Jimmie Adams
Riddles
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams
INFORMANT: Mary Mc Donnell Age, 76 Prison North, Co. Mayo
5th May”
1. Why does a cow look over a wall?
2. A little man standing under a wall eats every-thing he gets but he drinks no water?
3. Long legs short thighs a small head and no eyes?
4. Black and white and red all over?
5. Humpty dumpty sat on a wall , Humpty dumpty got a great fall and , all the King's horses and all the
6. Kings's men couldn't put him together again?
7. Twenty sick sheep went out a gap one died and how many were left?
8. What goes up when the rain comes down?
9. Why does a man go to bed?
10. Spell the broken-down ditches in three letters?
11. Constantinoble is a very big word and if you can't spell it for me you are the biggest dunce in the world?
12. His beard is flesh and his mouth is horn, such an old man was never born?
13. What gets wet with drying?
14. What divides by uniting?
15. What is brought to the table and cut but not eaten?
16. How many cow’s tails will reach the sky?
17. It flies high and lies low wears shoes and has no feet?
18. As I went out a road I saw 25 bull dogs tearing the ground asunder?
Answers
1. Because she couldn’t.
2. A fire
3. A tongs.
4. A newspaper.
5. An egg.
6. 19
7. An umbrella.
8. Because the bed would not come to him.
9. Gap.
10. It.
11. A cock.
12. A towel.
13. A scissors.
14. A pack of cards.
15. One if it is long enough.
16. A football.
17. A Harrow.
class of 1933
A Fairy Story
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams
INFORMANT: Mary Mc Donnell Age, 76 Prison North, Co. Mayo
6th May”
Once upon a time a widow and her son were living in a little cottage. The man went out in a field scoring for potatoes. There was a bush in the middle of the field in his way and he dug it up.
He got very sick and he went home. He had to go to bed. His mother was very troubled and she sent for a doctor but it was no good.
At last an old begger-man came in. He asked the sick man did he cut any bush. He told the begger that he did. The woman then set the bush and her son got better again.
One night a woman was up late spinning. At about 12 o'clock a little red woman came in and asked for cards and a wheel and about twelve little women came in and asked for cards and wheels. One asked for a loom and in the morning they had the frieze spun and woven. The piece of frieze was above on the Altar in the old Church in Balla for many years.
A Lightning Storm
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams
INFORMANT: Mary Mc Donnell Age, 76 Prison North, Co. Mayo
14th May”
One night about sixty years ago a great lightning storm arose. There was an old man and an old woman in Roxtown near Balla. They had no stock but a dog and an ass. The ass was tied at the back door and the dog was lying on the hearth. The lightning came down the chimney and it bored a big hole in the hearth. It killed the dog on the hearth and the ass at the door. It set the house on fire. The neighbours gathered and quenched the house. They found the old man and woman in the kitchen, but they were alive.
A Story
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams
INFORMANT: Tom Adams, Age 47, Prison North, Co. Mayo
18th May 1937”
The Ansbro family Tawnaghmore
They had the wedding cake left out on the window and along came a hare and brought it with her. The young man saw her, and he said he wouldn't rest till he had caught her. He jumped on his horse and called to his hound and hawk to follow.
He tied the animals and she came in and attacked him with fury. She was getting the better of him and he called out "Tilly Tilly where are you? and the old hag shouted Hare hare hold tight. The filly answered "What can I do and my throat cutting" The man called the other two in turn and recieved the same answers. She then struck him with a wand and turned him into a green stone and left him outside the door. She did the same to the three animals and turned them into three white stones and left them round the green one.
When a year and a day went by and the son did not return his parents got uneasy about him and they thought he must be dead so the second son made up his mind to go in search of him. He also got a hound hawk and filly.
Once upon a time there was a man who had three sons.
When the eldest of them was twenty-one his father thought it was time for him to go and seek his fortune, so he gave him a hound a hawk and a filly and his blessing and he set off on his way. He travelled along for a week and a day till he came to a rich farmer's house.
The farmer's only daughter fell in love with him when she saw him, and they arranged to be married on a certain day. The night before the marriage they gathered all their friends and neighbours to the wedding feast.
They kept the hare in sight till night fell, when they lost track of her at the verge of a thick wood.
He was looking about for a place to camp for the night and he saw a light in the distance and he drew as far as it and to his joy he beheld a little cabin. The cabin was empty, so he went in and brought his animals with him. He made a good fire and cooked his supper and when he had eaten he sat down to have a smoke. After a while he heard a knock at the window and looking up he saw an old hag outside. "It is very cold out here" said the hag. "Come in and warm yourself" said the young man. "I am afraid of those animals of yours" said she. "They won't harm you" said he. "For fear said she tie them up with these" handing him three strands of her hair.
Adams Brothers
He travelled on for a week and a day till he came to the farmer's house. He resembled his brother so much that the farmer thought it was the same one that had returned.
They welcomed him gladly and again the wedding feast was prepared, one of the choice dishes was left on the window to cool when the hare came again and began to eat and in his haste he overturned the dish and broke it.
The young man jumped up and followed the hare as the other brother.
He met with the same fate as the other man.
St Stephen's Day
James and Mary Ansbro
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams, Age 12, Prison North Co. Mayo.
