RIDDLES.

 A great great house it is,

A golden candlestick it is,

Guess it rightly,

Let it not go by thee.

Heaven.

There’s a garden that I ken¹,

Full of little gentlemen,

Little caps of blue they wear,

And green ribbons very fair.

Flax.

I went up the boreen, I went down the boreen,

I brought the boreen with myself on my back.

A Ladder.

He comes to ye amidst the brine

The butterfly of the sun,

The man of the coat so blue and fine,

With red thread his shirt is done.

Lobster².

I threw it up as white as snow,

Like gold on a flag it fell below.

Egg.

I ran and I got,

I sat and I searched,

If could get it I would not bring it with me,

And as I got it not I brought it.

Thorn in the foot.

You see it come in on the shoulders of men,

Like a thread of the silk it will leave us again.

Smoke.

[171]

He comes through the lis[32] to me over the sward,

The man of the foot that is narrow and hard,

I would he were running the opposite way,

For o’er all that are living ’tis he who bears sway.

The Death.

In the garden’s a castle with hundreds within,

Yet though stripped to my shirt I would never fit in.

Ant-hill.

From house to house he goes,

A messenger small and slight,

And whether it rains or snows,

He sleeps outside in the night.

Boreen.

Two feet on the ground,

And three feet overhead,

And the head of the living

In the mouth of the dead.

Girl with (three-legged) pot on her head.

On the top of the tree

See the little man red,

A stone in his belly³,

A cap on his head.

Haw.

There’s a poor man at rest,

With a stick beneath his breast,

And he breaking his heart a-crying.

Lintel on a wet day.

[172]

As white as flour and it is not flour,

As green as grass and it is not grass,

As red as blood and it is not blood,

As black as ink and it is not ink.

Blackberry, from bud to fruit.

A bottomless barrel,

It’s shaped like a hive,

It is filled full of flesh,

And the flesh is alive.

Tailor’s thimble.

 

1 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

2 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

3 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。