solve learning riddles from appalachia

I’m sharing another riddle from “Way Down Yonder on Troublesome Creek Appalachian Riddles & Rusties” by James Still.

Nobody under the shining courts of heaven has seen it;
It can whistle but can’t talk;
It can make you cry and dry your eye.

—-

The last riddle I shared was from “Way Down Yonder on Troublesome Creek Appalachian Riddles & Rusties” by James Still.

Black when they dig it
Red when it’s used,
Gray when it’s thrown away.

A lot of folks got the answer: coal.

Last night’s video: Alex Stewart Portrait of a Pioneer 13.

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25 Comments

  1. My first thought, just like all the other’s is the “Wind”.
    I missed the last riddle, but as soon as I read it on this blog I knew the answer was “Coal” and seeing the answer, I would have been right if I’d read it when it was originally posted.
    Thank you for sharing these riddles! They are fun!

  2. Asked my 95 yr old Mom today what Grandmother’s saying meant, and Mom said it was referring to sweat bees that would torment kids by getting behind their knees & would sting the kids when they bent their knees. I now remember those little devilish bees stinging me behind my knees. Mom was having a good day today, so she was able to tell me.

  3. Instantly thought Wind. My grandmother used to say- Hot Summer, playing outside, bend your knee & you will get a pop. Tipper or subscribers, do you know the answer to my grandmother’s riddle?

  4. That’s a great riddle but I didn’t guess it until I saw what the others said, and it makes perfect sense. Have a blessed day everyone!

  5. Yep, I had thought “wind” before I saw the first 4 comments.

    About the wind, it is a world of a subject. It may not talk but it comes awful close and gives us a musical score to put our own words to; from a ‘whisper’ to a ‘roar’ and everything in between. Different trees have a different ‘voice’ also even in the same wind, from the murmur of the cotton woods to the sighing of the pines.

    When I think of the noise the wind makes, one memory stands out above any other. It is the lonesome, mournful, thin and keen moan of the wind across the radio aerial of those USFS pickups I used to drive. It is best not to hear that sound if you are already sad. Like the sound of a fiddle, it cries for words but there are none to do it justice. It sounds like all the sorrows the world has ever known in one lament.

    1. Ron Stephens has got me wanting to hear that lonesome sound of which he speaks. Nothing quite so desolate as the sound of wind on a cold and blizzardy 🙂 day. I thought wind, but it has never made me cry and dry my eyes. Oh, now sleet will really make you cover your eyes with the help of the wind.

  6. Wind…
    My most sincere thanks to your folks for your existence, I enjoy your posts, emails & knowledge.
    Have a blessed weekend!

    1. Wind…
      My most sincere thanks to your folks for your existence, I enjoy your posts, emails & knowledge.
      Have a blessed weekend!

  7. The Wind was the first thing that popped in my mind…don’t know. Alex had such a different life from what as become the norm to a lot of people. Seems as though what he endured made him the ‘father of invention’ as to the talents he had. Can you imagine sitting in his lap and hearing some of the tales he passed on. I would love to have heard about his life from his parents angle. Take care and looking forward to your next post.

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