Ok , it’s a rainy day, all the chores are done and I have no excuse for not writing a blog post. Well, there’s that little thing about having an idea of what to write about. Yes, there’s that. But – then I thought it might be fun to test your skills at solving some riddles since you are probably going to be inside anyway.
First, the obligatory background on riddles (and if you really don’t care, just skip down to the part where the riddles are….) According to Goodriddlesnow.com, “The first recorded riddle was from Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and can be dated back to 1650 BC. It goes as follows:
There are seven houses;
In each house there are seven cats;
Each cat catches seven mice;
Each mouse would have eaten seven ears of corn;
If sown, each ear of corn would have produced seven hekat of grain.
How many things are mentioned altogether?
I ran out of fingers and toes trying to figure this one out and what the heck is a hekat anyway? If you give up trying to figure it out (like me), check out this link to Wikepedia and it might help you out (or not since it appears there are at least 9 correct answers). So – back to the origin of riddles. What I learned is that riddles have been around pretty much since the beginning of time. Back in the day of Oedipus, you may recall he had to answer to riddle of the Sphinx . If you don’t recall that, you can either read the book or – I’ll give it to you here:
“What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon and three feet in the evening?”
If you can’t figure it out, it’s the first one in the answer section below. And, don’t be concerned about developing a complex if you didn’t know the answer – Oedipus cornered that market already.
OK – enough of the history – now on to the fun stuff. Here are some riddles for you to solve - if you let it sit for a minute, it might come to you. But, if you get stumped, the answers are listed at the end.
2. What do Alexander The Great and Winnie The Pooh have in common?
3. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
4. Johnny's mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
5. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
6. What has four wheels and flies?
7. Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
8. Paul’s height is 6 feet, he’s an assistant at a butcher’s shop, and wears size 9 shoes. What does he weigh?
9. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
10. Last one! What month of the year has 28 days?
ANSWERS
OK – how well did you do??
1. Remember – this was the riddle of the Sphinx – Answer is: A person. A baby crawls (4 “legs”), a younger person walks (2 legs) and an elderly person uses a cane (3 legs)
2. Their middle name
3. Short
4. Johnny, of course!
5. Well, it was Mt. Everest. It just wasn’t discovered yet!
6. A garbage truck. (Which reminds me, when we lived near Binghamton, there was a garbage service whose motto on their truck was “Business stinks but it’s picking up.”)
7. Incorrectly
8. Meat
9. A palm
10. They all do
How many times did you say “Duh!” after reading the answers? Yeah, me too.
Enjoy your day and if you have some fun riddles you’d like to share, we’d love to hear them!