Ic wiht geseah
wundorlice
hornum bitweonum
huþe lædan,
lyftfæt leohtlic
listum gegierwed,
huþe to þam ham
of þam heresiþe.
Walde hyre on þære byrig
bur atimbran,
searwum asettan,
gif hit swa meahte.
Ða cwom wundorlicu wiht
ofer wealles hrof
seo is eallum cuð
eorðbuendum;
ahredde þa þa huþe,
ond to ham bedraf
wreccan ofer willan--
gewat hyre west þonan
fæhþum feran,
forð onette.
Dust stonc to heofonum;
deaw feol on eorþan;
niht forð gewat.
Nænig siþþan
wera gewiste
þære wihte sið.
Riddle 27 does not have individual phrase translations.
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I saw a wonderful creature carrying
Light plunder between its horns.
Curved lamp of the air, cunningly formed,
It fetched home its booty from the day's raid
And plotted to build in its castle if it could
A night-chamber brightly adorned.
Then over the east wall came another creature
Well known to earth-dwellers. Wonderful as well,
It seized back its booty and sent the plunderer home
Like an unwilling wanderer. The wretch went west,
Moved morosely and murderously on.
Dust rose to the heavens, dew fell on earth-
Night moved on. Afterwards no one
In the world knew where the wanderer had gone.
This riddle describes an imaginary conflict between the moon and sun. It describes the physical phenomenon known as earth-light (sunlight reflected at night from earth to moon which is faintly visible as a pale image of the full moon filling out the visible crescent) for which the Anglo-Saxons had no scientific explanation. The riddle however describes this phenomenon in a metaphoric mode. In this way science is anticipated (even eventually shaped) by the poetic imagination.
The narrative scenario of the riddle is as follows: A few days before new moon, a waning sliver rises, stealing its strand of light from the sun (the Anglo-Saxons believed that both moon and stars reflected sunlight). This "curved lamp of the air" fetches home to its night-chamber another booty of pale light (sometimes called by sailors "the old moon in the arms of the new") which the riddler saw but could only describe in metaphoric terms. The crescent-moon marauder plots to keep this light-treasure in its sky-town. But dawn appears and the pale treasure disappears, retaken by the sun. As the sun becomes visible, the moon itself pales, then disappears over the horizon. Like a righteous warrior, the sun has successfully reclaimed its light. The next night (new moon), the plundering moon has disappeared, and groundlings wonder where the wanderer has gone. In a few days the cycle will begin again with the waxing sliver.
In this riddle I have not given line notes or explanations of grammar and usage by half-line. By this point in the Web Riddle sequence, I assume that the students can use a standard glossary and have entered each word in the riddle after its headnote form (nominative singular for nouns, infinitive for verbs, etc.). Line numbers are given whenever more than one instance of the word occurs in the riddle.