The quote "everything ends in tears" comes from Excalibur, a day or so after the battle of Mynydd Baddon when Derfel meets up with Merlin and Taliesin. "'Fate is inexorable,' (Merlin) said sourly, 'and everything ends in tears.'" My question is about the first part of the quote, which is not only one of Merlin's favorites, but is used in the Saxon stories. Can you tell me when you first ran across this?
Bob Burton
That comes from an Anglo-Saxon poem, The Wanderer, where it appears as Wyrd bið ful aræd. It’s a sad poem about a man’s reflections on the world after he has lost his lord, and he’s in an extremely pessimistic mood. No one knows exactly when it was written. Memory tells me that the earliest copy is 10th Century, but it probably predates that by many years.