Yet things break in and steal the gold.
CCIV.
[A horse-sh.o.e.r.]
What shoe-maker makes shoes without leather, With all the four elements put together?
Fire and water, earth and air; Ev"ry customer has two pair.
CCV.
[Currants.]
Higgledy piggledy Here we lie, Pick"d and pluck"d, And put in a pie.
My first is snapping, snarling, growling, My second"s industrious, romping, and prowling.
Higgledy piggledy Here we lie, Pick"d and pluck"d, And put in a pie.
CCVI.
Thomas a Tattamus took two Ts, To tie two tups to two tall trees, To frighten the terrible Thomas a Tattamus!
Tell me how many Ts there are in all THAT.
CCVII.
[The man had one eye, and the tree two apples upon it.]
There was a man who had no eyes, He went abroad to view the skies; He saw a tree with apples on it, He took no apples off, yet left no apples on it.
CCVIII.
[Cleopatra.]
The moon nine days old, The next sign to cancer; Pat rat without a tail;-- And now, sir, for your answer,
CCIX.
[A candle.]
Little Nancy Etticoat, In a white petticoat, And a red nose; The longer she stands, The shorter she grows.
CCX.
[Pair of tongs.]
Long legs, crooked thighs, Little head and no eyes.
CCXI.
[From MS. Sloane, 1489, fol. 16, written in the time of Charles I.]
There were three sisters in a hall, There came a knight amongst them all; Good morrow, aunt, to the one, Good morrow, aunt, to the other, Good morrow, gentlewoman, to the third, If you were my aunt, As the other two be, I would say good morrow, Then, aunts, all three.
CCXII.
[Isabel.]
Congeal"d water and Cain"s brother, That was my lover"s name, and no other.
CCXIII.
[Teeth and Gums.]
Thirty white horses upon a red hill, Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still.
CCXIV.
[Coals.]
Black we are, but much admired; Men seek for us till they are tired.
We tire the horse, but comfort man Tell me this riddle if you can.
CCXV.
[A Star.]
Higher than a house, higher than a tree; Oh, whatever can that be?
CCXVI.
[An Egg.]
Humpty dumpty sate on a wall, Humpty dumpty had a great fall; Three score men and three score more Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.
CCXVII.
[The allusion to Oliver Cromwell satisfactorily fixes the date of the riddle to belong to the seventeenth century. The answer is, a rainbow.]