Riddle

Definitions

Defining riddles precisely is hard and has attracted a fair amount of scholarly debate. The first major modern attempt to define the riddle was by Robert Petsch in 1899, with another seminal contribution, inspired by structuralism, by Robert A. Georges and Alan Dundes in 1963. Georges and Dundes suggested that 'a riddle is a traditional verbal expression which contains one or more descriptive elements, a pair of which may be in opposition; the referent of the elements is to be guessed'.

In some traditions and contexts, riddles may overlap with proverbs. An example from a different language, 'Nothing hurts it, but it groans all the time' can be deployed as a proverb (when its referent is a hypocrite) or as a riddle (when its referent is a pig).

Research

Much academic research on riddles has focused on collecting, cataloguing, defining and typologising riddles, with much of the key recent work done in the 1960s and 1970s. Key work on cataloguing and typologising riddles was published by Antti Aarne in 1918-20, and by Archer Taylor. In the case of ancient riddles recorded without solutions, considerable scholarly energy also goes into proposing and debating solutions.

Whereas previously researchers had tended to take riddles out of their social performance contexts, the rise of anthropology in the post-War period encouraged more researchers to study the social role of riddles and riddling. However, wide-ranging studies of riddles have tended to be limited to Western countries, with Oriental and African riddles being relatively neglected.

Riddles have also attracted linguists, often studying riddles from the point of view of semiotics.

Ancient and medieval riddles

The riddle was at times a prominent literary form in the ancient and medieval world, and so riddles are extensively, if patchily, attested in our written records from these periods.

Babylon

According to Archer Taylor, 'the oldest recorded riddles are Babylonian school texts which show no literary polish'. The answers to the riddles are not preserved; they include 'my knees hasten, my feet do not rest, a shepherd without pity drives me to pasture' (a river? A rowboat?); 'you went and took the enemy's property; the enemy came and took your property' (a weaving shuttle?); 'who becomes pregnant without conceiving, who becomes fat without eating?' (a raincloud?). 'It is clear that we have here riddles from oral tradition that a teacher has put into a schoolbook.'

Sanskrit and later Indic languages

It is thought that the world's earliest surviving poetic riddles survive in the Sanskrit Rigveda. 'The Sanskrit term that most closely corresponds to the English "riddle," and which is usually translated thereby, is prahelikā—a term that is not only of uncertain etymology but is also subject to widely differing interpretations and classifications.'

The first book of the Rigveda contains a number of riddles, overlapping in significant part with a collection of forty-seven in the Atharvaveda; riddles also appear elsewhere in Vedic texts.

The highly sophisticated quality of many Sanskrit riddles can perhaps be adequately illustrated by one rather simple example ... 'Who moves in the air? Who makes a noise on seeing a thief? Who is the enemy of lotuses? Who is the climax of fury?' The answers to the first three questions, when combined in the manner of a charade, yield the answer to the fourth question. The first answer is bird (vi), the second dog (çva), the third sun (mitra), and the whole is Viçvamitra, Rama's first teacher and counselor and a man noted for his outbursts of rage.

Accordingly, riddles are treated in early studies of Sanskrit poetry such as Daṇḍin's seventh- or eighth-century Kāvyādarśa, the Kāvyālaṃkāra of Bhāmaha (c. 700), or the fifteenth-century Sāhityadarpaṇa by Viśwanātha Kaviraja. Thus, for example, Daṇḍin cites this as an example of a name-riddle (nāmaprahelikā): 'A city, five letters, the middle one is a nasal, the ruling lineage of which is an eight-letter word' (the answer being Kāñcī, ruled by the Pallavāḥ dynasty).

The Mahabharata also portrays riddle-contests and includes riddles accordingly.

The first riddle collection in a medieval Indic language was by Amir Khusro (1253–1325): although he mostly wrote in Persian, he wrote his riddles in the language he called Hindawi. It contains 286 riddles, divided into six groups, 'apparently on the basis of the structure of the riddle and the structure of the answer'; 'these riddles are "in the style of the common people", but most scholars believe they were composed by Khusro'. The riddles are in Mātrika metre; one example is:

The emboldened text here indicates a clue woven into the text: it is a pun on nadi ('river').

Old Testament and Hebrew riddles

While riddles are not numerous in the Bible, they are present, most famously in Samson's riddle in Judges xiv.14, but also in I Kings 10:1-13 (where the Queen of Sheba tests Solomon's wisdom), and in the Talmud. Sirach also mentions riddles as a popular dinner pastime.

