Among fireside amusements propounding riddles was very general sixty or seventy years ago. This is a custom that has existed in Ireland from very early times, as the reader may see by looking at my 'Old Celtic Romances,' pp. 69, 186, 187, where he will find some characteristic ancient Irish ones. And we know that it was common among other ancient nations. I have a number of our modern Irish riddles, many in my memory, and some supplied to me from Wexford by Mr. Patrick J. MacCall of Dublin, who knows Wexford well. Some are easy enough: but there are others that might defy the Witch of Endor to answer them. They hardly come within my scope, but I will give a few examples. { 186}
A steel grey with a flaxen tail and a brass boy driving. Answer: needle and thread; thimble.
Little Jennie Whiteface has a red nose, The longer she lives the shorter she grows.
A man without eyes Went out to view the skies, He saw a tree with apples on: He took no apples, He ate no apples, And still he left no apples on.
Answer: a one-eyed man: the tree had two apples: he took one.
Long legs, crooked thighs, little head, no eyes. Answer: a tongs.
Ink-ank under a bank ten drawing four. Answer: a girl milking a cow.
Four-and-twenty white bulls tied in a stall: In comes a red bull and over licks them all.
These are perhaps not very hard, though not quite so easy as the Sphinx's riddle to the Thebans, which Oedipus answered to his immortal renown. But I should like to see Oedipus try his hand at the following. Samson's riddle about the bees is hard enough, but ours beats it hollow. Though Solomon solved all the puzzles propounded to him by the Queen of Sheba, I think this would put him to the pin of his collar. I learned it in Limerick two generations ago; and I have got a Wexford version from Mr. MacCall. Observe the delightful inconsequence of riddle and answer. { 187}
Riddle me, riddle me right: What did I see last night? The wind blew, The cock crew, The bells of heaven Struck eleven. 'Tis time for my poor _sowl_ to go to heaven.
Answer: the fox burying his mother under a holly tree.
To a person who begins his dinner without saying grace: 'You begin your meal like a fox': for a fox never says grace. A fox once ran off with a cock--neck in mouth--to make a meal of him. Just as he was about to fall to, the cock said--'Won't you thank God?' So the fox opened his mouth to say grace, and the cock escaped and flew up into a tree. On which the fox swore he'd never more say grace or any other prayer. (From Clare: Healy.)