adventures in reflective surfaces
Exeter Riddle
Michael Fairfax's Exeter Riddle sculpture commemorates the city centre redevelopment. Each of the eight segments features a riddle (etched in reverse, so that it's readable in the opposite face) from the 10th century Exeter Book. The one shown is:
Ring me, they ring me. I work long hours
and must readily obey my master,
break my rest, and loudly proclaim
that my guardian gave me a halter.
A man or a woman, weary and bleary,
has often called on me; winter-cold
I answer them, surely as they are. Sometimes
a warm limb looses the bound ring.
But it delights my master, a dull sort
of man, and satisfies me into the bargain,
if anyone can fathom and solve my riddle.
More details here.
Ring me, they ring me. I work long hours
and must readily obey my master,
break my rest, and loudly proclaim
that my guardian gave me a halter.
A man or a woman, weary and bleary,
has often called on me; winter-cold
I answer them, surely as they are. Sometimes
a warm limb looses the bound ring.
But it delights my master, a dull sort
of man, and satisfies me into the bargain,
if anyone can fathom and solve my riddle.
More details here.
04 2005