Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales Part 19

A flock of white sheep On a red hill; Here they go, there they go, Now they stand still!

-The teeth and gums.

Old Father Greybeard, Without tooth or tongue, If you'll give me your finger, I'll give you my thumb.

-Greybeard, says Moor, Suffolk Words, p. 155, was the appropriate name for a fine large handsome stone bottle, holding perhaps three or four, or more gallons, having its handle terminating in a venerable Druidic face. This riddle appears to be alluded to in MS. Harl. 7316, p. 61:

I'm a dull senseless blockhead, 'tis true, when I'm young, And like old grandsire Greyberd without tooth or tongue, But by the kind help and a.s.sistance of arts I sometimes attain to politeness of parts:

What G.o.d never sees, What the king seldom sees; What we see every day: Read my riddle,-I pray.

-An equal. This riddle is well known in Sweden. The following version was given me by Mr. Stephens:

Jag ser det dagligen; Kungen ser det sallan; Gud ser det aldrig.

"I see it daily; The king sees it seldom; G.o.d sees it never."

As white as milk, And not milk; As green as gra.s.s, And not gra.s.s; As red as blood, And not blood; As black as soot, And not soot!

-A bramble-blossom.

The land was white, The seed was black; It'll take a good scholar To riddle me that.

-Paper and writing.

As high as a castle, As weak as a wastle; And all the king's horses Cannot pull it down.

-Smoke. A wastle is a North country term for a twig or withy, possibly connected with A. S. waedl.

I've seen you where you never was, And where you ne'er will be; And yet you in that very same place May still be seen by me.

-The reflection of a face in a looking-gla.s.s.

Banks full, braes full, Though ye gather all day, Ye'll not gather your hands full.

-The mist. From Northumberland. Sometimes thus:

A hill full, a hole full, Ye cannot catch a bowl full.

A young man and a young woman quarrelled, and the former, in his anger, exclaimed,-

Three words I know to be true, All which begin with W.

The young woman immediately guessed the enigma, and replied in a similar strain,-

I too know them, And eke three which begin with M.

-Woman wants wit. Man much more.

The calf, the goose, the bee, The world is ruled by these three.

-Parchment, pens, and wax.

A house full, a yard full, And ye can't catch a bowl full.

-Smoke.

As I was going o'er London bridge, I heard something crack; Not a man in all England Can mend that!

-Ice.

I had a little sister, They called her Pretty Peep; She wades in the waters, Deep, deep, deep!

She climbs up the mountains, High, high, high; My poor little sister, She has but one eye.

-A star. This charming little riddle is always a great favorite with children.

As I was going o'er yon moor of moss, I met a man on a gray horse; He whipp'd and he wail'd, I ask'd him what he ail'd; He said he was going to his father's funeral, Who died seven years before he was born!

-His father was a dyer.

As I look'd out o' my chamber window, I heard something fall; I sent my maid to pick it up.

But she couldn't pick it all.

-Snuff. From Yorks.h.i.+re.

Black within, and red without, Four corners round about.

-A chimney. From Yorks.h.i.+re.

As I was going o'er London bridge, I met a drove of guinea pigs; They were nick'd and they were nack'd, And they were all yellow back'd.

-A swarm of bees; not a very likely family to meet in that neighbourhood, at least nowadays, but some of the authors of these poems seem to have been continually traversing London bridge.

Higher than a house, higher than a tree; Oh! whatever can that be?

-A star. From Yorks.h.i.+re.

Which weighs heavier- A stone of lead Or a stone of feather?

-They both weigh alike.

Lilly low, lilly low, set up on an end, See little baby go out at town end.

-A candle. Lillylow is a North country term for the flame of a candle.

Low, A.-S. lig, is universal.

At the end of my yard there is a vat, Four-and-twenty ladies dancing in that: Some in green gowns, and some with blue hat: He is a wise man who can tell me that.

-A field of flax.