ÿþ<html> <body><body bgcolor=red><h1> <p align=center><b>Anglo Saxon Riddles</b></h1> <p align=center><tt>Here are a few well known Anglo-Saxon riddles, the answers are at the bottom but try not to peek.</tt> <hr> <h2><p align=center>Riddle One</h2> <p align=center>I'm by nature solitary, scarred by spear and wounded by sword, weary of battle. <p align=center>I frequently see the face of war, and fight hateful enemies; yet I hold no hope of help being brought to me in the battle, before I'm eventually done to death. <p align=center>In the stronghold of the city sharp-edged swords, skilfully forged in the flame by smiths bite deeply into me. <p align=center>I can but await a more fearsome encounter; it is not for me to discover in the city any of those doctors who heal grievous wounds with roots and herbs. <p align=center>The scars from sword wounds gape wider and wider death blows are dealt me by day and by night. <p> <h2><p align="center">Riddle Two</h2> <p align=center>Wob's my name if you work it out; I'm a fair creature fashioned for battle. <p align=center>When I bend and shoot my deadly shaft from my stomach, I desire only to send that poison as far away as possible. <p align=center>When my lord, who devised this torment for me, releases my limbs, I become longer and, bent upon slaughter, spit out that deadly poison I swallowed before. <p align=center>No man's parted easily from the object I describe; if he's struck by what flies from my stomach, he pays for its poison with his strength - speedy atonement for his life I'll serve no master when unstrung, only when I'm cunningly nocked. <p align=center>Now guess my name. <p> <h2><p align="center">Riddle Three</h2> <p align=center>Favoured by men, I am found far and wide, taken from woods and the heights of the town. <p align=center>From high and from low, during each day bees brought me through the bright sky skilfully home to a shelter. <p align=center>Soon after that I was taken by men and bathed in a tub. <p align=center>Now I blind them and chasten them, and cast a young man at once to the ground, and sometimes an old one too. <p align=center>He who struggles against my strength, he who dares grapple with me, discovers immediately that he will hit the hard floor with his back if he persists with such stupidity. <p align=center>Deprived of his strength and strangely loquacious, he's a fool, who rules neither his mind nor his hands nor his feet. <p align=center>Now ask me, my friends, who knocks young men stupid, and as his slave binds them in broad waking daylight? <p align=center>Yes ask me my name. <p> <h2><p align="center">Riddle Four</h2> <p align=center>On the way a miracle: water become bone. <p> <h2><p align="center">Riddle Five</h2> <p align=center>On earth there's a warrior of curious origin. <p align=center>He's created, gleaming, by two dumb creatures for the benefit of men. <p align=center>Foe bears him against foe to inflict harm. <p align=center>Women often fetter him, strong as he is. <p align=center>If maidens and men care for him with due consideration and feed him frequently, he'll faithfully obey them and serve them well. <p align=center>Men succour him for the warmth he offers in return; but this warrior will savage anyone who permits him to become too proud. <hr> <h1><p align="center">Answers</h1> <p><b>Riddle One</b> <p>Shield <p><b>Riddle Two</b> <p>Bow <p><b>Riddle Three</b> <p>Mead <p><b>Riddle Four</b> <p>Ice <p><b>Riddle Five</b> <p>Fire <hr> <p>If you enjoyed these few try visiting the Links page elsewhere on this site. <p><a href="http://anglosaxon.esmartweb.com/index.htm"><font color=yellow><font size=2>Home</a> </body> </html>