Geraardsbergen Manuscript, text 4 (fols. 103r-103v)
The Geraardsbergen Manuscript opens with a series of riddles. To solve these riddles you need some knowledge about life in the Middle Ages. In this particular riddle it may help if you have read the Bible:
‘My father got me before he was ever born, and so did my mother, believe me: she carried me before she was born. Moreover, I am the man who took my grandmother’s virginity. And also I am the one – how did I manage to do that?! – who killed one quarter of the earth’s population. So, I ask you who reads this text: do you know my name?’
In Middle Dutch it sounds like this! (read by Daniël Ermens, MA)
Brussels – KBR – 837-45, fol. 104r: A riddle
(by courtesy of KBR Brussels)
The solution!
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