Two years ago I wrote about the kennings found in Bilbo’s speech to Smaug in The Hobbit. Kennings are a distinctive feature of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) poetry, but they are far from the only influence of Old English to be found in Tolkien’s writings. I’ve written about Tolkien’s use of The Wanderer and Maxims I and Maxims II. Today let’s see how one of the riddles Bilbo uses in his contest with Gollom was adapted from the Old English text Solomon and Saturn.
Solomon and Saturn is a group of four Old English texts, dialogues between Solomon (the wise king of Israel) and Saturn (representing heathen knowledge).
I read that two of the riddles in Bilbo and Gollum’s riddle-exchange come from Solomon and Saturn, but I was only able to locate one. Here it is as translated by Dr. Aaron K. Hostetter.
Saturnus:
Yet what is that wonder that fares throughout the world,
going forth inexorably, beating upon the bases,
rousing drops of tears, often struggling to get here?
Neither star nor stone can evade it at all,
nor the brilliant jewel, water or wild beast—
yet it proceeds in the hand of the hard and the soft,
the great and middling. Every ground-dweller,
breeze-sailor and wave-swimmer,
must go yearly to the feast, reckoned
thrice thirteen thousand times. (ll. 273-82)
Solomon:
Old age is crafty over everything earthly—
reaching widely with a ravaging captive-chain,
with spacious fetters and a lengthy rope,
overwhelming all whom she wishes to.
It destroys the tree and shatters its branches,
tumbling the standing stock from its course,
felling it to the ground, and devouring it afterwards.
It vanquishes the wolf and the wild fowl,
outlasting the stones, overcoming steel—
it bites into iron with rust, as it does us all. (ll. 283-92)
Here is Gollum’s succinct version in The Hobbit (where the answer is given as “time” rather than “old age”):
“This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.”
I did find this interesting! My respect for Tolkien’s learning grows and grows.
Thank you very much for this article, as fascinating as the others you have written on Tolkien’s influences!