Examples of riddles and another type of puzzle that provided...

Original Track ID

SA1972.104

Original Tape ID

SA1972.104

Summary

Examples of riddles and another type of puzzle that provided entertainment in the old days in Shetland.

In the days when many people could not read and there were few books around other than the Bible, Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' and 'The Tales of the Borders', people spent most of their [leisure] time 'laying up houses' and laying up guddicks [riddles]. Jeemsie Laurenson tells a few:

Twa grey gaats [castrated boars] in yonder hoose will lie,
The mair they get, the more they cry,
The lesser they get, the stiller they lie.
Answer: millstones.

Stiff standin in a bed,
First green an then rid.
The fairest lady i da land
Could tak him in her milk-white hand
And shiv him in her hol afore.
Answer: a carrot in its bed.

As I gid through da mires o Moray,
I met an aald wife claain her kwurry [wherry].
I turned her aboot to gie dem a doose [knock]
And aa the hairs go dirlin aff.
Answer: a woman flaying a rabbit.

Bigger as a loose,
Peerier [smaller] as a mouse,
Yet it has more doors and windows
Than all the king's hoose.
Answer: a thimble.

Banks fu an braes fu;
If du gathered aa day
Du widna get a handfu.
Answer: mist.

Eely, eely, Andy, crooked lik a tangle;
If du was even du wid reach ta heeven.
Answer: reek from a lum [chimney].

He picks aboot the burn broo,
Snugger [sleeker] as a foal.
Answer: a scy [scythe].

It gings wi a carriage,
It comes wi a carriage,
The carriage is no use for it,
Yet it couldn't go without it.
Answer: The sound.

Jeemsie then briefly discusses a type of puzzle called 'laying up houses' where the identities of local families were guessed from their middle names.

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Information Verse Other

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good