Ðu gestaðoladest Thou didst establish þurh þa strongan meaht, through strong might, weroda wuldor cyning, glorious king of hosts, wunderlice wonderfully eorðan swa fæste the earth so fast þæt hio on ænige that she on any healfe ne heldeð, side heeleth not, ne mæg hio hider ne þider nor can hither or thither sigan þe swiðor any more decline þe hio symle dyde. than she ever did. Hwæt hi þeah eorðlices Lo nothing earthly auht ne haldeð, at all sustains her, is þeah efn eþe it is equally easy up and of dune upwards and downwards to feallanne that there should be a fall foldan þisse: of this earth: þæm anlicost likest in fashion to þe on æge bið how in an egg gioleca on middan, middlemost is the yolk, glideð hwæþre and withal gliding free æg ymbutan. the egg round about. Swa stent eall weoruld So standeth the world stille on tille, still in its place, streamas ymbutan, while streaming around, lagufloda gelac, water-floods play, lyfte and tungla, welkin and stars, and sio scire scell and the shining shell scriðeð ymbutan circleth about dogora gehwilce; day by day now dyde lange swa. as it did long ago. Book iii. metre 9; p. 182, ed. Sedgefield. This simile occurs only in the poetical version of the Metres, for there are two versions, one in prose and another in verse, and it is agreed that the versification has been done after and from the prose; but there is a question (into which we cannot now enter) whether Alfred is the author of both, or only of the prose version.