"The Riddle Song," also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is an English folk song, apparently a lullaby, which was carried by settlers to the American Appalachians. It descends from a 15th-century English song in which a maiden says she will accept courtship only if the suitor can answer a series of riddles. It is related to Child Ballad no. 1, or "Riddles Wisely Expounded" and Child Ballad no. 46, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship". It is no. 330 in the Roud Folk Song Index. In some versions the number of riddles varies from three to ten or more. In some, versions the suitor poses the riddles that the woman must answer. In some versions the riddles are in two parts so that three riddles are actually six. Burl Ives recorded it in 1941 for his debut album, Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger. Since then, it has been recorded by many artists, including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Sam Cooke and Carly Simon. It has been printed in Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads and in The Burl Ives Songbook.