In the two preceding riddles (23, a and b) the answer was given before the riddle; so that the riddle was set into a tale, so to speak. The like method was followed in what appears a variant of the same riddle.2 (c) Said once there was a man who had done a hanging crime. He was going to be hung. An' de men tol' him if he tol' a riddle dey couldn' unriddle, dat they wouldn't hang him. So he said, Hone [horn] ate a hone in a high oak-tree. 1 Variant: It goes to the brook, An' got a tongue, But won't drink. See, too, "Tales from Guilford County, North Carolina" (p. 184). "Woman up a Tree" was given to me indifferently, either as a tale or as a riddle. horn. The criminal, it was explained, had a dog named "Horn," and he it was who ate a 51. Humpy Dumpy on de wall, 52. Black within, Red without. Four corners round about. 53. Ol' lady peewee Ans. Egg. 1 This riddle and the following were told me by a white woman. in youth from an old Negro. The counting is done on the two forefingers of each player, the fingers together in a circle. The player counted out must withdraw, and bark like a dog, or crow like a rooster. CLUB-FIST. Wha' you got dere? Wha's my share? In the wood. Wha' the wood? Fire burned it down. Wha' the fire? Water put it out. Wha' the water? Ox drunk it. 1 Compare N. C. Hoke, "Folk-Custom and Folk-Belief in North Carolina" (JAFL 5: 119). |