Lesson 41 of 48 · Clarendon
Open, trade an answer traditional riddle dem wid di ole formula — performance material fi pass down a yaad: Riddle mi dis, riddle mi dat...
Dis one a fi di PASS-DOWN: riddim an riddle a wa mek pickney fall in love wid di language — learn dem ya so yu can gi dem weh later, a di family table. Riddle a one a di oldes game inna Jamaica yaad life. From long time, big people an pickney sidung a evening time a trade riddle — same way like Anancy story. Di folklorist Martha Beckwith write dung hundred a dem inna 1924, so di ole riddle dem free fi everybody use. Every riddle start wid di formula — learn i like a song: 'Riddle mi dis, riddle mi dat, guess mi dis riddle an perhaps not!' Di crowd answer: 'Riddle!' — den yu fling di riddle. Nuff a dem start wid 'Mi faada have...' — a di classic frame: (1) 'Mi faada have a white house inna im yaad; if yu go een, yu cyaan come out.' — A wa? A egg! (once you go in, no coming out). (2) 'Mi faada have a cock inna im yaad; every time im crow, im crow fire.' — A gun. (3) 'Mi faada have a pepper tree; a night time all di pepper dem ripe, a maanin time yu cyaan fine one.' — A di star dem. (4) 'Mi faada have a ting inna im yaad; di more yu feed i, di more i hungry.' — A fire. (5) 'Mi faada have a ting; when i sick i look up a heaven, when i betta i look dung.' — A banana bunch (young bananas point up, ripe heavy ones hang down). How fi play: when smadi gi yu one, yu get tree guess. If yu cyaan get i, yu seh 'Mi gi up — a wa?' Den a fi yu turn fi fling one back. Learner errors: (1) Di formula haffi roll — no seh i word-by-word slow; chant i. (2) Answer wid di cleft: 'A egg!' — not jus 'egg'; memba yu clefting lesson. (3) No translate di riddle eena English fi figure i out — feel i out eena Patois; di wordplay live deh-so.
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| riddle mi dis, riddle mi dat | ridl mi dis, ridl mi dat | riddle me this, riddle me that (game opening) |
| an perhaps not! | an praps nat! | formula close: and perhaps you will not (guess it) |
| mi faada have... | mi faada av... | my father has... (classic riddle frame) |
| a wa dat? | a wa dat? | what is it? |
| fling one | fling wan | pose a riddle |
| mi gi up | mi gi op | I give up |
| cock | kak | rooster |
| crow | kruo | to crow (rooster's call) |
| pepper tree | pepa chrii | pepper plant |
| bunch a banana | bonch a banaana | bunch of bananas |
| cyaan come out | kyaahn kom out | cannot come out |
| sidung a evening time | sidong a iivnin taim | sit down in the evening |
| Anancy | Anansi | Anansi, the trickster spider of folk tales |
Riddle formulae are folklore, not grammar, and are outside Chapter Four. The lesson's instruction to answer with the cleft ('A egg!') is confirmed at p. 63.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
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