Uncle Jan Dory.
“I’ll tell ‘ee a story ‘bout Uncle Jan Dory,
Who lived by the side of a well,
He went to a ‘plomp’ (pump), and got himself drunk,
And under the table he fell.”
The Cornish peasantry of the last century were very fond of riddles, but most of them will not bear repetition; they are (as well as many of their sayings and rhymes) much too broad for the taste of this generation, and would only be tolerated in the days when “a spade was called a spade.” There are two exceptions that I know worth transcribing; one has already appeared with its answer, through the Rev. S. Rundle, in Transactions Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 1885–86.
“Riddle me! riddle me right!
Guess where I was to last Saturday night.
Up in the old ivy tree,