Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Nestor/027

Annotations

027.05-10, 027.18 The cock crew... The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush. This is a variation on a nonsense riddle cited by Patrick Weston Joyce in his 1910 book English as We Speak it in Ireland, p. 187:

Though Solomon solved all the puzzles propounded to him by the Queen of Sheba, I think this would put him to the pin of his collar. I learned it in Limerick two generations ago; and I have got a Wexford version from Mr. MacCall. Observe the delightful inconsequence of riddle and answer.

Riddle me, riddle me right:

What did I see last night?

The wind blew,

The cock crew,

The bells of heaven

Struck eleven.

'Tis time for my poor sowl to go to heaven.

Answer: the fox burying his mother under a holly tree.