I'm working on paper for SAMLA 88 on riddles in James Still's novel *River of Earth*. There is one I can't seem to find an answer for. It goes like this:

> 
> First green  
> 
>  and then yeller, (sic. yellow)  
> 
>  All guts  
> 
>  and no tallow. 
> 
> 
> 

Any help would be appreciated. 

**Edited for context.** The riddle takes place at the end of the book, which is set sometime around 1900. It is about rural Appalachia.

Excerpt from the book:

> 
> "You've every one got buttermilk mustaches," she said, laughing quietly. We wiped them off with the backs of our hands, and then we played a riddle game. 
> 
> 
> Euly had first go.
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> > *As I went over London Bridge  
> > 
> >  I met my sister Ann,  
> > 
> >  I broke her neck and drank her blood  
> > 
> >  And let her body stand.*
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> "That hain't the way I heered it," I said.
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> > *As I went through the guttery-gap  
> > 
> >  I met my Uncle Davy,  
> > 
> >  I cracked his skull and drank his blood  
> > 
> >  And left his body aisy.*
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> Fletch was anxious for his riddle, fearing we would know the answer.
> 
> 
> 
> > 
> > ***First green and then yaller,  
> > 
> >  All guts and no tallow.***
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> Euly and I smiled, knowing what this thing was, but we guessed wild.  
> 
>  "A parrot-bird?"  
> 
>  "A corncob?"  
> 
>  "Johnny-humpback?"  
> 
>  "Now, no," Fletch said. 
> 
> 
> Fletch got down from the table and crawled about, blowing the whistle Uncle Samp had made for him. "I'm an engine pulling sixteen coal gons," he said.
> 
> 
> 

The answer(s) to the first two riddles is *a bottle of wine/spirits*.