Is é cuimhne ar mo chuimhne is sia go bhfiafraiodh m'uncail tomhais dúinn i gcónaí agus chuir mé smaoineamh orm ann an bhfuil tomhais sa Ghaeilge ag duine anseo?

One of my earliest memories is an uncle of mine asking us riddles and I wondered if anyone here knew any riddles in Irish?

Cén rud nach bhfuil mórán maitheasa ann go dti go mbristear é? - Ubh.
What isn't much good until it's broken? - An Egg.

Cén rud nuair is mó a theastós sé uait go mbéarfaidh tú air agus go gcaithfeas tú uait é?

Ancaire báid.

_________________
Bí cinnte de go nglacfaidh triúr le gach aistriúchán a thabharfar.
Be sure to get three in agreement with a translation given.

Tá sin ar a shon féin, a Bhraoin. Grma.

I'm only finding ones about eggs...

Teach beag agam agus é lán bia, ach níl doras ná fuinneoga air.
A small house I have and it's full of food, but it has no door nor windows.

I think this one might be a translation from the English though....

Dia dhuit a chara (I'm back from the South of France)
Sometime ago I posted up several, taken from 'Dreoilín, Dreoilín, Rí na nÉan' compiled by Mairéad Mac Con Iomaire, but apparently they were too difficult. Riddles also occur in some of the classic Irish mythological texts and were used as a way of testing the heroes or the people they came up against, I'm sure there are people here who know more about that than I do.
Anyway this is the kind of thing you find in the book mentioned above:

Tomhais:

Chomh hard le caisleán
Chomh cruinn le ceirtlín
Chomh dearg le fuil
Chomh bán le bainne
Chomh milis le mil.

Freagra. Úll.

If you want any more, let me know - Franc

Hi franc,

Thank you very much and by all means if you have more I would love to read them. Post them here? or if there are a lot of them, in a PM?
Whatever you think best.

MacBoo.

Les voici -

Tomhais.

Siúd é chugam tríd an lochán
Seán Ó Lapáin.
Dhá chois chama siar as a thóin
Is dhá shúil ghlóracha i gcúl a chinn.

Freagra. - Frog

Tomhais.

Chuaigh mé siar is aniar an bóthar
Is fuair mé an rud nach raibh mé a iarraidh.
Shuigh mé síos agus chuardaigh mé
Is nuair a chuaigh mé abhaile is ea fuair mé é.

Freagra. - Dealg

Tomhais.

Téann sé isteach ar ghuaillí daoine
Is téann sé amach chomh mín le síoda.

Freagra. - Móin

Tomhais.

Ceithre chos ar talamh,
Dhá chois ar talamh
Ceann le tóin agus tóin le talamh.

Freagra. - Duine ag bleán bó (there are other versions of this in English, Italian and Provençal that I know of)

Tomhais.

Chuaigh beirt de mhuintir Chró
Ag baint slat lá ceo.
An tslat a bhaineadar, chaitheadar uathu í
Agus an tslat nár bhaineadar, thugadar leo í.

Freagra. - Dhá phréachán á bpiocadh féin.

Tomhais.

Tá sé an-bhreá
Tá sé buí ina lár
A sciatháin bán
Agus gan faoi ach aon chos amháin.

Freagra. - Nóinín

(In the book there are pictures that go with each riddle, so it's easier to guess the answers)
Slán go fóill
franc

Excellent franc, thanks a lot for those.

Tá fáilte romhat (I think that's possibly Béarlachas, but apparently it's been in use in Irish since the 1930's - but Bríd Mhór would probably chide me for not giving you a blessing here instead, but I digress, as usual)
I was going to say (before I interrupted myself) that I've found a Tomhais Blogspot, a creation of An Deabhal Álainn, if you look for it on the web.

Once again mo bhuíochas duit a chara.