Hi,

The oldest extant English version of Child No. 1 is "Inter Diabolus et Virgo" taken from a manuscript of English and Latin prose and verse by Walter Pollard of Plymouth sometime after after 1445 when he acquired the MS. Child adds this version later in his Additions and Corrections.

I'm not familiar with the Exeter manuscript book which has "enigmata" or riddles at the end two sections.

Will anyone find any similar riddles?

The oldest analogue I know is Caxton's translation of "The Golden Legend (1483)" in the Miracles of St. Andrew entitled: The Bishop and the Devil in Disguise of a Woman. In this story St. Andrew, disguised as a pilgrim, is refused entrance to see the Bishop who has been visited by the Devil, in the form of a beautiful woman. The Devil asks the pilgrim (St. Andrew) three questions. To gain entrance through the Bishop's door-- the pilgrim must answer them:

1. What is the greatest marvel God made in little space? -- The diversity and excellence of the faces of men.
2. Is the earth higher than the heaven? - Where Christ's body is, in Heaven Imperial, he is higher than all the heaven.
3. How much space is there from the abyss to heaven? - The pilgrim requests that the Bishop make the woman answer this herself, for she had just fallen from heaven to the abyss.

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As far as older British versions, in Sabine Baring-Gould's "A Garland of Country Song (1895)," pp. 42-3, he mentions "a curious North-Irish version of the ballad may be seen in the British Museum, Ulster Ballads (1162 k.6)." Does anyone have the text or know where it may be found online?

Richie