RUSSIANS AND RIDDLES.

Mataura Ensign, 12 February 1916, Page 5

RUSSIANS AND RIDDLES.

J\V<sSlNO WINTER KVKXINCJS. Thi' Russians arc famous for invtmtin;r clever riddles, with which they help to pass the lune during iho lon.u, winter evenings which prevail in the land of ihe snows. These conundrums, unlike the Knjjjli.sh variety, are not pm in the form of questions, hut cons st of sinip'o statements. Here are some typical instaiioes : "I went down the street and came t > two forked roads, an u I walked alonji them hot It at the same time." This apparent impossibility is .solved every morning by the possessor of a pair of trousers. "| am blmd but show others the way; deaf and dumb vet know how to count." Here a milestone is implied. A similar eontitidrum runs. "It has neither eyes nor ears, yet it leads the blind," and the solution i, a walk-in.«-s tide. "It. neither barks nor bites, yet it keep, yon out of the house" is another puzzling assertion, and the answer is a lock. "What walks on its head and on fool and with boots on, yet barefooted ai the same timer" is a conundrum the answer to which "is "The hobnail in vour boot."

Common objects of the turn find household are thus introduced into riddles by the Russians: ''l have four loss and feathers, yet am neither beast n°r bird"—a bed. "Then* are four brothers tinder one hat"—the legs of a table. "H" T eat grass my teeth "row blunt, chewing stone they grow sharp again" —a scythe. ■'Four brothers run side Inside, lint never catch one another no" —the wheels of a cart. ••Who are the two brothers who live on the opposite side of the road vet never s tH < each other! -I " —vonr eyes. "What c'.in't be caught though you see it close!''' your shadow. The Russians have a'so in veined many ingenious riddles of the arithmetical type, sm'h as the following: "A pack of wolves ran by; one wis shot. how many remained J*"—One. "A peasant bought four scythes for a sovereign; what wi'l each come to!'" The "-round. "There sal three cats, and o'lch cat l'-*d two others opposite to her; how many were there altogether?"— Three cats. "There was a party made np of ;1 brother and sister, a man and his wife, and two brother--in-law; how mauv were there in all!'— Three.