The Aramaic Story of Ahikar contains a long section of proverbial wisdom that in some versions also contains riddles.

However, under the influence of Arabic literature in medieval al-Andalus, there was a flourishing of literary Hebrew riddles in verse during the Middle Ages. Dunash ben Labrat (920-990), credited with transposing Arabic metres into Hebrew, composed a number of riddles, mostly apparently inspired by folk-riddles. Exponents included Moses ibn Ezra, Yehuda Alharizi, and Judah Halevi. Immanuel the Roman wrote riddles, as did Israel Onceneyra.

Ancient Greece and Rome

Riddles are known to have been popular in Greece in Hellenistic times, and possibly before; they were prominent among the entertainments and challenges presented at symposia. Oracles were also represented as speaking in often riddlic language. However, the first significant corpus of Greek riddles survives in an anthology of earlier material known as the Greek Anthology, which contains about 50 verse riddles, probably put into its present form by Constantine Cephalas, working in the tenth century CE. Most surviving ancient Greek riddles are in verse. In the second chapter of Book III of Aristotle's Rhetoric, the philosopher stated that "good riddles do, in general, provide us with satisfactory metaphors: for metaphors imply riddles, and therefore a good riddle can furnish a good metaphor."

Literary riddles were also composed in Byzantium, from perhaps the tenth century with the work of John Geometres, into the fifteenth century, along with a neo-Byzantine revival in around the early eighteenth century. There was a particular peak around the long twelfth century.

Two Latin riddles are preserved as graffiti in the Basilica at Pompeii. The principal collection of ancient Latin riddles is a collection of 100 hexametrical riddles by Symphosius, which were influential on later medieval Latin writers: a further 63 were composed around the seventh century in Italy in a collection known now as the Berne Riddles, and Symphosius's collection inspired a number of Anglo-Saxon riddlers. They remained influential in medieval Castilian tradition, being the basis for the second set of riddles in the thirteenth-century Libro de Apolonio, posed by Apolonio's daughter Tarsiana to her father. The perhaps eighth- or ninth-century Veronese Riddle is a key witness to the linguistic transition from Latin to Romance.

Arabic and Persian

In the medieval period, verse riddles, alongside other puzzles and conundra, became a significant literary form in the Arabic-speaking world, and accordingly in Islamic Persian culture. Since early Arabic and Persian poetry often features rich, metaphorical description, and ekphrasis, there is a natural overlap in style and approach between poetry generally and riddles specifically; literary riddles are therefore often a subset of the descriptive poetic form known in both traditions as wasf. Riddles are attested in anthologies of poetry and in prosimetrical portrayals of riddle-contests in Arabic maqāmāt and in Persian epics such as the Shahnameh. Several stories in One Thousand and One Nights involve riddles. In both Arabic and Persian, riddles seem to have become increasingly scholarly in style over time, increasingly emphasising riddles and puzzles in which the interpreter has resolve clues to letters and numbers to put together the word which is the riddle's solution.

In Al-Andalus, Arabic riddles had a significant influence on Hebrew poetry, inspiring similar riddling in that language.

Riddles have been collected by modern scholars throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

The medieval Germanic-speaking world

Verse riddles were made a prominent literary form early in the period of literacy in the Germanic-speaking world by the Anglo-Saxon Aldhelm (c. 639-709), writing in Latin and inspired by the fourth- or fifth-century Latin poet Symphosius. He was followed by a number of other Anglo-Saxons writing riddles in Latin. This prestigious literary heritage contextualises the survival of nearly one hundred riddles in the tenth-century Exeter Book, one of the most important surviving collections of Old English verse. The riddles in this book vary in significance from ribald innuendo to theological sophistication; three, Exeter Book Riddle 35 and Riddles 40/66, are in origin translations of riddles by Aldhelm (and Riddle 35 the only Old English riddle to be attested in another manuscript besides the Exeter Book). Unlike the pithy three-line riddles of Symphosius, the Old English riddles tend to be quite discursive, often musing on complex processes of manufacture when describing artefacts such as mead (Exeter Book Riddle 27) or a reed-pen or -pipe (Exeter Book Riddle 60). They are noted for providing perspectives on the world which give voice to actors which tend not to appear in Old English poetry, ranging from female slaves to animals and plants, and often subvert the conventions of Old English heroic and religious poetry.

