Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/115

Rh Another riddle:

hwi̇̄ lɩgərə hwi̇̄, white lies in white (an egg, lying in meal).

A very mutilated riddle from North Yell. It exists in three versions:

ut kɔm mȯdərə hä‘ᶇtaless, häᶇæ beᶇæ gōraless. — — — — — — —

Flɔkera flūa fedderless, sȯƫᶊa bena gōraless, ut kɔm mȯdəra häᶇaless and drave awa fl. fl. f.

White fool fedderless, ut kɔm mȯdəra hä‘ᶇtarless, sȯƫᶊa gōa bɛndərless ''and plucked awa wh. f. f.''

(= flakes of snow being melted in the sun.)

Original form:

(Fuglinn flaug) fjaðralauss, (hann) settisk á garðinn beinlauss, út kom maðr handlauss.

In a) and c) lines 2 and 3 are transposed; in a) and b) likewise the words beᶇæ or bena (bein) and gōra (garðinn in c, with dropped r: gōa) are placed in inverted order. The form bɛndərless has arisen by assimilation to the preceding hä‘ᶇtarless. By mistake the very word to be guessed — flɔkəra, = term for a snowflake — has been placed at the beginning of the riddle. According to rule, it should not have been mentioned, as that was the word to be guessed.

käᶅɩna (kä$i$li in a) bam·bɩrl· (-bɩrəl) luta koᶊa hɛ‘ltər sᶄɛ‘ltər ondər a kåŋ·gəlū·.

Said to be a riddle about a man sitting on the roof of a house, or on a hay-stack ( to others: a cat on a hay-stack). A mouse appears from under the hay-stack, and runs in under a heather-bush.

In “The Home of a Naturalist” the following variant is given:

calye inta bamba birl Ba hilkie toonie; Ladyco hilka tilta, Roonin oondie conggaloo. Ba hilkie toonie.