solve learning riddles from appalachia

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

There’s a red calf in the meadow,
and she’ll eat hay on any day, but
give her a drink of water and she’ll perish.


The last riddle I shared was from Linda Krieger.

You throw away the outside.
You cook the inside.
You eat the outside.
You throw away the inside.
What am I?

Several folks got this one: an ear of corn.

Last night’s video: Watermelon Hill 13.

Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox

Similar Posts

27 Comments

  1. You know it probably is a fire but why would the author compare a calf to a fire. Calves drink milk until they are weaned at which point they are no longer calves. Calves don’t eat hay! Maybe the author gained his knowledge of how things work on a farm from Harper’s Bazaar. Or maybe “Green Acres”.
    It seems a lot of literary license is used by this author. Most of his riddles don’t make sense to even after I hear the answer. I just shake my head and say “what…………. ever!”

  2. The first thing that came to my mind was a tractor, but I saw some of the comments said “fire” and that makes sense.

  3. When I saw the first riddle and the word calf I thought it was a baby cow, so I never got past that. I’m terrible at logic problems and word problems.

  4. Reminds me of the time my dad told me there was a haunted meadow up the hollow below us. He said when you’d go a walking through the field two white calves would follow you everywhere. He had me wide-eyed and on the hook when he said, “…and if you was black two black calves would follow you.”

  5. I love reading your blog and getting some gluten free ideas from your cook book!
    Love trout, catfish, squash and okra which taste great with cornmeal breading!

    John C Campbell is one of my favorite places and I hope to get back there sometime in the next few years.

  6. Well I’m totally stumped on this new riddle. Have absolutely no idea what it could be. So you got me there. As for the previous riddle, I honestly can’t remember if I got it right or not. Corn makes perfect sense, but I might have said avocado, because you throw away the out side peel, can cook with the inside or just eat it and throw away the seed. I’m thinking I probably guessed avocado and not corn. I honestly don’t remember. Fun riddles! Can’t wait to read the answer to this new one because it really has me stumped!

  7. The only thing I can think of that’s red out in a meadow and eats hay and can’t drink water is a tractor. I know that’s probably completely ridiculous, but that’s what popped into my mind. Lol. I have never liked jigsaw puzzles or riddles because I am so terrible at them—-and I have to think too much.

    1. Tractor was what I guessed, too. However, I saw some of the comments said “fire” and that makes sense as well.

  8. 1.) Fire?

    2.) Farm equipment like a tractor if you put water in the fuel tank? “Red calf” made me think about John Deere but their machines are green and I don’t know of a brand that has red machines.

    1. Massey-Ferguson is red, International Harvester is red, Farmall was red, Fords were red and gray, Case IH, Mahindra, McCormick, Mitsubishi, RK (Rural King) and Yanmar were or are red. There are probably more. I own a red RK-24. I paid it off for my son’s father-in-law when he was dying of pancreatic cancer in 2021. I don’t really need it but I didn’t want his wife to be stuck with it.

  9. I knew the last one, but the only thing I can think of is mentioned in my Bible. Have a blessed weekend all you Wilsons and Pressleys.

    1. It was a red heifer that was mentioned in Numbers 19:1-10 in the Bible. Heifers are young female cows that have never had a calf. Calves are baby cows that are still on nursing their mother. A calf can be male or female.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *