—The teeth and gums.
Old Father Greybeard,
Without tooth or tongue,
If you'll give me your finger,
I'll give you my thumb.
—Greybeard, says Moor, Suffolk Words, p. 155, was the appropriate name for a fine large handsome stone bottle, holding perhaps three or four, or more gallons, having its handle terminating in a venerable Druidic face. This riddle appears to be alluded to in MS. Harl. 7316, p. 61:
I'm a dull senseless blockhead, 'tis true, when I'm young,
And like old grandsire Greyberd without tooth or tongue,
But by the kind help and assistance of arts
I sometimes attain to politeness of parts:
What God never sees,
What the king seldom sees;
What we see every day:
Read my riddle,—I pray.
—An equal. This riddle is well known in Sweden. The following version was given me by Mr. Stephens:
Jag ser det dagligen;
Kungen ser det sällan;
Gud ser det aldrig.
"I see it daily;
The king sees it seldom;
God sees it never."
As white as milk,
And not milk;
As green as grass,
And not grass;
As red as blood,
And not blood;
As black as soot,
And not soot!
—A bramble-blossom.
The land was white,
The seed was black;
It'll take a good scholar
To riddle me that.
—Paper and writing.
As high as a castle,
As weak as a wastle;
And all the king's horses
Cannot pull it down.