LL-L: "Riddles" LOWLANDS-L, 08.FEB.2000 (04) [E/S]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: "Riddles"

Okay, enough of songs, now a few Scots riddles, some of which have got me
puzzled - though of course that's what riddles are meant to do!

I wonder if any Lowlanders would like to try and have a go at solving some
of the following? I've put the answers to the ones I know below, but let's
see if we can solve the lot!

1. This is one my mother used to say to me. It's the first riddle I ever
heard - when she finally told me the answer long after I'd learned to say
the thing, I couldn't get over how clever it all was!

Come a riddle, come a riddle, come a rot-tot-tot,
A wee, wee man in a rid, rid coat;
A stauf in his haun an a stane in his throat,
Come a riddle, come a riddle, come a rot-tot-tot!

(rot-tot-tot - nonsense sounds; wee - tiny; rid - red; stauf - staff; haun -
hand; stane - stone).

2. Here's another one I know the answer to.

There's a wee, wee hoose,
An it's fou o maet;
But naither door nor windae
Will lat ye in ti aet.

(hoose - house; fou - full; maet - food; maither - neither; windae - window;
lat - let; ti aet - to eat).

3. You have to be British and over a certain age to get this in one word!

A ha'penny here, a ha'penny thare,
Fowerpence ha'penny, an a ha'penny mair;
A ha'penny wat, an a ha'penny dry,
Fowerpence ha'penny, an a ha'penny forby -
Hou much is that?

(ha'penny - halfpenny; fowerpence - fourpence; thare - there; mair - more;
wat - wet; forby - besides; hou - how).

4. This one seems obvious enough to me!

The merle an the blackbird,
The laverock an the lark,
The gouldie an the gowdspink,
Hou mony birds be that?

(No vocabulary, sorry - the whole thing is a vocabulary test!)

5. Same principle but more room for argument:

The laverock an the lark,
The baukie an the bat,
The heather-bleat, the mire-snipe,
Hou mony birds be that?

6. I don't know the answer to this one.

Wee man o leather
Gaed throu the heather,
Throu a rock, throu a reel,
Throu a auld spinnin-wheel,
Throu a sheepshank bane,
Sic a man wis never seen.

(Again, this has a vocabulary trick to it, even though realising that
doesn't give me the answer, so your on your own!)

7. And finally, another one that has me puzzled.

Lang man legless,
Gaed ti the door staufless,
Guidwife, tak up yer deuks an hens,
For dugs an cats A carena.

(lang - long, or tall; gaed ti  - went to; staufless - staffless; guidwife -
wife; deuk - duck; dug - dog; A carena - I care not)


Answers:

1. cherry
2. egg
3. shilling
4. three
5. two? three?
6. don't know!
7. you tell me!

Have fun!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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