This week I have completed a year long series of blogs for a company that I write for. One of my favourite blogs was a riddle asked by Odin himself.
What is this wonder,
that I see outside,
before the doors of day,
eight legs it has,
and four eyes
and legs above its belly?
This is an excellent riddle and interesting because of the irony. It is a joke as much as a puzzle. It starts with a dynamic question, ‘What is this wonder’ as if Odin is introducing some of the great supernatural characters of Norse mythology but this is brought crashing to mundane earth with the line, ‘that I see outside’. This unsettling line would have sent a shiver down the spines of men in the hall who might wonder what is outside especially ‘before the doors of day’. The doors of day is a kenning and means the pre-dawn, traditionally the time of monsters such as Grendal or the fae. So we are confronted by an immediate ‘wonder’ and then its description, ‘eight legs’, ‘four eyes’ and ‘legs above its belly’ which could be any monster from mythology but is in fact a spider.
A fantastic sending up of the bards art, Beowulf himself could gain honour fighting that monster!
Historytalker 