Riddle 26

[highlyeccentric]

can i just point out what dirty dirty minds the anglo-saxons had?

Riddle 26, translation by me

I am a wonderous creature in the expectation of women,
an aid to neighbours. I never harm any
citizen, save my slayer alone.
My stem is erect, I stand up in bed,
hairy somewhere below. Sometimes a very
comely churl's daughter dares to grasp me,
attacks me in my redness, plunders my head,
fixes me in her stronghold. (she) Feels directly
my encounter, she who confines me,
woman with (the) braided hair. Wet is that eye.

anyone care to solve it?

Comments

[mrlachatte.livejournal.com]

what.

the.

hell.

it's like playboy letters from the dark ages

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

exactly! and i could be asked to translate this in my exam tomorrow!

[phrasemuffin.livejournal.com]

I tried really really really hard to think of anything else it could be... didn't work. But even if it is as dirty as you say (or are implying ;D)
some of the lines still don't make sense to me, like "an aid to neighbours" and "I never harm any citizen, save my slayer alone". wtf?

?????

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

the solution will be forthcoming... perhaps tomorrow after my exam.

*looks innocent*

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

well, no one really knows the answer, since the scribe was smart and didn't put the solutions in the book.

but i will give you the most common solution.

[phrasemuffin.livejournal.com]

why do I get the feeling that by "common" you mean "base"?

oh, I did actually think of one other thing it could be (it still doesn't fit all the "clues", but meh, I'm supposed to be studying - not too much time to think these days). Could it possibly be a rose?

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

no, by common i mean most frequent.

azzy thought of roses too... not a bad idea.

david had a complicated theory about how it was a fire poker with a furry hand grip...

[phrasemuffin.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* I really should keep a closer eye on what's been posted since my last comment *remembers that obvious idea of refreshing the page every once in a while*

I guess the fire poker would work. But the "hairy down below" line (or whatever it was) could be a reference to grass, and the "aid to neighbours" line could be an aesthetic thing - e.g. the neighbours think the roses in your garden are beautiful, so they are happy, so they are "aided"... or something completely different like being a source of rose oil? I don't know. Maybe its one of those flowers that is supposed ot ward off diseases? And has thorns? And makes people cry?

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

all valid points... hmmm.

there may be another riddle in the book which is a rose, which would be a good reason for not picking that as a solution here. but i don't really know.

[rayneshadow.livejournal.com]

Haha, I've heard this one before, so dirty. I can't remember if I was ever told the answer. I'm guessing it's a rose or some other sort of flower... or maybe a fruit? Though the "aid to neighbors" I don't get.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

hmmm... a rose isn't a bad solution. except for the aid to neighbours (which to be honest is a bit baffling anyway. i've seen it translated as 'handy in the home', but that's taking liberties with the text).
and save for the wet eye... and the hairyness...

[rayneshadow.livejournal.com]

My next guess is "an onion" because it fits the hairy part and the wet eye part... but I've never had an onion that was useful to neighbors :p so I'm still stumped, hehe.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

you win!

we assume it's useful to neighbours because it was just about the only thing you had in anglo-saxon england to add some flavour to your boring broth.

the class were a bit distressed at the implications stuck onto the onion though... onions aren't exactly very phallic. we ended up leaning toward 'leek', but Reena tells me spring onions are both long and thin, like leeks, and smelly, like onions.

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

I think when onions are growing in the ground they have a long green above-ground part like a spring onion - it's just usually chopped off before they're sold. I think.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

well yes. but the bottom bit is still pretty bulbous and i can't imagine it being a very effective aid in the self-stimulation which is implied here...

[rayneshadow.livejournal.com]

Self-stimulation?? With onions?? How disturbing o_O I thought it was simply meant to be a double-entendre, I didn't think the actual answer was supposed to be meant for the uses that immediately spring to mind.

[rayneshadow.livejournal.com]

YAY! What do I win?

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

glory and honour.