3rd June 1938”
St Stephen’s day is a happy day for all the boys. It falls in the 26th December.
The night before the boys go out with lamps searching for wrens.
They make a small box for the wren a few days before.
The next day they get old worn clothes to put on them and they go out to every house with the wren and they say at every door "Honour the wren".
Sometimes when they can't find any birds they come to the houses playing on flutes.
St Bridget's Day
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams, Age 12, Prison North Co. Mayo.
3rd June 1938”
On St Bridget's night all the little girls go round to the houses with the brídóga.
They make little dolls out of rags or turnips for the occasion.
When it is getting dark that evening they go round in gangs and go into every house and say "Honour the brídóg". The woman of the house gives them something to honour St Bridget. That day everybody makes crosses with two sticks and straw and hangs them on the wall.
Churning
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams, Age 12, Prison North Co. Mayo.
10th June 1938”
We have a churn at home. We have it two years. It is two feet in length and sixteen inches broad. We make a churning once a week in it.
Every morning when my mother milks the cows, any milk she has to spare she puts it into a clean basin to allow the cream to set. Every evening she skims the cream into a clean crock.
When she has enough of cream to make a churning she rinces the churn again and then puts the cream into it. It is dashed up and down for a half an hour if the weather is warm, but if the weather is cold it takes an hour or perhaps more to churn the cream.
If any one comes into the house while the churning is being made he churns a while for fear he would bring the butter.
Old Sayings
“COLLECTOR: Jimmie Adams
INFORMANT: Mary Mc Donnell Age, 76 Address: Prison North, Co. Mayo
10 June 1938”
Silence is golden.
Smooth waters run deep.
The old cat never burns himself.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
The more hurry the less speed.
The good alone are really beautiful.
It's better to be sure than to be sorry.
Make the hay while the sun shines.
Old Forges
Molly Ansbro
“INFORMANT: Tom Adams, Age 47, Prison North, Co. Mayo
18th June 1938”
There is a Forge in the parish of Balla Barony of Carra Co. Mayo.
It is built with stones and roofed with slates. There is a double door and a window in the front of it. There is one fireplace in it. It is to the north of the forge. The forge is built at a cross roads. The smith burns coal to redden his iron. His name is William Kervill.
Once a month the smith makes a big fire for putting the tyres on cart wheels.
He makes staples bolts and horse-shoes, he also shoes horses and asses.
Sometimes gates are fixed and gates are made, and ploughs are repaired.
Houses in Olden Times
“INFORMANT: Mrs Adams, Age 41, Prison North, Co. Mayo
12th July 1938”
In the olden times all the people used to live in thatched houses.
Slates were unknown at that time.
The people used to set rye and when they had the oats cut the rye was ripe and they cut it and made stooks of it in the field until it seasoned, then they brought it into the haggard and when the winter came they brought it into the house and scutched it and then they hammered it with a short stick to knock all the grain out of it for fear it would grow on the roof.
They thatched the house with the straw and kept the grain to set the next year.
They had no light but splinters of bogdeal which they lit in the fire.
There were no chimneys in the houses but they had holes in the roof.
They always cut turf and saved it. They burned then most of it and they sold the rest of it. They got a lot of bogdeal in the bog and they cut a lot of wood to burn instead of turf.
A Story
“INFORMANT: Tom Adams, Age 47, Prison North, Co. Mayo
14th July ”
At last the King gathered his fighting men together and went fighting the giants but they were no match for the giants who killed them all.
Now there was a little hut at the foot of the hill and in it lived a widow and her son Seán. One day Seán made up his mind that he would rid the country of the giants and win a large reward offered by the King. Seán brought with him a mouse and a bee.
The mouse bit Grug's ear and the bee stung his nose. "Stop yellow Glug. Brother Glug if you do that again I will cut your head off"
You must be dreaming said Glug Just then the bee stung Glug and the mouse bit his ear.
"Stop yellow Grug" shouted Glug "if you do that again I will cut off your head"
The bee went on stinging and the mouse went on biting till at last the two giants jumped up.
"This is the end of Glug" said Grug taking up his huge axe.
"This is the end of Grug" said Glug taking up his huge axe. So Grug hit Glug and Glug hit Grug and two ugly heads rolled on the ground. The man went home with the bee and the mouse.
The King gave a farm of land to Seán, a large sum of money and a spoon of honey to the bee every day as long as he lived, and twenty grains of corn to the mouse every day until he died.
Seán built a new house and himself and his mother lived happy ever after.
Glug and Grug were two giants who lived in Ireland.
Glug was as tall as a flag pole and he had an eye in the back of his head. Grug was not as tall as Glug but he was as wide as a hay stack.
This pretty pair lived in a house on top of a hill. They stole cows, sheep and hens from the people who lived about. They made the women make big cakes for them and made the men bring them turf.
When they reached the top of the hill the mouse nibbled a hole in the door, then Seán slipped his hand in and raised the latch. "So far so good" said Sean to himself and he sat down to think how to kill the giants.
The mouse and the bee went into the bedroom. The two giants were in bed. They snored so loudly that the poor bee was nearly blown through the window. The mouse and the bee reached the top of the bed and perched themselves between the two giants.
