Glencairn Folk Riddles. 121 



Its strang-e to say we are full all the day. 

 And empty when we are at rest. 



Ans., A pair of boots. 



A meal-mill is described in languag-e more vigorous than 

 elegant : — 



Aycmt yon dyke, a dusty dyke, 

 I heard a fellow rout, 

 And aye he spewed, and aye he spat, 

 And aye he turned about. 



Here is rather a gruesome example : — 



There was a man in London, 

 Who learned his weans to read, 

 He was rotten before he was gotten, 

 And buried before he was deid. 



Ans., The man was buried in a coal mine. London as the scene of 

 a colliery explosion is certainly a novel conception. Then the 

 information conveyed in the second line strikes one as scarcely 

 germane, but, as some one has observed, the exigencies of rhyme 

 are great. 



As a rule, prose is despised by the riddle-maker, but this, like 

 most rules, has its exceptions. Instance the following : — As I 

 went ower yon muir I met a wee boy who was roaring and greet- 

 ing. I asked him what was wrang wi' him, and he said his faither 

 had died seven years before he was born, and he got bread and 

 cheese at his burial. Ans., The boy's father was a dyer. This 

 example is interesting, because of its reference to the once 

 familiar dole of bread and cheese at funerals. The custom is now 

 obsolete in Griencairn. I am told tlmt the last occasion on which 

 it was observed was the funeral of Sir Robert Laurie of Maxwel- 

 ton, in 1848. 



My last example with a solution has the national emblem for 

 subject, an interesting addition, for which my acknowledgments 

 are due to Mrs M'Gill, Moniaive, a native of Carsphairn ; — 



Nine taps, nine tails, 



Nineteen score o' nails, 



Ae elbow, ae fit, 



What a gruesome beast was it ! 



Ans., The Scottish thistle. 



