A/N: Anglo-Saxons loved riddles, like this one I wrote as a high school project while reading Beowulf. In addition to being a riddle, I have also added some other Anglo-Saxon poetry components to it. I've used alliteration, a popular device for Anglo-Saxon poetry, as well as kennings. Kennings are compound words that poetically describe something, like saying "whale-road" instead of "sea" or "battle-rain" instead of "arrows". It's not pure alliterative meter (Anglo-Saxon lines would be longer than these with a break in the middle of the line) but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

A Riddle for Beowulf
by Sauron Gorthaur

Who is the night-watcher,
Gruesome glitter-guard?
Who seizes with sword-hands,
And flickers with flame-armor:
Jealous snake-bat?
Whose death-maw is a blast furnace,
Banded with bone-daggers,
Drowning in hearth-gold?
Who has supple serpent-strength,
Crushing ground-fortune under cruel whip-coils?
Beware Beowulf's-bane and flee for your life.