The Mythology & Folklore Database

Exeter Book of Riddles Answers

1-3 Storm

4 Bell

5 Shield

6 Sun

7 Swan

8 Nightingale, or Mockingbird possibly

9 Cuckoo

10 Barnacle Goose

11 Wine

12 Ox becoming Leather

13 Chickens

14 Horn

15 Vixen (possibly Badger)

16 Anchor

17 Beehive [see blog post: usually given as "Fortified Town" or "Ballista"]

18 Wine-Jar (Amphora)

19 Nobleman Riding (with Hawk)

20 Sword

21 Plough

22 Charles' Wain (a constellation, often identified with the Big Dipper)

23 Bow [and Arrow]

24 Magpie

25 Onion (but shame on you)

26 Book (possibly Bible)

27 Mead

28 Beer or Ale

29 Sun and Moon

30 Wood

31 Bagpipe

32 Ship

33 Iceberg

34 Rake

35 Coat of Mail

36 Ship (?)

37 Bellows

38 Calf

39 Night and Day (?)

40 Nature

41 fragmentary (maybe Writing?)

42 Cock and Hen

43 Soul and Body

44 Key

45 Dough

46 "Lot and his Family"

47 Bookworm

48 Chalice

49 Bookcase

50 Fire

51 A Hand Writing

52 Flail

53 Battering-Ram

54 Butter Churn

55 Cross, most likely (though not at all indirect)

56 Loom

57 Music (or Poetry possibly) (often given as "Swallows")

58 [Riding-]Well

59 Rosary (?)

60 Reed Pen

61 Shirt

62 Poker

63 Cup

64 Nobleman Riding

65 Onion

66 Nature

67 fragmentary (possibly Bible?)

68 Ice (ASPR 68 & 69)

69 Pipe (ASPR 70)

70 ????? (ASPR gives my 69 & 70 as one riddle)

71 unknown, fragmentary (Is that really a beet at the end there?)

72 Calf

73 Spear

74 Water(?)

75 Peeing (ASPR 75 & 76))

76 Oyster (ASPR 77)

77 too fragmentary to guess (ASPR 78)

78 ???? (ASPR 79)

79 War-Horn (ASPR 80)

80 Weathercock (ASPR 81)

81 too fragmenary to guess (ASPR 82)

82 Metal or Ore (ASPR 83)

83 Water (?) (ASPR 84)

84 Fish in River (ASPR 85)

85 "One-Eyed Seller of Garlic" (ASPR 86)

86 Bellows(?) (ASPR 87)

87 Antler, Inkhorn (ASPR 88)

88 too fragmentary to guess (ASPR 89)

89 Latin riddle � Solution uncertain (ASPR 90) [Christ, sans doute :) ]

90 Key? (ASPR 91)

91 Wood(?), the Covers of a Book (?) (ASPR 92)

92 Inkhorn (ASPR 93)

93 too fragmentary to guess (ASPR 94)

94 Riddle (?) (ASPR 95)

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