Riddle me this:
An enemy took my life, deprived me
of my physical strength; then he moistened me,
he dipped me in water; took me out again,
and set me in the sun where I rapidly lost
all of the hairs that I had. Then the knife's hard edge
cut into me, ground away with cinders;
fingers folded me, and the bird's joy
went over me with useful drops, made tracks repeatedly. Over the brown rim it swallowed more tree-dye, a measure of the liquid, again it stepped on me,
leaving its black tracks. Then a man covered me,
with boards, stretched skin over me,
adorned me with gold; therefore I am decorated
with the smith's artistic works, enveloped in filigree.
Now the ornaments and the red dye
and these glorious attributes celebrate widely
the Protector of the people, the punishment of the foolish no less.
If the children of men would use me,
they will be the safer and the more victorious,
their hearts will be bolder, their thoughts gladder,
their minds wiser; they will have more friends,
dear and near, true and virtuous,
good and faithful, who will gladly increase
their honour and happiness, and with kindness they
will envelop them with joy, and clasp them fast
in the embrace of love. Ask what I am called,
that is of use to men; my name is famous,
useful to men, and itself holy.
If you think you know the answer, email me and give me your guess ([email protected]). No guessing in the comments! That will just ruin the fun for everyone - well, for everyone who actually reads to the end of the riddle. And everyone who actually likes riddles :) Anyhow, that's basically everyone. So don't ruin it for them! I will, however, allow and encourage all sorts of friendly banter about who will be able to guess the riddle, and I will announce the winner, the loser, and all interesting guesses in between. So stay tuned....
And there will be a prize.
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