Introduction

Riddles are deliberately enigmatic or ambiguous questions containing a hidden meaning and, sometimes require thoughtful and often witty answers. Simple to say, riddles are an age-old guessing game. These guessing games have been in the world since the ancient times. They are also used as a pleasant past time in the Middle Ages. Riddles belong to all races and all times. Guessing the answer can receive high prizes and heavy forfeits have been paid. For example, an ancient Norse myth tells of a riddle contest in which Thor’s daughter was the prize. Riddles are of two kinds: one is descriptive riddle and the other is the shrewd and witty questions.

Descriptive riddles are usually describing animals, persons, plants, or objects in an enigmatic manner. Descriptive riddles are universal, but they occur mostly in folklore or ballads. One example is asked by the mythical creature, the Sphinx. The riddle asked by the Sphinx was:

‘What Has One Voice, And Walks On Four Legs In The Morning, Two At Noon, And Three In The Evening?’ OR even ‘What Animal Walks On Four Legs In The Morning, Two At Noon, And Three In The Evening?’

Well by now almost everyone knows the answer to the question. If not please refer to the answer column under R.(1). One example of a modern descriptive riddle or a conundrum is:

‘What’s Black And White And Red All Over?’ and the answer is: ‘a newspaper’. Red is a pun in which it is supposed to be ‘read’ in past tense. A conundrum is a riddle that involves a pun or play on words. Some descriptive riddles are inconsistent. One example is “The man who made it did not want it, the man who bought it did not use it, the man who use it did not know it” so what is it? The answer is a coffin.

The other type of riddle, which is the witty and shrewd question riddles, are riddles classed with the lack of basic name in English. They are sometimes meant for making jokes. They are of ancient origin. For example is a classical Greek riddle that has been universally translated is ‘What is the strongest of all things?’ the answer for the question is ‘Love; iron is strong, but the blacksmith is stronger, and love can subdue the blacksmith.’ Some shrewd questions are of no meanings. For example ‘What is in the middle of PARIS?’ and the answer is “R”.

Riddles are considered as IQ challenge test because it uses the knowledge of the mind to think out an answer for the questions. Riddle is a fun and brain busting game mostly used for amusement not for general purposes. At the next page are some riddles and hope you will enjoy. For further riddles you can try finding the book called the Exeter Book which contains nearly one hundred riddles.

Free riddles>>