University of Virginia Library

THE RIDDLE

A Loobeen

The Girls—
Raise us a riddle as spinning we sit.

Bride—
P'r'aps I have one that your fancy will fit.

The Girls—
Come, then, advance it with all of your wit.

Bride—
Some have got the barley showin',
Some a purty patch of oats,
Others just the pratees growin',
With a mountain side for goats.
Come with me through meadows flow'ry
Up where furze and heather blow,
If my secret golden dowry,
Lasses, you would like to know.

A Girl—
Surely hid treasure is in your head.

Bride—
Wrongly my riddle this time you have read.

The Girls—
Come, give us hold of a stronger thread.

Bride—
How is this my herds can utter
Of themselves the milk all day,
Churn and turn it into butter,
Faix! and firkin it safe away.
Kerry cows upon their brows
Bear a pair of branching horns;
But my kind they wear behind
Only one, like Unicorns.

A Girl—
Ah, then, your herds are the bees on the height.

Bride—
'Deed and this time you've guessed aright.

The Girls—
Pleasant the riddle you put us to-night.