Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-07-18
Plantation Riddles.

'Riddle, my riddlo my rec,
lIll tell Won a riddle vn,, can't tell me ,,
What memories this couplet will
awaken. All the associations of
early childhood are, with many, link
ed to the past which coniures up the
days of plantation lore, of queer
melodies, of strange saperstitions
and the customs of race Of peo-
pie that passed from the South
land when the slave was made free.
man.
The songs, tho games, the. super
stition and even the dialco, Of the
ante-bollum negro have been pre-
served IL poetry ais, pross. But
little has been said about the rid
dies and puzzles, which were chief
form Of amusement with the old.
time slave.
Every riddle was propoundcd with
the seriousness of a philosopher and
the same introduction was alway
used:
"Riddlc, my riddle my rec,
I'll toll you riddle you can't Toll NO."
Riddles were generally given out
at night at a gathering in one Of the
cabins in the negro quarters when
/. .
the huge back log glowed from the
blaze Of "light'ard chunk" If none
of tho "comp'ny" were lucky enough
to ans%e! the riddle, the o#ncr, for
it was looked upon as the PROFOUND
er's property, felt at liberty to give
the answer whenever he was so dis
posed. Old "Uncle Watson" a
typical ante-bellum negro, who be-
longed to Q family in South Alabama,
gave out the following riddle at a
Quilting" in 1912:
"IIappy, happy Jack, didn't know
his name; happy, happy Jack, dead
all the same"
This was followed by the ques-
ton: "What's datf"
Nobody could tell, and they were
not to be blamed, and the old man
stoutly refused to make known the
answer, though asked about it twen-
ty years afterwards.
Hero arc few of the old time ne.
gro riddles which will no doubt be
familiar to many:
"iiiokynioro, hackymore,
Hangs over a kitchen door;
Nothing SO strong
As hickymorc, hackymore."
Could you guess the answer to
this if you had ten years and your
life depended upon it? Yet it was
regarded as an excellent riddle by
those to whom it was propoumded,
when it was made known that the
answer was tthe SUM-"
The following was also look ed
upon as one Of. much merit, because
nobody could guess it, perhaps:
"'Kitchcn full, house full,
Can't catch bowl full"
The answer to this was "smokc."
One Of the oldest of these riddles,
and one which was no doubt origi-
mated by a mind of humorous
turn, was this:
"What makes more fuss under n
gate than pig?"
| Such answers as q COW, II horse, a
mule, goat, went round the broad,
ample hearth, all to be ncgatived by
the old man in the chimney corner,
looking wise behind the puffs of
smoke from a corn cobb pipe.
And when the answer came-"two
pigs"-thc old man was straightway
regarded with as much interest as
the scientific world looks upon the
discoveries of Pompcii.
"What is that which goes all
around the house and makes but one
track?"
Few log cabin gatherings before
the war were spared this riddle.
1t was easy enough to guess. The
answer was a "whcclbarrow."
Hcrc's another, and there's some
point i'll it, too:
What is that which the more YOU
cut it the Longer it grows2
A ditch.
Those were days when gas was
not used at all and lamps but little,
so the following riddle was timely
and rated first-class:
''Sllo wears q white pctticoat,
! And she has ;t rcd nose,