwær. · Neþeð hwilum
ful cyrtenu · ceorles dohtor
modwlonc meowle · þæt heo on mec gripe
ræseð mec on reodne · reafath min heafod
fegeð mec on fæsten. · Feleþ sona
mines gemotes · seo þe mec nearwað
wif wundenlocc. · Wæt bið þæt eage.
|
I am a wondrous creature for women in expectation,
a service for neighbours. I harm none of the citizens
except my slayer alone.
My stem is erect, I stand up in bed,
hairy somewhere down below. A very comely
peasant's daughter, dares sometimes,
proud maiden, that she grips at me,
attacks me in my redness, plunders my head,
confines me in a stronghold, feels my 
encounter directly,
woman with braided hair. Wet be that eye.
|attr2= Riddle 25 {{harv|Marsden|2015}}
}}
:Answer: ''an onion''

=== Riddle 26 ===
{{Verse translation|lang=ang|
Mec feonda sum · feore besnyþede,
woruldstrenga binom, · wætte siþþan,
dyfde on wætre, · dyde eft þonan,
sette on sunnan · þær ic swiþe beleas
herum þam þe ic hæfde. · Heard mec siþþan
snað seaxses ecg, · sindrum begrunden;
fingras feoldan, · ond mec fugles wyn
geond speddropum · spyrede geneahhe,
ofer brunne brerd, · beamtelge swealg,
streames dæle, · stop eft on mec,
siþade sweartlast. · Mec siþþan wrah
hæleð hleobordum, · hyde beþenede,
gierede mec mid golde; · forþon me gliwedon
wrætlic weorc smiþa, · wire bifongen.
Nu þa gereno · ond se reada telg
ond þa wuldorgesteald · wide mære
dryhtfolca helm— · nales dol wite.
Gif min bearn wera · brucan  willað,
hy beoð þy gesundran · ond þy sigefæstran,
heortum þy hwætran · ond þy hygebliþran,
ferþe þy frodran, · habbaþ freonda þy ma,
swæsra ond gesibbra, · soþra ond godra,
tilra ond getreowra, · þa hyra tyr ond ead
estum ycað · ond hy arstafum
lissum bilecgað · ond hi lufan fæþmum
fæste clyppað. · Frige hwæt ic hatte,
niþum to nytte. · Nama min is mære,
hæleþum gifre · ond halig sylf.
|
Some fiend robbed me from life,
deprived me of worldly strengths, wetted next,
dipped in water, took out again,
set in the sun, deprived violently 
of the hair that I had, · after, the hard
knife's edge cut me, ground from impurities,
fingers folded and a bird's
delight spread useful drops over me,
swallowed tree-ink over the ruddy rim,
portion of liquid, stepped on me again,
travelled with black track. After, a man clad
me with protective boards, covered with hide,
adorned me with gold. Forthwith adorned me
in ornamental works of smiths, encased with wire
Now the trappings and the red dye
and the wondrous setting widely make known
the helm of the lord's folk, never again guard fools.
If children of men want to use me
they will be by that the safer and the more sure of victory
the bolder in heart and the happier in mind,
in spirit the wiser. They will have friends the more
dearer and closer, righteous and more virtuous,
more good and more loyal, those whose glory and happiness
will gladly increase, and them with benefits and kindnesses,
and they of love will clasp tightly with embraces.
Ask what I am called as a service to people.
My name is famous,
bountiful to men and my self holy.
|attr2= Riddle 26 {{harv|Marsden|2015}}
}}
:Answer: ''a Bible''