Can You Solve This Old-Timey Riddle? #2

John Drewry was a prolific English writer and printer born in 1739. At the age of 30, he took over from his uncle in editing and printing a popular local newspaper, which he renamed Drewry’s Derby Mercury—and with a full printworks at his disposal, he quickly set about expanding its output. In the decades that followed, John published several collections of poems, songs, local history titles, and reference books, and in 1790 compiled a collection of riddles and “comical jests” entitled A New Riddle Book, or A Whetstone for Dull Wits.

In addition to short poetic puzzles, the Whetstone contained several longer brainteasers, comic anecdotes, and even riddling wagers and dares, explaining at one point how to amaze your friends by promising to materialize “two calves and an ape” and have them dance around them. (The solution, Drewry explains, is to perform the dance yourself, with your two calf muscles and the nape of your neck taking the place of the two calves and “an ape” you promised to produce.) The riddle below isn’t quite as tricksy as that, but it’s still something of a challenge. Can you figure it out?

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