Riddles from round the world

Press, 7 November 1978, Page 16

Riddles from round the world

Riddles are fun, 1 and often their answers are most surprising. They pass from mouth to mouth and from language to language. Many come from people who could not read or write, and who told them to their descendants who in turn passed them on. Other riddles have been written by poets and authors — or school children. (In ancient times, Greek and Roman school boys were taught to compose them.) Some riddles are extremely old. They are about nature and must have been the world's first guessing games. Have you heard this one? The more you feed it. The more it’ll grow high; But if you give it water It’ll go and die. The answer is fire. Some riddles, on the

other hand, are modern: What has one horn and gives milk? A milk truck. There are riddles, too, which involve a pun or play on words. They are called conundrums. Here is one: When can you hear a star sing? Answer: At the movies. There are riddles in almost every land from Europe to Oceania. There are riddles in the Bible, also, and one of the most famous concerns Samson. One day Samson killed a lion and left the carcase. Later, he returned to the dead animal and found a swarm of bees and their honey inside the body. He ate the honey and at his marriage feast told the

guests to solve this riddle about the incident:— Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. Only Samson’s bride-to-be knew the secret of the riddle. When the guests gave the correct answer — a swarm of bees that had made honey inside the carcase of a dead lion — Samson knew that she had betrayed him, and he was very angry. In olden times, riddles were sometimes asked to test people’s intellect.. King Solomon, known far' and wide for his wisdom, was asked over 20 by the Queen of Sheba and he solved them all. Princes. heroes, and brave men of the past

have had to answer riddles as part of an ordeal or in order to gain a reward. If they failed, they were in danger of a grisly death. One story tells how the Sphinx, a winged monster, came to the Greek city of Thebes and killed passersbj’ who failed to answer her riddle correctly. Here it is: What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? The hero Oedipus was the only person able to work out the puzzle. The answer is man. He crawls as an infant, walks in his prime, and leans on a stick when he is oid. Although most of us today are lighthearted

about riddles they are still used in some countries for serious reasons. There are tribes in Africa, for instance, who put a riddle to a person suspected of a crime. If he answers correctly, he is believed to be innocent. A wrong reply, however, will indicate his guilt. Older boys and girls will be asked riddles at the special ceremonies which are held when they pass into adult life. You may not be much of a riddier, but don’t worry. Even the great poet Homer, who lived hundreds of years before Christ, was said to have been stumped by this ancient riddle. What we caught we threw away;

What we couldn’t catch we kept.

Do you know the answer? It is fleas. Here are riddles of African tribes:— Zulu: Guess, who are the men, adorned in white hip-dresses, lined up in a row to dance the wedding dance? The teeth.

Kxatla: What is the red bull which bellows lounder than all the others? The tongue. Makua: When 1 visited my friend and porridge was stirred for me, wno rushed first to eat it? A

I have two reed mats: 1 sleep on one and the other hangs over me. What ar“ they? The earth and the sky.