Old Norse literature, though closely connected with Anglo-Saxon literature, attests to few riddles: almost all occur in one section of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, in which the god Óðinn propounds around 37 riddles (depending on the manuscript). Unlike the Old English riddles, these take a fairly tight stanzaic form, often with formulaic phrases like 'hvat er þat undra, er ek úti sá | fyrir Dellings durum?' ('what wonder is that, which I saw outside, before the doors of Dellingr?'). They provide insights into Norse mythology, medieval Scandinavian social norms, and rarely used poetic forms. They were also the subject of a seventeenth-century commentary by Björn Jónsson á Skarðsa. The influence of printed versions of the text also led the so-called 'Óðinn riddle' to become a popular oral riddle. The original riddle is:

A modern Swedish children's variant of the same runs 'vad har tre ögon, tio ben och en svans?' ('what has three eyes, ten legs and a tail?').

Norse mythology also attests to a number of other wisdom-contests, usually involving the god Óðinn.

Riddles survive only fragmentarily in Old High German; about 150 survive in Middle High German, mostly quoted in other literary contexts.

The Finnic-speaking world

The corpus of traditional riddles from the Finnic-speaking world (including the modern Finland, Estonia, and parts of Western Russia) is fairly unitary, though eastern Finnish-speaking regions show particular influence of Russian Orthodox Christianity and Slavonic riddle culture. The Finnish for 'riddle' is arvoitus (pl. arvoitukset), related to the verb arvata ('guess').

Finnic riddles are noteworthy in relation to the rest of the world's oral riddle canon for its original imagery, their abundance of sexual riddles, and the interesting collision of influences from east and west; along with the attestation in some regions of an elaborate riddle-game. Riddles provide some of the first surviving evidence for Finnish-language literature.

Early-modern to nineteenth-century riddles

With the advent of print, collections of riddles and similar kinds of questions began to be published. A large number of riddle collections were printed in the German-speaking world and, partly under German influence, in Scandinavia. Major collections from this period include the French Adevineaux amoureux (printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion around 1479); Demandes joyeuses en maniere de quolibets, the basis for Wynkyn de Worde's 1511 Demaundes Joyous; and the 1598 Riddles of Heraclitus and Democritus, which includes for example the following riddle:

Riddles are prominent in some early-modern ballads. Some of those included in the Child Ballads are 'Riddles Wisely Expounded' (Child 1), 'The Elfin Knight' (Child 2), 'King John and the Bishop' (Child 45), 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship' (Child 46), and 'Proud Lady Margaret' (Child 47).

Charades

The term charade was borrowed into English from French in the second half of the eighteenth century, denoting a 'kind of riddle in which each syllable of a word, or a complete word or phrase, is enigmatically described or dramatically represented'. The term gradually became more popularly used to refer to acted charades, examples of which are described in William Thackeray's Vanity Fair and in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

Written forms of charade appeared in magazines, books, and on the folding fans of the Regency. The answers were sometimes printed on the reverse of the fan, suggesting that they were a flirting device, used by a young woman to tease her beau. One charade composed by Jane Austen goes as follows:

The answer is "hem-lock".

Later examples omitted direct references to individual syllables, such as the following, said to be a favorite of Theodore Roosevelt:

Britain and America

The seminal collection of Anglophone riddles from the early modern period through to the twentieth century is Archer Taylor's.

Contemporary riddles typically use puns and double entendres for humorous effect, rather than to puzzle the butt of the joke, as in "Why is six afraid of seven?" "Because seven eight nine (eight can be replaced with ate)." These riddles are now mostly children's humour and games rather than literary compositions.

Some riddles are composed of foreign words and play on similar sounds, as in:

The previous plays on the fact that the French words for 4 and 5 are pronounced similar to the English words "Cat" and "Sank", hence the pun being the cat sank while also counting to 5 in French.

Famed Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote "All is a riddle, and the key to a riddle...is another riddle".

Sub-Saharan Africa

Anthropological research in Africa has produced extensive collections of riddles over the last century or so. Riddles have been characterised as 'one of the most important forms of oral art in Africa'; Hamnett analyzes African riddling from an anthropological viewpoint; Yoruba riddles have enjoyed a recent monograph study.

In the Philippines

Quite similar to its English counterpart, the riddle in the Philippines is called Bugtong. It is traditionally used during a funeral wake together with other games such as tong-its or the more popular sakla, later generations use Bugtong as a form of past time or as an activity. One peculiarity of the Filipino version is the way they start with the phrase Bugtong-bugtong before saying the riddle, usually it is common to create riddles that rhyme.
An example of a Tagalog Bugtong:

Similarly, a bit south, in Sulawesi, Indonesia, among the Pendau, riddles are also used at funeral gatherings.

