The Riddles of Gestumblindi: Riddle 6

Here's the answer to Riddle 5:

"Góð er gáta þín, Gestumblindi, getit er þessar. Þat eru smiðbelgir; þeir hafa engan vind, nema þeim sé blásit, ok eru þeir dauðir sem annat smíði, en fyrir þeim má líkt smíða sverð sem annat."

"Good is your riddle, Gestumblindi, but I have guessed it. That is a smith's bellows; they have no breath, unless they are blown, and otherwise they are as dead as any other smith's tools, but by them you may, if you like, forge a sword* as well as another thing."

Riddle 6

Þá mælti Gestumblindi:

"Hvat er þat undra,
er ek úti sá
fyr Dellings durum;
fætr hefir átta,
en fjögur augu
ok berr ofar kné en kvið?
Heiðrekr konungr,
hyggðu at gátu."

Then said Gestumblindi:

"What is that wonder
Which I saw outside
Before Delling's doors?
Of feet it has eight,
And four eyes,
And it bears its knees above its belly?
Heiðrekr king,
Think on this riddle."


*The sword is, of course, the wound-leek referred to in the previous riddle. Wound-leek is a common kenning for a sword.


Currently reading: Homeric Moments
Current audio book: Anubis Gates
Currently translating: Book I of The Aeneid