Скачать или смотреть An Anglo-Saxon Riddle in Old English (Saga hwæt ic hatte!)

Saga hwæt ic hatte! - Say what I am called!
A riddle out of the Exeter Book, an 8th/9th century codex containing a collection of Anglo-Saxon riddles. Typically, the object itself is the speaker, telling its riddlic tale for us to guess what or who it is. Often, these objects are endowed with human traits and even emotions. In this riddle, the objects tells us about its "life" before and after its own death.

Fotum ic fere foldan slite
grene wongas þenden ic gæst bere
gif me feorh losað fæste binde
swearte wealas, hwilum sellan men
hwilum ic deorum drincan selle
beorn of bosme hwilum mec bryd triedeð
felawlonc fotum hwilum feorran broht
wonfeax wale wegeð ⁊ þyð
dol druncmennen deorcum nihtū
wæteð in wætre wyrmeð hwilum
fægre to fyre me on fæðme sticaþ
hygegalan hond hwyrfeð geneahhe
swifeð me geond sweartne Saga hwæt ic hatte
þe ic lifgende lond reafige
⁊ æfter deaþe dryhtum þeowige

I move on my feet, I break up the ground,
the green meadows, as long as I live.
If life leaves me I then bind fast
the swarthy Welsh, and sometimes better men.
Sometimes I give drink to a strong man
from out of my bosom. Sometimes the stately dame
treads me underfoot. Sometimes the Welsh girl,
dark-haired slave brought from afar,
stupid and drunk, on dark nights
lifts me and presses me, soaks me in water,
warms me sometimes kindly by the fire,
her wanton hands thrust in my bosom;
turning often sweeps through the dark.
Say what my name is who living ravage
the land, and dead am of service to men.