In Tamil language

In Tamil language, riddles are called Vidukathai. They circulate in both folk and literary forms.

Riddles are of type

Riddles are mostly found in oral form. The structure resembles folk songs. Most of the riddles are based on the living things and objects around our day-to-day life. A sample riddle is given below.

Riddle-contests

The Riddle Game is a formalized guessing game, a contest of wit and skill in which players take turns asking riddles. The player that cannot answer loses. Riddle games occur frequently in mythology and folklore as well as in popular literature.

It is important to understand that in many cultures or contexts, people are not actually expected to guess the answers to riddles: they may be told by the riddler, or learn riddles and their answers together as they grow up. Thus riddle-contests are not the only or even necessarily the main forum for the expression of riddles.

The unsolvable riddle with which literary characters often win a riddle-contest is sometimes referred to as neck-riddle.

In ancient, medieval, and folk literature

In older texts, riddle-contests frequently provide the frame stories whereby riddles have been preserved for posterity. One of the earliest surviving examples of a narrative text incorporating a riddle-contest is the Indian Mahabharata, which took its attested shape in the course of the first millennium BC. For example, this portrays Yaksha Prashna, a series of riddles posed by a nature-spirit (yaksha) to Yudhishthira.

Riddles are prominent in many versions of the originally late-Antique Greek novel Apollonius of Tyre.

Ferdowsi's late tenth-century Persian epic, the Shahnameh, features a riddle-contest between Zal and Manuchehr, the emperor of Iran. 'The emperor was frightened and planned to get Zal out of the way. After his counselors advised him that Zal would become an unparalleled hero with a boundless love for Iran, the emperor accepted Zal and tested him with riddles. The themes are cosmological.'

The story of Turandot in One Thousand and One Nights, which was the inspiration for several modern plays, involves a riddle-contest: the suitors need to answer all three questions to gain the Princess's hand, or else they are beheaded; in Puccini's opera, Turandot grimly warns Calaf 'the riddles are three, but Death is one'. In the Grimm tale 'The Peasant's Wise Daughter', a peasant-girl wins the king in marriage by solving a riddle he poses.

We owe almost all our surviving riddles in Old Norse to a section in the c. thirteenth-century Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, where the god Óðinn challenges King Heiðrekr to answer his riddles. This was influential on later literature: disguised, the god plays one such game in Richard Wagner's Siegfried.

In post-medieval practice

Elaborate and unusual riddle-games took place in the culture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Finnish-language riddles. For example, Elias Lönnrot observed customary riddle-contests in nineteenth-century Finland:

It took place without teams, but was a kind of a contest: a member of the group would be sent out of the room, the others agreed on the riddle to be posed; for three failures to divine the answer, the riddlee would have to drop out of the game, to step aside, and to "buy" with a token the right to participate again.

In modern literature

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit Gollum challenges Bilbo Baggins to a riddle competition for his life. Bilbo breaks "the ancient rules" of the game but is able to escape with Gollum's magic ring. As happens in the Norse tale, although Bilbo asked more of a simple question than a riddle, by attempting to answer it rather than challenging it Gollum accepted it as a riddle; by accepting it, his loss was binding.

In The Grey King, the third book of Susan Cooper's fantasy sequence The Dark is Rising, Will and Bran must win a riddle game in order for Bran to claim his heritage as the Pendragon.

In Patricia A. McKillip's The Riddle-Master trilogy, the ancient art of riddlery is taught at the College of Caithnard - the study based on books recovered from the ruins of the School of Wizards. The riddles in the series are composed of three parts - the question, the answer, and the stricture - and are both a way of recording history and a guide to living life. Riddles play a crucial role in the series, the main protagonist, Morgon of Hed, beginning his journey by winning the crown of the kings of Aum in a Riddle Game with the ancient ghost of Peven of Aum; Peven had a standing wager going that no one could win a riddle-game with him, and those who lost against him forfeited their lives. "Beware the unanswered riddle."

In Stephen King's The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands and The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, the ka-tet must riddle against Blaine the Mono in order to save their lives. At first Blaine can answer all riddles posed to him by the ka-tet easily, but then Eddie Dean, one of the ka-tet, gains the upper hand when he starts to ask joke riddles, effectively frustrating Blaine's highly logical mind.

In the Batman comic books, one of the hero's best known enemies is The Riddler who is personally compelled to supply clues about his upcoming crimes to his enemies in the form of riddles and puzzles. Stereotypically, they are these kinds of simple children's riddles, but modern treatments generally prefer to have the character use more sophisticated puzzles.