Wednesday 30 October 2013

Two traditional Shetland riddles from Lawrence Tulloch



One of the great pleasures I had at the storytelling festival in Orkney was meeting Lawrence Tulloch from Shetland. Lawrence is a great storyteller, and a font of knowledge on local traditions, folklore and oral history of the Shetland Islands.

One night, the topic of conversation turned to traditional riddles. Lawrence offered up these two, and assured us all that though they might sound bawdy, the answers are very innocent. So keep your mind out of the gutter, dear friends, and guess away:

Riddle #1:

Hairy without,
Hairy within.
Lift your leg,
And shoot it in.


Riddle # 2:

She took it in her long white hand,
Rubbed the tip to make it stand,
He hit the hole and didn't miss,
"Oh man," he said, "I'm pleased with this."

No comments: