Exeter Riddle 74

Music written for the Rabble Chorus by director Kirsty Logan, using the words of number 74 in the extant Anglo-Saxon ‘Exeter Riddle’ book. This song was written for the full- size reconstruction of the Anglo Saxon ship found at Sutton Hoo, currently being painstakingly built by hand at the Longshed in Woodbridge. It is inspired by both the earliest English music surviving & the ancient sounds & vocal techniques that can be heard in Sami reindeer herding songs, Swedish kulning, & calling songs from the Shetlands & Orkneys.

Riddle 74 text:

Ic wæs fæm ne geong, feaxhar cwene
Ond ænlic rinc, on ane tid
Fleah mid fuglum, ond n flode swom,
Deaf under yþe, dead mid fiscum,
Ond on foldan stop, hæfde ferð cwicu

Translation:
I was a young girl, a grey haired woman
And a singular warrior at the same time
I flew with the birds and swam in the sea
Dove under waves, dead among the fish,
And stepped upon the land, I held a living spirit.

Solution:
Oak/Boat