enjoy low quality/low resolution images of kilju being brewed

another one from the codex exoniensis
commonly called "wolf and eadwacer"

this was my first gloss:

>>>lēodum is mīnum swylce him mon lāc gife
>>>persons is mine should they one offering/game give

>>>willað hȳ hine āþecgan gif hē on þrēat cymeð
>>>willeth they he accept/take/eat if he in threat cometh

>>>ungelīc is ūs
>>>unlike is us

>>>wulf is on īege, ic on ōþerre
>>>wolf is on isle, i on other

>>>fæst is þæt ēglond, fenne biworpen
>>>fast is that island fen be-woven/surrounded

>>>sindon wælrēowe weras þǣr on īge
>>>be death-wild/deadly men there on isle

>>>willað hȳ hine āþecgan gif hē on þrēat cymeð
>>>willeth they he accept/take/eat if he in threat cometh

>>>ungelīce is ūs
>>>unlike is me

>>>wulfes ic mīnes wīdlāstum wēnum dogode
>>>wolf i mine wide-walking/wide-tracking hope dog-like

>>>þonne hit wæs rēnig weder ond ic rēotugu sæt
>>>then it was rainy weather and i wailing sat

>>>þonne mec se beaducāfa bōgum bilegde
>>>then i those battlebrave/battlestrong arms surrounded

>>>wæs mē wyn tō þon, wæs mē hwæþre ēac lāð
>>>was me joy to that, was me however also loth

>>>wulf, mīn wulf! wēna mē þīne
>>>wolf, mine wolf! hope me thine

>>>sēoce gedydon þīne seldcymas
>>>sick did thine seldom-coming

>>>murnende mōd nales metelīste
>>>uneasy mind not meatlessness/meat-lack

>>>gehȳrest þū, eadwacer? uncerne earme hwelp
>>>hearest thou, wealth-watcher? our wretched whelp

>>>bireð wulf tō wuda
>>>beareth wolf to wood

>>>Þæt mon ēaþe tōslīteð þætte nǣfre gesomnad wæs
>>>that one easily slitteth, that never seamed was

>>>uncer giedd geador
>>>our song together

and my first attempt at interpretation:

>>>my people demand an offering.
>>>willeth they to eat him if he in threat cometh.
>>>we are not alike.

>>>wolf is on one isle, i am on another.
>>>fast is that island with fen begirded,
>>>it is an isle of death-wild men.
>>>willeth they to eat him if he in threat cometh.
>>>we are not alike.

>>>the wolf my far-wandering hope tracks hound-like.

>>>when it was rainy weather and i wailing sat,

>>>i was by war-strong arms enwrapped.

>>>it was a joy to me, loth however also was i.

>>>wolf, my wolf! my hope goes after thee.
>>>i am made sick by thine seldom-coming,

>>>by troubled mind, not by want of meat.

>>>hearest thou, watchman? our wretched whelp
>>>the wolf beareth to woodland.

>>>with ease one splitteth what was never seamed.

>>>our song together.

it's hard to sort through all the interpretations

is wolf a man's name or is it an actual wolf?

is eadwacer a man's name or merely a generic term for watchman?

i would like to see a translation that preserves as much of the ambiguity as possible

nevertheless i am beginning to think it is impossible to render it in modern english

at least without at least a few leaps

certainly the narrator is a female, that is accepted

woman + man + infant?

woman + 2 men + infant?

what of the idea that all the characters are non-human?

as in animals + a deity, (deity in this case being eadwacer)
this lends "hearest thou watchman?" a strongly confrontational tone

as in a "god my god why hast thou forsaken me?" kind of thing

and the poem as a whole a certain feral aspect

as if it weren't woolly enough to begin with

what with suggestions of human sacrifice

and/or cannabalism and

pain and loneliness

etc  

more to follow