Exeter Book Riddle 12


Exeter Book Riddle 12 is one of the Old English riddles found in the later tenth-century Exeter Book. Its solution is accepted to be 'ox/ox-hide'.

Text and translation

As edited by Krapp and Dobbie, the riddle reads:

Interpretations

The riddle is noted particularly for its rare depiction of Wealas, a word which either means 'Brittonic people' or 'slaves'. It is particularly noted for its implicit portrayal of sexual desire, which is rare in Old English poetry: the riddle seems to depict a slave and/or ethnically Brittonic person fashioning an object from boiled leather, but certainly does so in ways that evoke sexual activity.
There are a number of early medieval Latin riddles on oxen which stand as analogues to this one.

Editions